There is an abundance of books on the market about creativity. The authors include psychologists, education experts, advertising professionals, and managers of leading brands. On the subject of creativity and how to stimulate novel ideas, everyone is entitled to their theories. But in the end one book is probably enough, as creativity is simply about "going against the grain" and "reading."
When psychology addresses the question of whether a person is creative, it generally asks whether the person likes novelty (is curious), has rich associative powers (imagination), can think in an unfettered manner (fluency), can respond to new situations with novel ideas (flexibility), can come up with previously unseen approaches or opinions (innovation), and has precise thinking and is able to provide supporting opinions (precision). Perhaps to these can be added being able to face criticism, not shrinking before obstacles, and a can-do attitude.
In other words, creative people are not only open-minded by nature, but technically speaking oriented towards lateral thinking: "what if," rather than reasoning in terms of logical cause and effect. What is more, this type of lateral associative thinking can be trained.
"Creativity is an attitude, a habit, and because it can be trained it has a method," wrote local trends expert Jan Hung-chih more than ten years ago in his book Idea Man, a title that has become a Chinese-language classic. Leaving aside environmentally conditioned issues, Jan began by considering his personal experiences, stressing that creativity can be fostered within oneself before finding outside expression. The methods he used to cultivate creativity in himself included observing street scenes; forcing himself to recall scenes visually in the way chess masters can remember important game moves throughout their lives; switching to his left hand to brush his teeth as a way to counter habitual behaviors, and so on. What such tasks have in common is that they demand that we "go against the grain," and "question the unquestioned."
Any discussion of creativity inevitably leads to the question of observation. But, observes Jan: "Observation is not a talent, but the result of patient, conscious training over a long period."
Speaking at the Creative Education Exposition about the sources of creative ideas, Hirokane Kenshi, a well-known Japanese manga author who is much-loved by Taiwan bibliophiles, and whose works include A Salaryman Story, and fellow manga author Fujisawa Toru, creator of Great Teacher Onizuka, agreed that ideas come from one's surroundings, and that a little extra attention paid to one's environment would be rewarded by inspiration.
Now 57, Hirokane said that as a child he saw many movies with his father. Afterwards, he would make drawings based on his impressions-a classic example of visual thinking. After obtaining a degree from the Graduate School of Law at Waseda University, Hirokane initially aspired to be a journalist, but as fate would have it, he ended up employed as a PR specialist in the publicity department at Panasonic. After working there for three years, he left to concentrate on writing. A Salaryman Story is a work that draws on his observations of the workplace during his stint at the company. More than 20 years after the series began, it remains a bestseller.
Hirokane most frequently seeks inspiration in restaurants, soaking up the view, often remaining for an entire afternoon watching people come and go. If, for example, a couple arrive whose conversation suggests they are not married, his imagination might be stimulated by subtle "under-the-table" gestures that suggest they are amorously involved. This is what many creative people term the "coffee shop effect."
However, it is sometimes very difficult for observation to transcend the limitations of personal experience. For students lacking life and work experience, the best answer is to read, though this reading must be undertaken free of pressure.
National Yang-Ming University professor Daisy Lan Hung points out that, according to a US survey on the relationship between literary inspiration, imagination and creativity, from 1800 to 1850, for every 25 pages in a typical children's book, there was one page about aspiration and imagination. Meanwhile, during that 50-year period, ten patents were produced for every 1 million people. From 1850 to 1900, as society gradually became more prosperous, every 25 pages of such books contained an average of 11 pages dealing with imagination, entrepreneurship, and inspiring messages, and the number of patents leapt to 70 per million population. There is apparently a strong correlation between the ability to create patentable inventions and the content of books.
Many psychologists believe that invention is merely the fusion of common sense and an untrammeled imagination. Imagination can be likened to a competition to innovate that takes place in a person's mind.
In The Silence of the Lambs, a psychiatrist accused of murder is imprisoned. He is not permitted to read any books, but plays games in his mind, picturing himself walking into a labyrinth or a library, and deriving great enjoyment from it.
For a creative person, the secret for stimulating inspiration is reading widely, traveling extensively, storing ideas in the bottomless receptacle of the mind, and finding joy in the process of imagining.
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