Image: Greg Rakozy

Be creative differently

It can get a bit boring just sticking to one medium all the time. Even though you may be a strong writer, it’s fun to branch out and expand your horizons. Creativity isn’t something that always happens at a desk, but can permeate many – if not all – areas of your life.

Visual mediums

Try turning your literary creations into something visual. You may naturally tell stories in the written form, but comics are also a great way to express a story. Different ideas suit different mediums, so for example a biting satire about modern life might suit visual form better because it’s quick and easily digestible.

You can also experiment with drawing a character from your story, or actually going to the place that you want to write about. Visit DeviantArt for fanfiction character inspiration!

Girl in front of train

Image: Eutah Mizushimah

On foot

Keep a travel diary, so you can imagine what it’s like to be that particular character, even if it’s just in your own city. See your own life with new eyes, and this childlike wonder at experience will translate into your own writing. I’m based in London, so I’d head over to this incredible blog post for new ideas for inspiring places to visit in the city.

Non-fiction

If you want to explore a complex topic relating to existential philosophy, a long blog post could be the way to go. Non-fiction can definitely be creative, especially if it involves coming up with new ideas, new solutions or a different way of looking at things. WordPress is an amazing platform for blogging where you can easily set up a blog if you haven’t already.

Hands on

With all that writing, it’s sometimes nice to switch off your brain and do something hands-on. I really enjoy crafting, whether that’s cutting up some old patterned material to create a terrible cushion that looks like a child made it, or rearranging a room to make it look like somewhere new. It’s Nice That is a website that shares beautiful content about related to crafting.

Frozen berries

Image: Devin Rajaram

Eating

Experiment with different foods. It can be really fun implementing a new creative way to eat, whether that’s trying to think of healthier meals or incorporating more vegetarian dishes into your diet. Eating healthier is great for creativity because when you’re feeling good, all those brain cells will be firing even more quickly and making better connections. I tend browse BBC Good Food for new recipe ideas.

Learn coding

Funnily enough, coding is actually a great way to be creative, and learn to code is not as hard as you think. CodeAcademy is the most amazing online resource for learning to code – and, it’s totally free! Any self-respective creative person nowadays can benefit from learning how the back end of the internet works, and becoming a bit more technical in their online knowledge.

Learning HTML and CSS means you can eventually code the front end of websites and blogs, share your work, and bring your creative vision to life!

These are just a few ways that you can expand your creative horizons. Let me know in the comments how you get on, or if you have any great ideas of your own to share! 

Images: Unsplash

About the author

Catherine Heath

Catherine is a freelance writer based in Manchester. Blogs. Copy. Documentation. Let's ditch the jargon – just give her plain writing.

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