How Does One Learn To Be Creative? Serious creative deficiency here.

[rob86 2]

I have a serious creativity problem here. I want to enjoy doing creative things such as writing stories or poetry, composing music or running a useful webpage, etc. The problem is, my creativity is extremely lacking. I know I'm not incapable of doing something, but the original ideas are quite lacking and even when I do have an original idea, I convince myself it's stupid anyway and every 'creative session' ends up in frustration with me thinking that I'm bankrupt in the area of originality.It seems like the harder I try to do something, the more determined I am, the less the ideas flow and the less satisfied I am with anything I do. When I sit down and say, well I'm going to write a nice poem, I just stare at a blank screen/page for an hour writing and erasing and writing and erasing and eventually give up. When I try to start out on my webpage and try to think of ideas, it always ends with me thinking "Nobody will use this, this has already been done the idea isn't even original, this is stupid". I really cannot seem to do anything creative, either that or I'm just always unsatisfied with everything I do. I know I have the ability to be creative but I don't know how to use that ability.I'm up to almost $40 in MyCents and I still haven't even decided on what to call my webpage! That's how uncreative I am!Help?

[rvalkass 5]

I have a serious creativity problem here. I want to enjoy doing creative things such as writing stories or poetry, composing music or running a useful webpage, etc. The problem is, my creativity is extremely lacking. I know I'm not incapable of doing something, but the original ideas are quite lacking and even when I do have an original idea, I convince myself it's stupid anyway and every 'creative session' ends up in frustration with me thinking that I'm bankrupt in the area of originality.

The problem is not necessarily a lack of creativity, but a lack of inspiration. I sometimes have the same problem when designing websites, and the solution is to look around for inspiration. I have a collection of websites now that regularly post lists of well-designed sites, and I occasionally turn to them in moments of mental blocks to look for colours, design aspects and ideas. My girlfriend likes writing poetry, but had the same problem - so we set up a free poetry review/sharing website for people to get inspiration from, comment on poems, get criticisms and help, etc.

Convincing yourself your ideas are stupid, wrong or just generally not very good is also a common problem - hence the need to get other people to look at what you're doing and tell you how other people see your work. I often ask other people to look at my web designs for their criticisms, and they're often very different to what I think. The same applies to art, poetry, creating writing, anything. Get your work out there and get other people to look at it, comment and criticise. Yes, some of what you do will actually be rubbish but you'll get help to improve it. Some stuff you do will be brilliant and you won't have noticed. Do the same for other people - let them know what you think of their work, and it will help you improve yours.

It seems like the harder I try to do something, the more determined I am, the less the ideas flow and the less satisfied I am with anything I do. When I sit down and say, well I'm going to write a nice poem, I just stare at a blank screen/page for an hour writing and erasing and writing and erasing and eventually give up. When I try to start out on my webpage and try to think of ideas, it always ends with me thinking "Nobody will use this, this has already been done the idea isn't even original, this is stupid".

I know this is cliched and not overly helpful, but you need to let it happen naturally. Keep a notebook nearby at home, work, when you go out, whatever. When you think of something, jot it down so it isn't forgotten. You can then look back over your ideas when you need them, throw out the useless ones and improve on the promising ones. And write everything down - even if it seems rubbish at the time, your perception of it can change with time, or it could be better out of its original context.

Websites are slightly different as they have to be functional and offer something new. Websites geared towards your local population are always a good start, as you can directly target a market with something they need, and you already know quite a lot about the area. Alternatively, start a new service that you've always wanted to see, or something slightly improved on that already exists. Writing about what you know, like a hobby or skill, is always a good idea - expertise and passion always show through and help add to the credibility and usefulness of a site. You'd also be surprised just who does read your site, however unread you may believe it to be - I was amazed to be contacted by Vodafone after posting a rant about them on my blog that I thought no-one actually read!