Nothing New Here!

Nothing New Here!

Saying there’s a right way to write creatively feels wrong. I don’t think there’s one way to navigate the general writing process but there are a few fundamentals we can probably all agree on: scribble ideas, link ideas, draft ideas, walk away, revise ideas, and edit ideas . . . That said, creative writing is a different kind of beast. It’s not completely fictitious nor does it have to be, despite what one web search definition of creativity suggests: ‘the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.’ Original ideas? Imagination? How about a medley of things we already know? Rearranged.

The creative writing process has been on my mind a lot! Having written two full-length fiction novels and begun a third, I can say that my writing process is not fixed. It’s forever evolving, but in this blog post, I’d like to share one thing that remains constant; my creative process flows from what I already know. Again, maybe a better definition of creativity should be the piecing together of experience, and how that evokes new versions of originality.

I believe Ernest Hemmingway said, “write what you know.” So, quite literally, I build fictitious worlds around morsels, but quite often, full-blown truths that I’ve experienced. Maybe I’ve oversimplified Hemmingway’s meaning, but then again, maybe not.

Voice of the Red Dragonfly is located in Toronto, ON, a city I once called home, and Halifax, NS, is where I have family. And the majority of book 2, Aces and Orange Peels, takes place in beautiful Seville, Spain, a place my heart is drawn to, and I’ll happily visit over and over again if given the chance. I’ve lived and breathed these locations, so if your imagination eludes you, drawing from literal experience isn’t a creative writing cop-out, it’s truth—recreated.

Even though I create new buildings, and oftentimes change street names, I do keep major geographical landscapes and the integrities of famous establishments intact, paying homage where homage is due. I also use my mannerisms; gesticulations and movements as they relate to describing how a character interacts with their world. As much as you can draw from your own life for inspiration, you can also sympathetically observe other people’s experiences, and just as easily draw from those when imagination fails you, most writers are ‘observers,’ and used to witnessing subtleties. Writing them down is just an easy next step.

I follow tried and true tropes and do my best to create high and low points, but all of these come from some assemblage of experience—rearranged to create something new.

 I’m aware some dictionary definitions do a better job of conveying the meaning of creativity and some offer more inclusive definitions of what the creative process entails, but the aforementioned doesn’t suffice, and I see it lacking in definition time and time again.

So, for those of you that feel your creativity is lacking, know that CrEaTiViTy, first and foremost, stems from our understanding of the world around us, enough so that we can change it and mould it into something new. So, whether your creative piece is revolutionary, full of imaginative places and characters, drastically relatable to our ordinary world, or a reinvention of this world or another, altered or created to sustain new perspectives, tropes and plots . . . you’re creating and guess what? It’s nothing new. Just a simple or sometimes elaborate recreation of things you already know!