The creative process is THE most successful process for accomplishment in history. (Location 59)
Creativity deals with idea generation, lateral thinking, brainstorming, and similar techniques, processes that are not used in the arts. These ideas are popular within management circles, and should not be confused with the long tradition of the creative process. (Location 61)
the underlying structure of anything will determine its behavior. (Location 64)
Energy moves where it is easiest to go. (Location 70)
If we took you out of that structure and put anyone else in the same structure, they would act the same way. (Location 72)
Music works by setting up certain structural tendencies that create a sense of movement. (Location 77)
An archer is setting up a structure in which the path of least resistance is to reach the target. (Location 79)
the underlying structure they form before they enter into the creative process will enable them, no matter what the medium, to produce significant works of art. (Location 88)
Sometimes artists do make new connections between old and new ideas. Most often, that’s not what’s going on. (Location 107)
these books are about the technical aspects of the art form they are addressing. So where is the talk about the creative process? It is implied between the lines. (Location 112)
in her book The Creative Habit as she writes about how she thinks, how she disciplines her art, how she plans, designs, and executes her choreography. (Location 115)
Yet, throughout history, masters of the creative process have believed all kinds of things (Location 119)
There are too many books that are simply a non-artist’s idea of what’s going on in the creative process. (Location 123)
the arts, rather than freeing the mind, we focus the mind. We set up a strategic tension-resolution system formed by the difference between a vision of the final piece we want to create, and where we are at any moment in the process. (Location 138)
The tension we are talking about is structural. It is not stress, anxiety, pressure, or strain. It is the same type of tension that we find in a stretched bow aiming an arrow at a target. (Location 140)
But most artists have countless ideas during any average day. (Location 147)
It is bringing those ideas into being that counts. (Location 148)
The creativity people think that the more unusual the idea, the more creative. In the arts, there is a different standard of measurement. It is the ability to accomplish the artist’s vision. (Location 149)
Does West Side Story seem any less creative since the original idea came from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? (Location 153)
During the period when Bach composed, most of his contemporaries thought his music was not very original. In fact, they thought it was rather old fashioned. And perhaps it was. But it was also some of the most magnificent music ever written. (Location 155)
Originality means nothing. It is the power of the artistic vision that counts. (Location 158)
What will always matter is the substance of the artwork, not its style. (Location 160)
First, energy follows the path of least resistance. Second, the underlying structure will determine that path. Third, we can change the underlying structure, and thereby change the path of least resistance. (Location 165)
When people talk about “creative block,” what they are experiencing is that their underlying structure is not supportive of their creative process. Change the underlying structure and suddenly the so-called “blocks” disappear. (Location 170)
I’ve come across a book that is so ridiculous that I feel it’s hard not to gripe about. The book in question is The War on Art by Steven Pressfield. The major idea of the book is this: if you want to create, you need to overcome some deeply held, built-in resistance. Where does this resistance come from according to Pressfield? He says that he believes in God, and resistance is evil, pure and simple. So, “It’s the devil that made you NOT do it.” I (Location 173)
Funny thing about reality, it always turns out to be real. (Location 194)
If you are an artist, you do not have resistance you need to overcome. You simply need to understand how to set up your underlying structure in such a way that the path of least resistance leads to creating the work you want to create. (Location 194)
laziness, that much-maligned human quality, seen by many as a terrible character flaw, is one of the true mothers of invention. (Location 207)
laziness poses this question: isn’t there a better way to do this thing? That’s a different question from: how can I get out of doing this thing? (Location 209)
laziness is often joined at the hip with high aspiration. (Location 211)
You want to achieve something that matters to you, and that, combined with a good dose of laziness, motivates you to rethink your basic fixed premises. (Location 211)
“There’s got to be a better way,” often leads to new strategic steps in which radical ideas sometimes cause dramatic changes. (Location 213)
The goal is not creativity as such, but an economy of means, like mathematical elegance, creating the result in fewer or different steps. (Location 218)
The world’s first electronic-digital computer was built back in the late 1930s by Professor John Atanasoff, along with graduate student Clifford Berry. He said, “I was too lazy to calculate and so I invented the computer.” (Location 220)
After watching them, and because the saw worked only when moving in one direction, she realized that part of their efforts were wasted. So, she invented the circular saw. (Location 222)
Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker, cousins in the furniture business, thought that sitting up straight took far too much effort, so they invented their own reclining chair. They (Location 224)
Benjamin Franklin once said that he was the laziest man in the world. “I invented all those things to save myself from toil.” (Location 227)
Bill Gates has often been quoted as having said, “I always choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” (Location 229)
Another mother of invention is that conventional means are not available. (Location 231)
No matter how secure they are as people, artists are insecure about their art. Just comes with the territory. (Location 272)
in reality, we can live quite nicely without art. We don’t make art because we need it. We make it because we love it. (Location 277)
for the artist, the love predates the situation. The filmmaker loves the film before the film is made. The painter loves the painting before paint touches canvas. The choreographer loves the dance before it exists. (Location 278)
To the artist, to make art is one of the most special things one can do in life. (Location 281)
if you set up certain tensions, the piece will move from something to something else – from an original condition to a new condition. Injustice – to the overcoming of injustice. They hate each other – they love each other. They don’t care – they do care. They are hopeful – but later their dreams are crushed. It is loud – it is soft. (Location 293)
it is also a major dimension in art forms that do not move in time and sequence such as paintings, photographs, sculptures, and graphic designs. This is done by setting up visual tensions with strong diagonals, color contrasts, and textural changes. (Location 297)
The mind perceives the dynamic and, because of the tension, becomes involved. (Location 300)
The writers of non-fiction, poetry, and fiction do not control the specific duration of a piece, but they do control the sequence in which dramatic tensions can engage the reader. (Location 300)
The best writers of the age knew how to incorporate strategic tensions in their descriptions of scenery and weather so as to move the story ahead, even though the action of the main characters might be delayed. (Location 303)
the director decides to put in an action scene to create more excitement. Seger points out that the action scene actually slows down the feeling of movement even more because there is a longer delay to the next point where the story changes. The tension of the story is weakened and the feeling of forward movement is lost. (Location 307)
Whatever your art form, you need to create and control the tensions within your piece. (Location 310)
natural systems obtain their organization and energy from the interaction of opposites,” (Location 314)
On a biological level, we see it in the contrast of male and female (Location 316)
nature strives for equilibrium. It wants to end all differences. Hot wants to cool to room temperature, Cold wants to warm to room temperature, ending all differences in temperature. (Location 324)
A plane flies based upon a tension-resolution system called the Bernoulli principle. (Location 326)
Tension is formed by the difference between one thing and another. (Location 333)
Equilibrium is neither good nor bad. It is like gravity. It is a force in play that artists can use in their art. Like gravity, it is a force that motivates movement and involvement. (Location 338)
This is an example of the strategic use of contrasts to set up tensions: Priest in white brings her in; priest in black tells her to leave. The others ask for something for themselves, the Romi girl asks God to take all she has so others are helped. (Location 349)
Paul McCartney explained to his aide Alistair Taylor how he wrote songs. He said, “Give me a word.” Taylor said, “Hello.” McCartney said, “Goodbye.” Taylor said, “Yes,” McCartney said, “No.” (Location 351)
study song lyrics and notice the strategic use of contrasts the lyricists use. (Location 368)
One typical contrast is a before and after the love interest comes into the protagonist’s life. Before it was not good after the lover comes, things are very good: (Location 369)
Many contrasts are in the form of a direct this or that. (Location 380)
When you structure contrasts in your work, you will be able to create competently, no matter what kind of day you are having. (Location 400)
Painters think about light and dark, opposite colors, textural differences. (Location 402)
Composers think about high and low pitches, loud and soft, fast and slow, contrasting harmonic patterns. (Location 402)
Filmmakers think about a protagonist and an opposition. (Location 403)
Photographers think about the foreground, middle, and background. (Location 403)
One exercise I teach in my workshop for artists is this one. I invite you to try it out. (Location 406)
These types of sentences have little built-in engines in them, moving energy forward. (Location 426)
Check out your favorite writers and notice how they position contrasts in their work. (Location 427)
no matter what your medium, you can take something you have developed in the piece, and then create a contrast. (Location 428)
If your lead character is hesitant, his sidekick can want to dive right in. (Location 431)
Once the contrast exists, you have a place to go. You have a useful tension that will strive for resolution. You have a dynamic with a structural tendency to move. (Location 432)
Yin and Yang is a phenomenon in which a whole divides itself into two contrasting parts of itself: winter/summer, masculine/feminine, (Location 443)
The Yang is the thrust of the creative process, focused on driving forward to realize and accomplish a specific outcome, perhaps a piece of music, a film, a building, a business, a product, some technology, etc. This element is highly focused, directive, active, generative, and goal-oriented. But the Yin within the context of this vigorous drive is a yielding open space, a vacuum, a kind of nothingness in which something may enter. It is non-directive and receptive. (Location 450)
When we create, we are doing two things that can seem opposite. We are actively focusing the creative process toward a particular aim, the full manifestation of the vision, while, at the same time, allowing ourselves to be aimless and non-directive. We are narrow and wide, active, and passive at the very same time. (Location 456)
Examples of this state are found when we watch the Rolling Stones perform, or view great actors, surgeons, writers, dancers, project managers, race car drivers, fighter pilots, Olympic athletes, (Location 458)
These people have mastered the art of being completely focused, while at the same time, completely relaxed. (Location 459)
Neither approach can be productive. We need to have both elements, which means to narrow our attention on what we are creating, while, at the very same time, broaden our awareness to allow unimagined insight to surface. (Location 464)
Actors, dancers, musicians, painters, singers, and a host of other artists (and athletes) learn how to “stop trying to hold on to the situation they are in” by learning how to relax. (Location 468)
The artist has a goal, wants circumstances to be consistent with his or her vision, but, accomplishes the goal without an attempt to manipulate conditions. (Location 474)
at the same time, not trying to hold anything together, letting the process do its job as we do our job. (Location 479)
You can become the predominant creative force in your life partly by not having to (Location 480)
You may find you are capable of very hard work on behalf of your aspirations, but you are not rigidly and obsessively attempting to manipulate yourself or the situation. You are both open and concentrated, liberated but determined, Yin and Yang. (Location 482)
Your chances of success increase dramatically by having these two elements in play within your creative process. (Location 484)
Life feels more spacious, precious, open, interesting, forward-moving without being frantic, effective without being desperate, richer, lovelier, and more awe-inspiring than (Location 485)
the tension the pianist creates in his or her fingers comes before the note is played. (Location 505)
This may be one of the most important principles you can get from this book: to establish structural tension first, and, from that, generate your art as a resolution of that tension. (Location 506)
Structural tension comes from the contrast between your desired state and the actual state of your piece. (Location 512)
Your vision does not need to be perfectly fully developed for it to be the organizing principle of your piece. But it has to be specific. (Location 517)
He said that the first time the actress had a general idea of searching, but it wasn’t real because it wasn’t specific. The second time, it was specific. (Location 530)
you must know what you want to create. (Location 533)
Drawing or painting, he had a very clear sense of the painting he was making. (Location 542)
For him, reality is found in each individual human being. Every single person’s existence is reality and the group identity is merely a convenient conceptual construct that doesn’t really exist. (Location 554)
This question is important because it will define how you approach your artistic life. (Location 556)
Most artists are Aristotelian, in that they cannot produce a work of writing, music, dance, photography, painting, or a film by some generalized ideals and concepts. They need to understand the actual specific piece they are creating. (Location 559)
concepts get in the way of artistic vision. (Location 562)
We are better at creating when we rid ourselves of ideals, concepts, and abstract generalizations. (Location 563)
We don’t compose music, we compose a piece of music. We don’t make paintings, we paint a painting. We don’t write novels, we write a novel. (Location 565)
we create a unique universe in which the audience can live. (Location 567)
Georgia O’Keeffe said: When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. (Location 570)
I don’t think the audience has suspended reason or awareness when they are reading, listening, or watching fiction. When the audience is watching a film, they know they are watching a film. When they are sitting in the audience of a play, they are completely aware that they are watching a play. The question is how convincing is the universe that the artist has created? (Location 581)
not suspended anything. Instead, we have enjoyed the world that Lucas manufactured for us. (Location 587)
The audience will fully engage if the universe you create has its own integrity, its own rules that are consistent within itself, independent of how the world really works. It also needs to be worth spending time with. (Location 588)
Hotel California, a song that creates a fantastic sense of its own universe, (Location 591)
It grows and develops throughout the creative process. But as it develops, it will be consistent with your original sense of it. (Location 598)
While the vision may transform as you create the piece, the essence of the original iteration of it will always be there in one form or another. (Location 603)
This is not to say you can’t change your mind. But if you do, you’re making a different piece. (Location 605)
there is a period that could be called a “pre-vision” stage. (Location 607)
I will design the story around the actors. (Location 614)
All of these contrasts are just notes I make to myself about how to manage the relationships and plot points of the story, which I still haven’t written. (Location 639)
The next thing I did was layout the dramatic conflicts. One way of describing a film’s dramatic conflict is that you have a protagonist and an opposition. The protagonist is a sympathetic character who wants something. The opposition wants the same thing (they both want the girl,) or wants the opposite thing (He wants to save the rainforest and the opposition wants to build a coal-burning electric plant and cut down all of the trees.) That then becomes the dramatic tension-resolution system that drives the story. (Location 640)
I use the 3-act form found in many films around the world. (Location 644)
I learned it, first from Syd Field’s classic book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. (Location 645)
At the end of Act l, Act ll, and Act lll there will be a reversal. The reversal at the end of Act l resolves in the beginning of Act ll. The reversal at the end of Act ll resolves in the beginning of Act lll. The reversal at the end of Act lll is the story’s final dramatic climax, and that resolves by the ending. Each reversal becomes more intense and serious. Overall, each act itself is a tension-resolution system, with the overall tension growing throughout the film. (Location 650)
So far, I haven’t written the script. But, in typical Russian Piano Technique style, I’ve worked out the overall tensions of the story, and now I’m ready to write. (Location 657)
Writing the actual script comes from the release of tension that all of the planning had generated. (Location 660)
I approached it like a musician. I practiced a lot between classes, and little by little, I was able to make the types of paintings I wanted, (Location 706)
He then drew a wider curve that I had, and suddenly the image on my paper resembled the model. He was teaching me to see what was there to see, and from that, develop eye-hand coordination. (Location 713)
No matter what type of artist you are, visual, writing, music, dance, theater, film, you need to become a student of reality. (Location 714)
I have a very famous friend who, in his work, deals with theory and philosophy. One day he said a very interesting thing. He said that the difference between philosophy and art is that, in art, you have to create an artifact. In other words, a true work of art that exists as a fact. (Location 716)
“Creativity has much to do with experience, observation and imagination, and if one of those key elements is missing, it doesn’t work.” (Location 720)
“It was impossible now for me to observe anything without being observed.” He said his creative process had suffered from this missing factor. (Location 721)
vision without reality or reality without vision does not yield enough structural tension to bring a creation into being. (Location 723)
originality of the artist vision is irrelevant in the artist process. (Location 725)
an aspect of the creative process that is essential, and that is clearly seeing reality as it is, warts and all. (Location 726)
For the writer, it is reaching penetrating truth. (Location 728)
An important book for artists of all types, even though it is about theater, is The Empty Space by Peter Brook. (Location 731)
It is what Hemingway meant when he talked about writing that one true sentence. (Location 735)
An artist—any artist, rich or poor, successful or not—has to delve deeply into the truth of themselves. It takes the deepest truth there is. You have to dig down, right to the core of yourself, and see it all: the bad, the good, and everything in between. Everything is exposed; there is no place to hide or try to make yourself look good. You can’t hold onto anything—not dignity, self-respect, or faith. These things are all an illusion in light of what you find. It takes a certain strength—maybe even courage—or you can’t get to something real in art that nothing else can touch. (Location 737)
the unlearning that this takes is more demanding than is learning. (Location 761)
It’s this simple, don’t care if what you are creating is good or not. Care about how close your piece comes to your vision. (Location 900)
Nothing is so aggravating as calmness. (Location 1043)
In Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, the first lines tell the story of what people are saying about the protagonist of the song. (Location 1066)
consider your structural possibilities, take editorial control of your tension resolution systems, and create your artistic visions. Break down the elements within your art form, then begin to work out all the possibilities, which can open a broader world to you. (Location 1395)
Sometimes the value of an influence is to go against the style and substance of the influence. (Location 1536)
New ideas, styles, and aesthetics, either in support or opposition to the influence, give the artist something to “play off of.” (Location 1540)
a gigantic laboratory in which several researchers and scientists explore the various possibilities of making art. (Location 1541)
Influences can cross art forms, countries, styles, dogmas, techniques, mediums, and time periods. (Location 1548)
He made all of those types of music fuse into his own original style and changed the music world. (Location 1571)
Much of how one thing leads to another is that the impression an artist has about a style or school of art may not be well-understood at all. But that misunderstanding is a good thing because it gives rise to other styles and movements. (Location 1576)
a new way of making art emerges. It often comes when the previous ways of doing things have become stale to a new generation of artists. (Location 1578)
As an artist, you do not need to be fixed on a single approach to your work. (Location 1594)
rethink every premise you’ve ever had about your art. (Location 1595)
each individual work of art can be its own universe. (Location 1600)
Your individual piece simply needs to be authentic in and of itself. (Location 1602)
If you find an artist you like, it’s a good thing to delve into their body of work deeply. (Location 1617)
better than flipping from one artist to another superficially like a butterfly in flight. (Location 1618)
Don’t pay too much attention to their biographies. (Location 1619)
All you need to know is in the works of art themselves. Let them speak to you. Let yourself absorb their spirit and sensibility. (Location 1620)
The artist’s interaction with the world is the stage upon which art is created. (Location 3359)
anything that makes it possible for you to create your vision as you envision it is part of your job. (Location 3364)
The best way to use a form is to understand the underlying structure of a form. (Location 3434)
What is my offering? Who are my customers? What do they want? What do I want? Is there a match between their wants and mine? How do they know about me? How do they obtain my offering? What is the current market? What is the future market? How will my offering change? Where am I going? (Location 3655)
