Creativity as a shy pet.

Finally finished The Story of Film, all fifteen episodes.  If you overlook the ridiculous political correctness of the narration, there were some interesting insights.

The last episode had the most valuable interview of all, with Jane Champion the director.

She talks about creative ideas, the subconscious, as being like a shy pet, that you have to coax out of its shell.  Let it know that it is safe, that it will be listened to and paid attention to, that it won't be squashed by noise and blunderbuss demands and it will offer its quiet idea if you are listening.   Tease the idea out, let it take shape.

She said it takes her three hours of just letting the idea try to emerge, little by little, and in the fourth hour it will bloom.

Well -- that's it exactly!   She explained it better than I ever could.

I spend much of the time when I'm writing in that sort of waiting state; saying to my subconscious, I know you're there, I know you have the answer, I'm not going anywhere and I'll welcome you when you're ready.

That state simply can't be maintained on a strict schedule -- fitting it in between work and social activities.  I have to give over my entire day; more than one day if I want the subconscious to really feel like it can divert all its energy to the "idea."

So sometimes it seems like nothing is happening in the creative process, when in reality everything is happening, it just isn't apparent.