How to Boost Your Creativity

I know you are anxiously awaiting the results of my pseudo-science experiment from my last blog. I had pondered the question of the effect of physical space on creativity: Do You Have Enough Space for Creative Thought?

Do you have enough space for creative thought?

In my previous blog, I wondered if writing in a high ceiling location or better yet, in the wide open space of the outside, would produce more creative writing than writing in a low ceiling room or smaller space. I designed my experiment as follows:

I wrote for 15 minutes on a new writing project (yes, I did use a timer). I wrote short scenes (or what I could produce in 15 minutes) on a completely new story idea. I wrote in different locations from outside, to a high ceiling room, to a basement room with one small window, to my tiny trailer with room height of less than 6 feet (my small space). I kept track of how many words I wrote in each location and scored the work on my non-scientific and completely subjective “creativity” scale. 

A note on my “creativity scale” (my c-ratings).  Confession: I made up this scale. 100%.  Using my supreme creative skills, I created a creativity scale and then I used creativity to score it too!  This is how I did it: I used a scale of 1 to 10 and started my work at a score of 5 points. I added points if I used a metaphor, if I wrote a twist that I wasn’t expecting (yes, that happens!), used specific nouns or verbs or in any other way, had a moment of delightfulness and engaged the reader. I lost points for passive voice use, adverb use or anything else I determined to be boring, cliche or stereotypical. I didn’t worry about spelling or grammar though–this wasn’t about editing but about the creative thought and writing style. I wrote forward, no editing! I rated all of the work using my c-scale on the same day (July 17^th) almost 3 weeks after the writing sessions to “try” to keep it objective. Ha! 

I also kept track of when I wrote (morning or evening) and if I wrote after walking since my research suggested that walking will also boost your creativity. 

The result are surprising!  

First, I will admit that when I started this experiment, I was 99% positive that my creativity rating (C-rating) and word count would be the highest when I wrote outside after a long walk with the creative juice racing through my veins. You can imagine my disappointment after the first six sessions: 

231 words June 13 (am) outside, after 1 hr walk, C-Rating 5

276 words June 14 (am) high ceiling room, after 1 hr walk, C-Rating 7

282 words June 15 (am) high ceiling, no walk (storm outside), C- Rating 6

331 words June 20 (am) basement room, 30 min walk, C-Rating 8

343 words, June 21 (am) low ceiling trailer, 30 min walk, C-Rating 8

What ??  

I have to admit that I was stunned by this result.  How can I be more creative and write more words after a shorter walk and in a basement room or a tiny room that has less than 12 inches of headspace?  

After recovering from the shock, I realized that the pattern emerging maybe has less to do with physical space and more to do with developing a writing practice. Oh drat! We can’t become brilliant just by sitting outside. We have to work at it. 

I decided more data was needed and did another 5 sessions in each location. I did twice in the living room (my high ceiling location), once with a walk and once without a walk.  Here’s the next set of results:

349 words, June 22 (am), high ceiling, 20 mins walk, Rating 8

259 words, June 24 (pm), low ceiling trailer, end of day, Rating 7

225 words, June 27 (am), high ceiling, 40 min walk, Rating 5 (Boo!! – but notice the 3 day gap in time)

372 words, June 28^th (am) outside, 30 mins walk, Rating 7 (highest word count)

357 words, June 29 (am), basement, no walk (raining), Rating 6

I noticed my word count and my creativity scale both dropped if I took a few days off from writing. It also dropped when I tried to write in the evening (on June 24) instead of the morning.  

It also appears that even short walks of 20 minutes (see June 22) seem to boost the creativity.  Days with no walk, my creativity scale dropped to 6 on both occasions.

And space?  I think it has no effect at all.  Yes, my highest rating was June 28^th , writing outside, but writing outside also produced of one of my lowest rating on June 13^th, the first day of this experiment.  The lowest word count day was June 27^th, writing in a high ceiling room.  The three highest days were inside (and one in my basement room – what??) but they were also in a row on the second week.  

So how can you boost your creativity in your writing?  Here’s my list:

1.  Write every day. I know you’ve heard this before but my experiment shows that writing 15 minutes every day will improve your word count AND your creativity. Set the timer for a designated time (I use the morning) and keep at it.  

2. Walk before you write. Maybe have this as part of your daily practice.  Walk and Write for 15 minutes. Not only will you get some writing in, you’ll feel better too. Even a short walk counts. 

3.  Daydream with a purpose. When I started writing more regularly, even for those fifteen minutes, I found myself daydreaming about my story, often while I walked. This help poke my creative brain to be ready when I sat down to write. Don’t force it, just let your brain wander. 

4.  Don’t stress about your space! What is more important is to have a space, any space, to write in every day. Infuse this space with your creative thoughts and practice. 

I challenge you to copy my experiment. Not because I doubt my results (although I would love to know if anyone else gets the same or different results) but because it gave me a purpose to write every day.  Even when I didn’t feel like it, I told myself I needed to write for this experiment. It got me into a writing practice again.

Why I love math: At a average of 300 words per 15 minutes every day, if I continued for a year, this would be 300 x 352 days = 105,600 words! No excuses for not having enough time to write a novel.  

After finishing this experiment, I went back to my current work in progress which had stalled. Armed with the knowledge that writing every day would boost my creativity, I focused on keeping my fifteen minutes of writing (and in my basement room, no less!). The words are flowing again and those fifteen minutes sometimes creep into twenty and then thirty minutes until I have to stop so I can get to my paid work on time.  

Happy writing!