Strategies for starting something new

Most people struggle with the blank page and starting something new. This episode of the podcast Spark & Fire has snippets from interviews with 5 different people and how they start something new or overcome writers block.

Ann Patchett (novelist): Sneak up on your work

She starts writing something but agrees with her mind beforehand that it is something she will throwaway afterwards which removes the pressure of producing something good.

Domee Shi (Pixar): Don’t think, just draw

She draws her ideas, asks for feedback and refines them. The aim being to get her ideas out of her head and on to paper which then generates more ideas.

Stephen Schwartz (Musicals Composer): Start with the title

He generates a set of titles and then picks a favourite. This performs the base for his work.

Thomas Heatherwick (Designer): Decide what not to do

He looks at what has been done before and aims to do something different. Don’t get stuck in a rut of copying what is working already out there.

Ruben Blades (Sales): Buy a paper

He buys a paper and looks in the classified ads section. He picks an ad then builds a story around that - for example, a bird cage. What happened to the bird? and so on.

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5 Strategies for Starting Something New

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