Simulate Creativity Exercsies

Obviously you need creativity to write a novel. Authors must create characters with intriguing backstory that stimulates meaning goals with realistic motivation and creates compelling conflicts. You also need to come up with a plot that moves the plot forward in a way that grabs the reader and holds them fast to your book.

Some authors face writers block when the mind just stops creating and writing seems to go on vacation. What can you do to stimulate your mind to begin creating again. I find exercise works for me. I either climb on my treadmill or hop on my recumbent bicycle and take myself away from my work for awhile. Walking in the fresh air is another form of exercise. Listening to music that stimulates your imagination is another way to stimulate emotion and mood. The ideas don’t stop there.

Recently I stumbled on a website called Brain Reactions that provides 100 tips for improving your creativity. Some of their exercises/suggestions are rather strange, but you may find some that will help you think outside the box.

Here’s an example of one of the activities:

Describe the "eco" parking lot.

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. (Joni Mitchell) What can we do to turn the parking lot back into paradise?

Though this doesn’t move you forward in your novel, it takes you into the world of brain stimulation. You’ll develop vivid word pictures, twist reality, and induce ideas that you might never have thought about. If you want to take a look at this site, here’s the hyperlink.
http://www.brainreactions.net/brainstorms/1753