>>> Item number 25287 from WRITERS LOG9402A --- (62 records) ----- <<<
Date:         Fri, 4 Feb 1994 01:30:03 JST
Reply-To:     WRITERS <WRITERS@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
Sender:       WRITERS <WRITERS@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
From:         Mike Barker <barker@AEGIS.OR.JP>
Subject:      Re: EXERCISE: Weather Report: Brainstorms All Day! (1)

Tsirbas (tsirbasc@ERE.UMONTREAL.CA (Tsirbas Christos)) wrote
- Mike's post about writing exercises that increase creativity was
- intriguing and offered some interesting suggestions for ways of coming
- up with alternative elements for one's writing.

(T'anks - more in a separate post about the approach to writing Tsirbas
recommended, and the advice not to do exercises...)

In reading Tsirbas post concerning mine, I realized that I hadn't made
clear one important point - the quota exercises are the first in a
series of ten (10) exercises about "thinking tools" I've pulled out of
DeBono's books.  (For the two people who've seen an earlier version of
these - I've expanded out the parts that were just notes before, so
you'll see some new things.)

Anyway - this was just the basic exercise, more to come (watch for
them!)

I may not have made it clear that these are really generalized tools of
lateral thinking (creative thinking - DeBono is one of the few people
who has introduced a term which is now in many dictionaries,
specifically to deal with his approach to avoiding the patterning
behavior of the human brain).  While I was thinking of them in terms of
the often raised problem of "I don't have any ideas," they can be used
in many ways.

I also think Tsirbas is right, the approach I've taken suggests using
them after you have some seed of an idea, along with the general
structures of fiction.  This may make it look as if they can only be
used for revision.  Since I have used these in generating projects and
other areas, I think they have much wider application than that, but
you'll have to make up your own mind about that.

One of the nice things about DeBono's tools (such as reversal - later
exercise) is that they allow you to take patterns of thinking that you
already have and "rejuvenate" them - take the plot to cinderalla and
stretch it and bend it until the Brothers' Grimm wouldn't recognize it.
That's really why I think they can help if you think you don't have any
ideas.

I'm not sure - perhaps I need another section, giving an overview of the
exercises and how I see them helping with developing ideas.  Point out
that the newspaper, T.V. guide, kiddies' lit, comic strips, magazines,
even some lists are ready sources of streams of ideas - you just need to
pick one or more and start tinkering...?

Tell you what - wait a few weeks (I'd rather send them out weekly, as
I've been doing for a while now with exercises) and then look at the set
and do me a crit of the writing, okay?  Let me know what isn't clear, or
what needs some expansion, or whatever.

I may not have picked the best structure for the exercises - and may
very well need more of an intro.  But I hadn't planned on writing a book
(yet...:-)

tink