It can be amazing to look at a picture, hear some music or see a film and wonder at how people get their ideas AND do something with them.
And every now and then you might come across a technique you can borrow when you need a way to come up with a new idea. Here are a couple you might want to try.
You may have read the book “Girl with a pearl earring” by Tracy Chevalier, or seen the recent film. What the author did was look at something that exists and wonder ‘what might have happened to get to here’. She then wrote a great story about Vermeer and how the painting came into existence. Could you use this same technique? Well, you probably do already. After all, most people are great at post-rationalisation! But seriously, if you have a project to plan you might try imagining – as clearly and in as much detail as you can – the outcome you want, then ask yourself ‘How did we get here? What did we do to get this result?’.
A variation comes from the author P.D James. Her book ‘The Black Tower’ was inspired by a real scene of cliffs, sea and an old folly and wondering ‘What is missing? What would I need to add to make this complete?’. Give it a try.
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