Hegarty - Hegarty on creativity: there are no rules

Introduction: On Creativity

Feel like writing the next hit song, painting another Mona Lisa, or becoming the next Tarantino? If the answer to any of these questions is yes or if you can easily substitute in your own creative goals and still say yes then you can bet that understanding the creative process is going to be crucial to your success.

Creativity touches all our lives in a thousand different ways, from the clothes we buy to the buildings we live in, from the food we eat to the cars we drive. Creativity invents, perfects, and defines our world. It explains and entertains us.

Almost every facet of our lives is influenced by it. And its impact is only getting stronger as time goes on. Its not surprising then that were always being told the future is creative!

But what drives creativity? Inspires it? Sustains it?

Ive spent the past forty years pursuing a creative career in advertising. In this time, Ive had the privilege of working with some of the best creative minds out there filmmakers, musicians, writers, illustrators, photographers, and designers.

In my experience, very few people have a clear idea of what is meant by creativity or what it means to be creative. No, its not an excuse to grow your hair long, wear weird clothes, and be rude to people. You may wish to do all those things, but that wont make you a better creative person. But being aware, sensitive, passionate, concerned, committed, and above all inventive just might these are the necessary ingredients to a successful creative career.

There are many ways of defining creativity but the one I like best is the expression of self. Its a definition that captures my belief that were all creative though naturally some are better at it than others.

The creative process is about inputs not outtakes. This books about how you get started, how you keep going. Not what you want to create. Youll have to decide that.

Were all creative but only some of us will be lucky enough to earn our living by it. Interested in being
one of these lucky few?

Read on.

Here are fifty provocations on creativity on nurturing it, sustaining it, and harnessing it. But remember, there are no rules, only guidelines. Infuriating, isnt it?

By the way, if you're holding the special edition of this book, you can eat it. Flip to page 126 for further details.

Now thats useful.

John Hegarty

The Blank Page

The blank page is one of the greatest challenges faced by the creative person.

Writers often talk about the fear that overcomes them when they first put that blank page into the typewriter and wonder what theyre going to write. Whether its a blank screen, a blank canvas, or the blank page of a sketchbook, the effect is the same. Creativity is the creation of something out of nothing and that can be scary. However, from that blank canvas might appear a painting that will capture the viewers imagination, propelling them into another time and place. David Hockneys A Bigger Splash does exactly that for me.

But how to start? How to overcome feelings of possible inadequacy, fears of failure? Woody Allen has often said he

the process of writing; he cant wait to get started. So whats the secret?

I suppose its the conviction that there is no such thing as failure. Rejecting the possibility of failure is the first step. When youre creating something from nothing a painting, a novel, a movie script the fear of failure is always there. This will compromise your idea. You have to be supremely confident in your ability to achieve something outstanding.

If confidence is one key to success, enjoying your work is another. Even more than confidence, the sense of excitement that accompanies being creative will spur you on. Just think of it as playing you can do anything you want, go anywhere you like.

And that blank canvas doesnt have to start blank I mean, figuratively, not literally. Start small with some sketches. Likewise, a whole novel isnt in your head before you start to write. A plot maybe, a character. Well, write those down and gradually a picture will emerge, the story will begin to unfold.

The very process of sketching, writing, whatever, this process will help you explain your idea to yourself.

Start small, start compact, and suddenly youll have begun to create.

And then youre no longer looking at a blank page.

Ideas

Every day we have ideas. They are the most profound of products that we as humans generate.

Big ones, silly ones, funny ones the irreverent to the groundbreaking. Ideas are the driving force of human progress. From the discovery of the wheel to the internal combustion engine, for better or worse ideas are mankinds contribution to our planets development. Some are good and sadly some are bad. Like peanut butter. Disgusting stuff.

And, of course, ideas are the building blocks of creativity. Whatever you create, from writing to filmmaking to painting to composing, you start with an idea. Without one, you have nothing.

An idea can be defined as a thought or plan formed by mental effort. I particularly like that phrase mental effort. It implies youve done something of substance. And thats what interests me: ideas of substance. Not whether you should go for pizza tonight as opposed to sushi. As ideas go, coming up with an answer to that might resolve the immediate question but it isnt exactly going to get you headlines around the world. And surely thats what we want to do. Were after

ideas.

Its important to add that having ideas is the most democratic of all the activities that we undertake. You dont need special permission or a certificate to come up with a good idea. This can be done anywhere, at any time, without any special equipment or prior practice. It can be done sitting down, standing up, or lying down. Indeed, often the right idea will come to you when youre not even thinking. Thats how brilliant we are at generating ideas, whatever our race, creed, color, gender, or age. Ideas are always there for you, waiting for you to think them up.

And if your idea is profound enough, it could change the course of history.