Category Archives: Creativity Tools

So You Want to Write a One Person Show, Part 4 of 7

So You Want to Write a One Person Show, Part 4 of 7

So to recap, Part 1 of "So You Want to Write a One Person Show", I spoke about discovering the Central Moment that your show pivots on.  You did free-writing about this pivotal moment and you held it close to your heart, a secret for yourself.  

Part 2 of "So You Want to Write a One Person Show" we looked at the moments that lead up to the Central Moment of your revelation in your solo show.  We explored possible turning points and after effects of the Central Moment, and we looked at possible through lines, the threads that sew your stories together into one cohesive piece.

Part 3, Write write write.  It can be tempting in this phase to feel as if it's time to choose a topic and stick with it.  It may feel like you're taking a new direction or things are "falling apart".  Good.  Stay committed.  Create quantity now and worry about quality later.  "It's all good in the end.  If it's not good, it's not over." 

Part 4, Take a break, play, and contact your muses.  Whether it's closer to standup comedy or closer to melodramatic tragedy (not that I think you're being melodramatic), if you're following the process diligently, you'll find you may have become a little overwhlemed by looking at your life, or this fictional version of your life so intensely.  Of course your show might not be about your life..  it's still going to be intense to sit with all the work that's come through you over the recent past.  

This is a good time to take a little space from your project.  At least three days if not a week.  A good time to nap and write down your dreams, to spend time with friends who both relax and inspire you, who you tell the truth with, to read books that have nothing to do with your project.  A good time to draw or paint something, to make an offering or gift to your muses and ask for their guidance.  Make up a ritual or a ceremony!  Light some candles!  Invite that special puzzle piece, that something more into your work that you could not possibly have come up with on your own.

See a piece of theater or hear a piece of music that is truly brilliant, truly transportive.  Unfocus your eyes, soften your ears.  Understand how this art is specific and universal at the same time.  Grok how  some part of the person who created it bowed their small self to the something greater to come through them.  Perhaps it was a deeper intelligence in their brain or perhaps it was divinity..  It was most certainly something that spoke softer and felt truer than their personality, their habitual way of being, their social conditioning.  In Hindi, the word namastasay means to bow.  Find a way to bow your small self and make way for something greater. 

Ok, now.  Keep a notepad (and pen!!) by your bed, keep one by the shower, keep one in the car.  Before you go to sleep at night, ponder your show for at least ten minutes, as the last thing you do.  When you wake up, first thing, write down your dreams or any ideas relating to your show.  Do this for at least seven days in a row.  Any moment you feel something coming through you, say yes to it.  Write it down.  Write everything down that comes, no matter how silly, how insignificant it seems. 

Alternatively, you may find it helpful to create a time each day to allow this "transmission" to come through.  In that case, chose a time and a place to write for one half hour or one hour each day.  Light a candle or some incense at the start–whatever you need to do to mark this time and space as holy and invite that extra something in.  When you complete your writing for the day, always thank your muses and "close the circle". 

If it feels like things are backwards and confusing right now, this is good.  Anyone can write from A to B.  It's called a diary.  What's happening with you now is that you are breaking some holes in the fabric of your normal understanding so the light can come in and illuminate it.  

Ok, now take each incident or character or vignette in your show and put it on a 3 x 5 card.  Mix them up.  The sequence of your life is now like Dada poetry.  Play around with it for a while.  Scramble it up.  Notice themes and threads you may not have noticed before.  You may start to find an order you like.  Make a note of it but keep scrambling.

Part 5 will be forthcoming.  BTW, I am a real human and this is really being written now, so if you have questions or comments, please write to me and I'll do my best to answer them in future blogs.  I am also a solo show coach and can help you work through blocks and bring what wants to be expressed into being.  Keep up the good work!

Alicia Dattner

Letting Go of Your Inner Censor to Encourage Creativity

Letting Go of Your Inner Censor to Encourage Creativity

I'm just watching this great TED Talk with Tim Brown on creativity.  He's the CEO of Innovation and Design at IDEO and has some amazing information to share about creativity, mescaline, prototyping toys, preschool, the loss of playful thinking that happens through formal education.  It's got me buzzing! 

He's at the 2008 Serious Play conference.  He Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play.

He says that we can be serious AND playful in our adult lives.  What do we need to do that?  Trust to play, and trust to be creative.  We need exploration, building and thinking with our hands, and role-play.  (These are just the end notes…  See the whole video to really get what he's communicating.)

So You Want to Write a One Person Show, Part 2 of 7

So You Want to Write a One Person Show, Part 2 of 7

In my last post, Part 1 of 7 on writing solo shows, I spoke about discovering the Central Moment that your show pivots on.  You did free-writing about this pivotal moment and you held it close to your bosom.  

Writing solo show takes guts.  Mostly, the guts to get out of your own way.  You can still keep it private.  In fact, you could keep it private forever.  You could write this show solely for discovering a truth about yourself.  What is that private truth that you have not even allowed yourself to know about you?  

I have made so much sense of my life in crafting a story arc out of the miscellaneous and non-linear events in my life.  I believe we're hear to find and make meaning.  

Leading Moments

As you explore the Central Moment, begin to write about what led up to it.  What was happening in and around your life?  Who were you before that Moment?  What kind of friends did you spend time with?  What was your family like?  How did you spend your free time?  What kinds of thoughts ran through your head and why?  What did you know to be true about yourself?  Answer each of these questions with an example, a concrete smaller moment that shows us an event occurring.

Turning Points

How did this Central Moment then change your world?  Write about the changes that took place after this event happened.  Write scene after scene.  Don't censor.  Did your thoughts change?  Did your friends change?  Did people react differently to you?  Did you stop going somewhere?  Did you start going somewhere?  What did you start wearing?  A smile?  A purse?  A bathing suit?  A fedora?  All of the above?  Perhaps these changes seem to have nothing to do with your Central Moment.  All the more interesting to note them…

Through Lines

What co-incidences do you notice that have to do with your Central Moment? Begin to keep a journal of co-incidences and synchronicity.  Note each time something comes full circle.  Note the through-lines that string together the random moments in your life relating to this Moment.  Begin to think back to childhood.  What memories from when you were 4 or 7 years old seem to relate to this Moment?  Find the earliest memory that relates to this moment and anchor your through-line with it.  Then, look at your dreams and fantasies of your future.  Which of those have to do with your Moment?  Write about them in concrete ways.  Show, don't tell.  

Write Write Write

During this process, it's imperative that you don't censor yourself.  Set a timer for 10 minutes, and just write.  Don't take the pen off the paper.  Let yourself be surprised.  Know that no one will see it.  Say something to yourself you haven't dared to speak until This Moment.

Ready for Part 3 of 7 on "So You Want to Write a One Person Show"?  Stay tuned!  I'll be writing it in the next few days.

Your Creative Groove

Your Creative Groove

Creativekid
Would you like to feel more productive, more excited, and less like you're pulling teeth while creating your artwork?  It could be as simple as turning your desk to face a window. 

Does it ever seem like you're just not "on your game" and you can't figure out why?  Perhaps you haven't yet found your Creative Groove.  I had a realization recently that changed my whole sense of myself as an artist and creator.  I was feeling discouraged about writing comedy, and not getting that "funny" feeling I get when I something makes me laugh for a while. 

One day, while talking about it with a friend, we started joking and laughing, and I suddenly remembered that I'm funny when I'm with other people!  Things strike me as funny, and I get to share them around people I have fun with–particularly people who I don't feel competitive with or judged by.  That's when I open up, laugh at things, and start to feel the creative juices flowing.  That's also when I pull out my notebook and joke that I'm going to write down what just happened.  My friends laugh, but I really write it all down.  If we "wrote" it together, I ask their permission to talk about it on stage. 

I also know about myself that once I've written notes, I need time on my own to edit, sort things out, and use the other side of my brain to see what else I can fill in.  I also use the time on my own to reflect if what I'm writing about really feels like it's in my "voice" and it's aligned with what I want to say to the world, or if it's really been influenced by that particular group of friends.  Then, I go back to people again–this time an audience–to work on my material next. 

I actually knew how to get into my Creative Groove, but I'd forgotten.  Do you know where to tap into your Creative Groove?  Take some time to answer these questions to help you consider when you feel most creative.  What does your body or heart want to tell you about when it's happiest and most free?  Is it:

Night time? Morning? Afternoon?
Every day, same time?
Big chunks some days? Little bits every day?
Doing it when you don't feel like it and then getting in the groove?
Only when you feel like it?
Do you groove better around people or alone?
Which part of the house? Or maybe a cafe?  Loud cafe or quiet one?
Maybe at a co-working facility?
What foods help you create better?
Are you more creative standing? Walking? Dancing? How about showering?
Do you need to meditate, exercise, eat, sleep, or vent before you're ready to create?

"Would you eat them in a box?  Would you eat them with a fox?"

-Dr. Suess

If feels like Green Eggs and Ham, you're on the right track.  Invest some time getting to know just how you like to work!  You'll be happy you did.

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 5 of 7

How to Actually Manifest Your Dream, Part 5 of 7

Hat
In the last post, you were in the "creation" phase.  Creation is always happening, but it can get blocked, so we did a lot of exercises to make a safe container for the creative part of you to unfold.  As you move into the next phase, keep taking time to be intentionally and spontaneously in creation–free of criticism. 

And now, very gently and clearly, we're going to begin the process of editing.  Many people consider editing to be the most important part of art because this is where we begin to turn toward the idea of our work being received.  Many people consider art incomplete until it is in fact received–that seeing, hearing, or experiencing the work is its last phase of creation, "closing the loop."  I agree with this, but I also feel that for some art works, the maker can also be the best audience.  If we don't please ourselves in our art, we're not doing anyone else any favors!

So here's an exercise to transition yourself temporarily from creator to editor, feeler to thinker: 

Get three actual hats.  Really do this…  Maybe your "creator" hat is big and silly, your "appreciator" hat is beautiful and flowery, and your "editor" hat is like a newspaper editor's? 

Have your "creator" hat on while you're brainstorming, writing, drawing, singing…  After your allotted creating time, take off your creator hat, and put on your "appreciator" hat.  As the appreciator, you will talk to the creator for a few minutes and let her (or him) know how thankful you are to her for being so open and uncensored.  Tell her how it felt (fun? silly? exhilarating?) to be with her, and how happy you are that she has come to play with you.  Tell her that the next step you are going to take is to gather, organize, and edit what she has delivered so you can deliver this gift to the world!  Ask her if she has any requests of how you shape the material.  Ask if she will stay as an observer of the process to help keep the integrity of the work.  When you are done, take your appreciator hat off and put on your editor hat. 

If your creator lives mostly in your second chakra (the pelvis), your appreciator lives mostly in your heart chakra.  Your editor lives in your throat and "third eye" chakras.  Sitting with your back straight so all of your chakras are aligned, begin to look at your work with a warm, clear head.  Look at it as if it's not in fact your work at all, but the work of your best friend.  Begin to sort, clarify, and solidify what's there, seeing the best in it, and looking for places to chip away the extraneous pieces.  Do more cutting than adding.  Finish off your session with a quick flip of the appreciator hat and remind yourself how much great work you've just done and what your purpose in doing this is!

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful
servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has
forgotten the gift."

-Albert Einstein