Do you think reading more books and watching more Tv would make you a more creative person? Basically exposing yourself to more stuff or do you think non of that stuff matters? Whats the most important thing to be more creative?
It's not quantity of exposure, but quality. And not necessarily quality as in the quality of what you're watching - but rather, the quality of your own mind while watching it. What I mean is that you yourself have to know how to look at stories to get the most out of them. You can read all the Shakespeare and Greek epic poetry and Russian literature you want, but if you don't know what to do with that knowledge, so to speak, then it won't do you any good. I think it'd serve you better to just expose to a few stories, but understand what they did good and what they did bad, see how they used their characters and plots, and so forth, rather than read a gazillion classic novels just because. It's more important, I think, to teach yourself how to recognize certain things in stories, rather than try to expose yourself to as many stories as possible - that way, when you know the techniques and nuances of these stories, you can apply it to your own.
Reading as many books as I have made me a better writer, but I think you have to have a natural gift as well.
I definitely agree with the exposure to quality. Reading one good book or watching one good movie will provide you with mire inspiration thank a hundred bad books or movies. And yes, I definitely think it makes you more creative.
I completely disagree with the "natural gift" thing. Creativity can be learnt. It's there, you just have to find the channels in your brain to make it come out. For me, I find that writing makes me more creative (though I'm sure the books I read and movies I watch play a significant part).
I don't neccessarily think that reading more books and watching more films makes you more creative as such. However, I think it might teach you things about writing books and scripts - you can see how certain authors/scriptwriters phrase and handle certain issues, and you can see what works well and what doesn't. As for creativity - well that can come from anywhere. Some people just naturally aren't very creative, myself for example. I don't really know if that can be improved or not, other than by taking inspiration from others.
A smart guy once said you can learn to write a story, but you can't learn to create a story. I don't think you can learn to be creative no matter what you do. Still, you can train the creativity you already have in the same way as you would train anything else: By using it. If you want to be more creative, do creative stuff. Paint a picture. Compose music. Make a sculpture or something. Basically create stuff from your imagination. It doesn't matter what. Creativity is creativity. If you were to paint a hundred pictures and really develop your creativity that way, it will still help you be creative and write a great book. Reading books and watching TV are great ways to get inspiration, but they won't make you more creative. I mean how can you be creative by copying someone else's idea?
Attempting to be creative will inherently make you more creative. It's one of those things where practice, of any variety, will make perfect eventually. My year eight computing teacher was fond of saying, "Perfect practice make perfect." It means that if you practice doing something, and you do it wrong, you'll get better at doing it wrong. Something like creativity, something that's related to a mindset or way of thinking, can be practised the wrong way. Of course, your use of your medium (writing, scripting, et cetera) does fall under the "Perfect practice makes perfect", but you get the idea. You can learn to be creative by trying to be creative. You can't just wait for it to happen; it won't, no matter how many creative things you view or read.
Well, IMO, reading several books gave me some ideas of format, etc. It opened my mind to a lot more possibilities, but I was always creative on my own without having to do this. Honestly, it doesn't matter.
I believe reading definately helps with creativity. Movie/TV watching not so much. If the show is picked out with some thought it can spark creative thinking but mindless watching dulls the senses. I also think that having unplanned time is helpful. Sometimes I wonder if people (in general) are becoming less creative because they never have any time to dream. We are so over planned that time to let our mind wander and create just doesn't happen and we seem to forget how to do it. Only boring people get bored because everyone else uses the time to think and come up with something fun to do.
Creativity comes from practice, actively working on your passion, and constantly pushing your limits and boundaries beyond your will. Reading can help you - but it doesn't make you more creative, instead it shows you how far creativity can go. It gives you guidelines and reference points, it introduces you to tools and ideas that you never knew existed and it helps you master them. Creativity is very intuitive - it's got your signature, your style, your accent - reading can help you explore your boundaries, refine your skills, introduce you to different things but it doesn't make you creative. The only thing that makes you creative is constantly practicing and pushing yourself. You can read and read and read, but that doesn't automatically make you a good writer. Taking what you have read and putting it into practice is what does.
I think creativity has a lot to do with attitude - you need to have the will and courage to follow your creative impulses. Once you have that, you can always find the creative impulses somewhere (books, movies, daydreaming, combining random words, etc).
I second this opinion. It is our own style or way of narrating something that will prove at the end of the day. The external aide of any type will work so long as one can derive something useful and creative out of that. The world is full of chaos and out of that we seek order and likewise we have be in the order of things to be creative or else we get lost in the quandary of things.
What exactly is creativity in writing, anyway? Ideas can come to everybody so long as they can ask themselves questions, or line up and compare two different things, and work them together.
I think to be more creative, you have to be creative in more then one way. You can improve creativity by reading, but doing other creative things will stimulate that part of the brain. Pushing it further then reading alone. Reading will help writing to a point, but you must write to have creative writing. What do I do creative? Make chain maille jewelry made a shield with hand painted heraldic device Made a clay dragon photography write and create information of creatures and history for my writing. Read books Follow creative writing forums(several)
Going out and experiencing life really makes you creative. Try something new, talk with a stranger, dance in the rain, do something adventurous. It inspires you and pushes you in new creative directions. Works for me.
I still don't know what part of writing requires creativity, though. Assuming imagination and creativity aren't the same.
I agree that it's quality over quantity. And quality for one isn't quality for another. You can't always help what inspires you. Provided it isn't self-destructive, you can (and should) merely recognize it when you see it and seek it out once you know what it is.
Reading good books and watching good films and listening to good music will make you more creative.If you have done this since you were very little, you will be very, very creative and probably have what people call a "natural gift", although of course it is simply the exposure during the critical learning period that has done this. If you want to be creative, be creative. There isn't much more to it, telling people precise ways to be creative wouldn't be helping them be creative, if you see what I mean.
No, I don't believe watching tv and reading books makes me more creative. As for the reading it makes me a better writer (technically speaking) but not necessarily a more creative one. I don't know exactly where creativity comes from, I agree with who says there is some kind of natural predisposition, because there are people who will never get that kind of inspiration and awakening of that creative side, not everyone seem to be susceptible to artistic creativity, but of course if you are, some things might serve as a source of inspiration. I can only speak for myself but I have never felt that watching tv/movies making me more creative. I never get a novel idea by reading other writers' work, as strange as it might sound. Those ideas comes from someplace else.
I'm not particularly well read but my imagination has no limits. So, my answer is no, IMO. I try and apply everything I see to a hypothetical plot. That's how I get creative. I'm a cashier. The other day, some customer paid in change and one of the quarters was actually some old Greek coin. And immediately, I thought of a plot where the character gets paid with this coin and it hold supernatural powers yada yada yada, etc, etc ,etc... That's one example of how I get creative
exactly, there are little moments and things in life that serves for giving you great ideas. Might be a phrase overheard or songline... or even a witnessed scene between two people... there are no explaining where they come from.
Which book or film about ancient Greece was it that gave you the knowledge about ancient Greece, though? Without them, the coin would mean nothing to you. Same goes for books about superpowers. Books fuel creativity.
This is sort of true and sort of not. It is possible to increase your creativity, but within your natural limits. A bantamweight boxer may, through dedication and hard training, become the world champion bantamweight, but it's unlikely that he'd be able to defeat a decent heavyweight. Some people are just creative geniuses - loaded to the eyeballs with "natural gift". Mozart. Shakespeare. Michelangelo. Leonardo da Vinci. Dante. Beethoven. Albert Einstein (yes, scientists can exhibit great creativity). Thousands upon thousands of people strive their entire lives to create as well as they can, but can't match the genius of people like these.
