Several years ago I began a project with a photographer friend who every week sent me a picture, and I would write exactly 40 words about it—some condensed make-believe situation that I could “see” in the picture.
I pinned a 15-minute time constraint on the creative exercise.
I spent a year writing 40 words in 15 minutes for every picture she sent, writing and rewriting and rewriting again until just the right 40 words remained, and instead of feeling limited by the small number and ticking timer, I felt liberated.
It’s hard to explain.
So much could be said in 40 words. So many unnecessary words were eliminated within the constraint. So much focus could be pinpointed at just the right words, instead of grasping around for the millions of words available.
Not only did my productivity increase, but my creativity felt stretched and challenged, because I had 15 minutes to come up with a whole back story about the picture and then write only what was necessary.
It was a tremendous, fascinating learning experience for me.
And I started to think that maybe there was something to this constraint.
So two years ago, when I had finished my 40-word experiment, I decided to challenge myself by writing an ongoing story with the pictures my friend sent me. This project also had its parameters: tell a story with 104 pictures in the course of a year.
I enjoyed it so much I started another one in 2014.
This year I am writing my third one, this time challenging myself one step further and writing a story from three points of view.
All three of these stories have been crafted with constraints—time restraints, plot restraints (plot must weave in the picture), length restraints (the whole story must be told in 104 pictures and “chapters”).
And all of them have made me a better writer.
Here’s how I’ve come to understand it: focus is important to our productivity as creative people, and if we’re given too many options, our focus ends up fragmented.
Creativity does not like fragmentation.
Recently an acquaintance told me about Tim Sachs, an artist who sets parameters on his work—like limiting the colors he uses (no purple, orange must be a natural orange, only one particular shade of green) because he believes it makes him a better artist.
Research even suggests that people who spend eight hours a day working really only spend about half of that in focused work—so those of us with time constraints? Makes us better workers and producers and creators.
My husband and I recently watched a TED talk about choices. The speaker had spent years doing extensive research to figure out whether more or fewer choices were better for us.
She discovered that the fewer choices people had the better choices they made.
I think of this scientific reality in light of creativity, in light of my 40-word experiment, and it all makes sense.
If we are offered a wide-open world, we can quickly become overwhelmed. So we must narrow it down. Make the world smaller. Embrace our constraints.
I wonder how much more productive and effective we could be if we put a few more constraints on our creativity. How much would we grow and improve?
How much would we learn about ourselves?
I think we might be pleasantly surprised.
How about you? Have you put into place any intentional constraints to increase your productivity and challenge our creativity? Share some.
Welcome to The Ink Well Creative Community.
The Ink Well Community is evolving. While this used to be a place where I posted a prompt for writers to share their creative works, I have been receiving several inquiries about my process, how I create and read and manage a household with half a dozen little ones. So I thought we could turn this into a community of people who share about the creative process in all its many facets, from where we find our inspiration to when we find time to create (especially if we work other jobs). I’ll be sharing struggles about my creative life and logistical information about my particular creative process and what I’m learning about creativity, among many other things. I hope you’ll weigh in with your own struggles and observations and lessons. Let’s start a conversation. Let’s encourage one another. Let’s live the creative life together.
And if you have your own questions about creativity or process or inspiration, feel free to visit my contact page and send me a note.
