Feeling stuck sucks. How do you get past a creative block when you’re brainstorming? I want to help you learn how to ask the right question so you can find inspiration and move forward.
What is A Wrong Question?
The first thing you have to do is realize that you are asking the wrong question. This is the hardest part. What is a wrong question, and why is it a problem?
A wrong question can result from a number of things, which we’ll cover below. We ask the wrong question when we get fixated on approaching a problem from one direction, in one way. What happens is we keep getting stuck in the same place or with something that doesn’t quite fit.
This is a problem in any area of life. Let’s say your kid is having tons of trouble in math. We might spend more and more time studying with them, but it might not make a difference. This can get amazingly frustrating. The temptation is to work harder and harder and study more. In this situation everyone gets more and more frustrated, and no progress is made. But what if it turned out that your kid just needed glasses? Or maybe it’s not a what but a where: they might need to study in a different location to get a better result instead of simply studying for longer and longer periods.
Lets go for a creative example. I’ve worked on a site before and I just couldn’t get the look right. I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I tried using different colors on my website, different fonts, different layouts. But then I tried a new approach. I switched over to a new grid system and it was like magic. Everything fell into place.
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Creative Process: How Classic Simpsons Episodes Were Written
Hi friend! This post is a continuation of a series of posts on creative writing as a team. Have you read the other posts?
I am an unabashed fan of the Simpsons. I think overall this show has been one of the consistently funny and best written shows on television. Nearly everyone seems to agree that this applies to the “classic ” years of the series. Where these years land may be debatable, but some range within the first ten years is usually considered among the best. Years 3-8 are highly lauded.
There was a great series recently on Splitsider.com. I would highly suggest you check it out, even if you’re not a big Simpsons fan, but especially if you are. As a part of the series, Simpsons writer Bill Oakley took time to explain how their writing process worked, as well as break down the whole process for one particular episode. Read More »