Joshua Korenblat

How to avoid creative block: three teaching techniques for any creative subject Part one of three: Creative role-playing Many students struggle with the creative process, stumbling upon an impediment that stymies clarity of thought and articulation. In the end, a student may declare sadly that she is just not that creative the narrowing world of adulthood. be as formidable as a block of marble. a judgment that perpetuates itself into e twinned term writers block and artists block has become an almost mythic part of ose who study creativity see a creative block as an unnatural impediment to the ow

creative life, no ma er the experience level or self-perception of the creative practitioner. But a creative block does not need to of creativity that emanates from most people in childhood a ow de ned by a lack of self-awareness and a falling away of time, where hours feel like minutes, and the creator is neither bored nor anxious, but poised perfectly between these two detrimental poles. Creative blocks do not need to be an inevitable part of a well-honed creative process; creative ow, meanwhile, is essential, yet elusive to most people. As a teacher of persuasive communication in writing, art, and graphic design, I seek to demystify the blank page and realize the creative potential of any student, no ma er their years of experience or perceived skill level. Creativity is not the provenance of a small, selective group. In other words, creativity simply means arriving at one answer to a problem when many equally valid answers exist. Although the analysis of accomplished works of art and literature remains fundamental to understanding how we create a persuasive experience, I seek to further acts of creation, not simply explain old ones. In this way, new works of art can be promoted or inspired from exemplars of any given cra . I focus on the cra of persuasive communication and the working process that takes raw material, shapes it, and gives it form, which is shape that conveys inherent meaning. Aristotle called persuasive communication rhetoric, and he said that rhetoric is composed of logos (mind), pathos (heart), and ethos (credibility). Yet even artistic communicators need these elements to create their form of persuasion, which is o en to simply believe in an experience. At each step of the creative journey, my students inhabit multiple roles, and I impress upon them the need to work in a proli c way, to have too much rather than too li le before beginning the process of revision. And most of all, I seek to remove blocks from the initial working process and promote a learning atmosphere of creative ow. While teaching the fundamentals of expository or creative writing, or even graphic design, I ascribe to the working method advocated by Be y Flowers, a former professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. She calls her method, Madperson-Architect- Carpenter-Judge, though I have modi ed it for my own use to Madperson-Genius-Architect Carpenter-Judge. During the process of creation judgment cannot exist at the same moment. in this case, expository writing Flowers believes that creativity and ough judgment is crucial, Flowers wants to nd a way to delay judgment just

for awhile so that the peculiar voice of the judge does not inhibit creativity at the beginning of the working process. Too o en, we allow the judge and the creator to collide, and we cant move forward. Flowers advocates taking one step at a time, roleplaying at each step. Almost like a Confucian disciple in China, whose identity changes depending on roles and relationships at times, one might be a son, a brother, a father, a teacher, a student, and so on Flowers understands that we inhabit myriad roles during the creative process, and we can rely upon the strength of each role while mitigating its weaknesses to see us through to the next step. A er some preliminary research and reading to familiarize oneself with the creative problem, the

Joshua Korenblat

student can look forward to Madperson-Genius-Architect-Carpenter-Judge, and can return to this mnemonic device if she ever feels unsure. e rst step, Madperson, is not quite politically correct, but we all sense someone is mad when they dont edit their thoughts; they vocalize them wildly, with no self-judgment, for everyone to hear. Weve all encountered that person on the subway or know of fabled mad geniuses, talking to birds and unable to de ne dreams from reality, and we know immediately that the madperson memorably disrupts societal conventions. At the beginning of the creative process, the malady of madness can actually be helpful: it allows you to consider possibilities that may prove memorable, delightful, and surprising. e key here: the judge does not speak during this brainstorm, and the brainstorm needs a time limit. We dont want to be the madperson forever just for enough time to catalyze our creativity. Frequently, I ask my graphic design students to create a mind map on an 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper, pu ing a key word at the center, and drawing associative words as branches from the key word all around it. I set a timer for minutes, students frequently have thirty- ve to een minutes and ask the students to ll-up the entire een page. As the page lls up with words, students can draw new branches to words that seem aliated. At the end of the along with the mind map, the Madperson stage could involve proli c yet timed journaling before even considering an argumentative essay format, article, or work of ction. I created the next step, Genius, a er realizing that it can o en be too big of a leap for many students between the Madperson, proli c, wild, and free, and Architect, careful, cool, and blueprinted. A student needs to pause at the end of the Madperson stage, and look over the brainstorm to nd the key words, sentences, and images that inspire. at moment of inspiration is not intellectual or rational; rather, it should be an immediate emotional, even subconscious reaction. For the genius, most of the work from the Madperson stage may continue to feel mad, while some of the work may truly resonate. In this way, the creator can know what material is truly inspiring. She is not simply selecting some material because it is the only material that exists. Inspirational resonance enhances in contrast to other material that remains dim, outlandish, or remote. By working with inspirational material, the creative person can sustain the immediacy of that inspiration for the entire process, hoping to capture it like a lightning bug in a jar, and share that sense of surprise and wonder with the reader. From experience, I know that if the creator does not care about their subject, then neither will the reader. Inspiration derives from the Latin word for breath, so it sustains the rest of the creative process. Once the creator gathers inspirational materials, she can begin the Architect phase. e architect typically dons stylish eyeglasses and creates a blueprint, keeping in mind the raw materials. In writing, the bricks, mortar, and glass are words, and in graphic design, it is images and type. To dra the blueprint, the architect needs to sort the material continuing to edit it then categorize it and create hierarchies of meaning, and then sequence the material into a compelling order of narrative. During this process, the architect must be mindful of the intended audience, for their needs might inform how to sort the raw material. ough known to be analytical, abstracted, and even remote, the architect is a storyteller: the very word story derives from the historiated capitals of cathedrals from the middle ages: stone carvings illustrating scenes from the bible. With keen a ention to sorting, categorizing, creating hierarchies, and sequencing, the architect gives form to the story. Mere shape is not enough the ve paragraph essay, for instance, is not the only way to convey a story. For a shape e architect works sentence-by-sentence in writing, and then e architect needs to to have form, it must convey meaning by its very contours.

y words to build upon as a bridge between language and images. In writing,

paragraph-by-paragraph, but she does not stop to correct grammar unless the error is too distracting.

know for sure that the sorting, categorizing, hierarchies, and sequencing will remain in place before working on the level of

Joshua Korenblat

grammar; otherwise, such tinkering could waste a great amount of time. nal artistic touches, such as le er-spacing, for a later stage.

e architect model works in other creative practices

as well. In graphic design, the architect works in prototype form with grids and boxes, and a general color theme, o en leaving e carpenter enters the scene only a er the architect has built the house. During the Carpenter phase, all of the sentence-level adjustments and grammar tweaks can take place. Now the carpenter can focus on semicolons, restrictive clauses, and the correct use of that and which. For the graphic designer, this means time devoted to kerning (the space between individual le ers) and color-correcting within photoshop, among many other small yet vital changes. ough the carpenter o en dons ta ered bluejeans and rolled-up sleeves, resting on dusty surfaces with sore elbows, she has the power to make the nal creation sing, transforming the nal creative piece of writing or design into a truly persuasive, immersive experience. e carpenter is a god of small things, essential to nal creation. e carpenter o en subtracts weight from the nal piece, leaving it more de and light. Only a er focusing on those small things, and rendering a nal work of lightness and rightness, can the judge nally enter without being too distracted. e Judge phase will o en entail the type of role-playing at once most familiar and most dreaded by students: judgment is one of the foundations of our educational system. Schools exist not only to educate students, but to si and sort students into levels of achievement. For those students who struggle in school, judgment can be a time in which they disengage. While we need judgment, when used too conveniently, it can inhibit the creative process, not only at the beginning a collision that o en forms a creative block but at the end, too, when the necessary revision process is only beginning to take shape. At this time of judgment, the student will receive opinions about what works and what needs revision, and the judgment needs to be framed in a way that invites opportunity for a conversation and furthers the process of discovery. I try to work with a framework called Nonviolent Communication (NVC), created by Marshall Rosenberg, which rephrases judgment words, abstract and opaque, into well articulated, pre-existing needs that are either met or not met, elucidated with detailed descriptions of observed experience. Although this form of communication can o en result in an awkward wordiness that coaxes eye-rolling and snickers from many students, I have found it helpful in clarifying why a work is good or bad in a detailed way. By eliminating judgment words from their lexicon, students feel less defensive and more open to the subsequent revision process. To illustrate the idea of NVC, Ill invite you to an Italian restaurant. Imagine the waiter is late in taking your order, and you are accompanied by a friend, who you have not seen in a long time. Your judgment of the restaurant will be deeply aected by your pre-existing needs; the lateness could be welcome if the conversation is owing like red wine, or it could be irritating to you if the conversation is slow, and you no longer have much in common with your dining companion. In the la er situation, instead of saying, conversation is not being met. e waiter is slow, (slow is a judgment word), the NVC judge would say, I feel frustrated that the waiter has not returned to take our order because my need for food over is lengthy sentence is less convenient than the quick judgment, but when applied to a creative space, it allows us to see transparently why a person might react in a certain way to a creative experience; for instance, is painting is depressing, fails to allow the creator to act upon the judgment, while the NVC version does: I feel sad when I observe the cool blues that dominate the entire composition, and the small gure in the vast space. If that is not the intended mood of the painting, then the creator knows what to focus upon to make adjustments. NVC also applies to positive judgment words, which can be equally unhelpful for students to consider and respond to in a meaningful way. What if the positive judgment was merely an easy way to evade a slow, focused observation of the work? What if the positive judgment is a mere rhetorical technique to help the judge manipulate the situation for other purposes? Most of all, NVC allows students to

Joshua Korenblat

slow down and observe

an uncommon pause that balances detailed observation with our increasing engagement in swi ,

distraction-based interfaces. I dont mean to demystify the creative process completely with the Madperson-Genius-Architect-Carpenter-Judge paradigm, rst developed by Professor Flowers for expository writing. Some writers, like award-winning novelist Alice McDermo , can only move forward by nely tuning each sentence as a carpenter; the purity and perfection of that sentence will suggest the following one. EM Forster said that the process of writing was like driving a car with headlights on through the darkness to a known destination, possibly suggesting a sentence-by-sentence approach, too. In truth, the process is o en more iterative and unordered than any paradigm can possibly contain; the creative person might feel more like a balloonanimal artist than an architect, twisting and squeezing a slippery shape to create a poodle one moment, a swan the next. Mystery is a welcome friend to any creative artist; ambiguity, however, must be avoided whenever possible. Ambiguity suggests uncertainty. Feeling unsure creates doubts instead of questions; doubt creates anxiety, the student does not know where to look, or cannot see what she needs to move forward. e Madperson-Genius-Architect-Carpenter-Judge paradigm activates associative, emotional, logical, and observational parts of the creative mind, without creating collisions or confusion. is path remains open and clear enough for any student to move forward with more assurance, in the ow of a creative process natural to our minds and heart.