Writing Skills | How to Polish Your Creativity and Graduate from "Boring Writing"

I'm Eri Kurata. Recently, while providing e-book support, I've been receiving more and more consultations like this.

I understand... Now that sharing information has become the norm, it's an era where you'll be buried if you just write. And when you think, "I want to convey something," you inevitably think, "I have to explain it!" and as a result, the writing ends up feeling "a bit boring..."

This time, I will talk about the source of inspiration that breaks through that "boring" feeling.
I will talk about how to polish your "creativity."

■ Creativity = The "Inspiration" That Comes After Accumulation

Creativity is often thought of as "the power for a genius to suddenly come up with an amazing idea," but in reality, it is a more grounded power that resides in everyone.

When you look up creativity on the internet, it is written as something like,the power to combine existing knowledge and experience within yourself to create something completely new...

I used the expression "source of inspiration" earlier, but in fact, creativity is not something that suddenly pops out of nowhere.

It is a feeling that it is something that descends upon you one day after you have accumulated a lot of learning, thought about it, worried about it, and kept thinking, "How can I make this better?" I believe it is not something born from nothing, but something that exists after maturation.

According to the British scholar Graham Wallas, the process of creativity consists of the following four stages.

It's a bit like fermenting and baking bread, isn't it?

Whether it's writing, art, or a product, people are moved when their hearts are touched. I think that for creativity, not only knowledge but also the power to notice beauty and the power to receive emotions are very important.

“This flow feels good.”
“These words stay in my heart somehow.”

Touching things like that. I think that is the first step.

■ Steps to Polish Creativity

Having said that, I think there is also a feeling that "isn't having a knack for it just about sense or talent?"

In fact, there is a clear process for creative output, and the basis for this is the "six levels of the cognitive domain" proposed by the American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom.

This time, I will break down these six levels into steps for polishing your writing skills and explain them.

[1] Remember

・Recall, memorize, and list knowledge

The first step is to "just keep inputting."

・Take notes on words that left an impression
・Extract famous phrases from books you've read
・Recall phrasing you like

What's important here is to memorize what you felt along with the information.

Instead of just rote memorization of knowledge, if you focus on "why was I drawn to this expression?" or "why does this structure feel comfortable?", you can build up a reserve of sensibility. At first, it's recommended to just jot down what you felt using simple words, like "it feels nostalgic" or "it sounds sophisticated."

[2] Understand

・Explain the meaning and summarize

Next, try to "explain the knowledge you've gained in your own words."

・Try summarizing someone else's post or article
・Try telling someone else what was written
・Try thinking, "If I had to put it in one word, what would it be?"

What grows here is your reading comprehension and summarization skills. Be careful, as skipping this stage often leads to becoming someone who "reads but cannot write." For example, posting a summary of a book you've read on social media is also good training.

[3] Apply

・Actually use it and try substituting it

Once you understand it, try substituting it into your own themes or genres.

・Try writing your own story using a structure you like
・Try using someone else's metaphor with your own episode
・If it's know-how, try developing it in your own specialized field

When I had writing assignments in university lectures, I used to imitate the metaphors and sentence endings often used by my favorite novelists... (Thinking about it now, it's a bit embarrassing, but I'm sure that helped build the skills I have today).

Creativity is not "creating from scratch," but the power to reconstruct things using your own experience and worldview. Let's slide the words we know into our daily lives and use them!

[4] Analyze

・Break it down and consider the relationships・Decipher the structure

Once you've reached this point, try analyzing in detail "why it resonated."

・Which part of the text moved your emotions?
・In what order did the story progress?
・What is the intent behind the structure and tempo?

This is training to shift from the perspective of a reader to the "mind of a writer." People who write creative texts are conscious not just of "feeling," but also of "structure." In other words, being "emotional" alone is not enough.

If you read a lot of books, you should be able to find commonalities, such as "prefaces usually say things like this" or "afterwords feel like this." My publishing course curriculum also incorporates many such insights.

[5] Evaluate

・Judge and assign value to your own writing and the expressions of others

At this stage, it is important to read the text you have written from the "reader's perspective."

・For whom does this text have value, and what kind of value is it?
・Is it written in a way that anyone can understand?
・Which parts are difficult to understand? Are they redundant? Are they hard to empathize with?

What is needed here is a perspective of "improvement," not "criticism." Creativity is further honed by nurturing your "inner editor." It is also recommended to show it to someone else and get feedback.

[6] Create

・Output using your own writing style, structure, and worldview

After going through the five stages up to this point, the final step is finally "creation."

If you try to create suddenly, you might spin your wheels or end up with something empty. However, if you follow the steps, you will surely arrive at a piece of writing that only you can write.

・Not in someone else's words, but in your own
・Not with superficial correctness, but with true feelings
・Based on experience, not just knowledge

This is exactly what "human writing" is—something AI cannot imitate.

■ To foster creativity

Finally... I would also like to touch upon the things that stop your creativity.

That is,the assumption that "it should be this way."

"I have to do it properly."
"I must not make mistakes."
"Maybe I can't do it."

When you have such habits of thought, you lose the space to imagine freely.

Therefore, I want you to try working on this while keeping your mind free, relaxed, and having fun. I realized this when someone told me, but in this day and age, even if you think "it's embarrassing to post on social media or something," it's just a matter of deleting it later (most people will have forgotten about it anyway).

Creativity is a skill. It is something anyone can reach if they take it step by step. To polish your sensibilities, structural steps are also necessary. Every time you repeat that flow within yourself, your words will be polished, and they should become "creative writing" that is uniquely yours.

Don't rush, be careful, and take it one step at a time. Please try to enjoy the process.

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