External Sources Well
All the movies we’ve seen and books we’ve read. Our mind’s cache of media such as TV series, YouTube clips, and Facebook posts. A reservoir of other people’s ideas.
1. Pretend that you have to write a funeral scene set in a graveyard.
2. Very quickly list some of the images that come into your head. Don’t think too hard about it. Don’t try to be original or imaginative. Just list images, ideas, or moments that instantly come into your head.
3. Can you feel that your mind first accesses images and ideas from other movies?
Imagination Well
Laid in fantastically porous soil. Once we access it, the ideas come shooting out like a fountain. “Divine inspiration.” The flash of lightning from above.
1. Pretend you have to write a funeral scene set in a graveyard. This time, take a moment and access your imagination. Let your creative mind go wild and invent a graveyard scene.
2. List any new images, ideas, or scenarios that come to you.
3. Can you feel that moment of pause when your mind links to the heavens and creates fresh ideas?
Memory Well
Our personal memories and experiences: People we’ve met, experiences we’ve had, places we’ve been to, and complex emotions we’ve felt. It is the sum total of our life experience.
1. Pretend you have to write a funeral scene set in a graveyard. Take a moment to scan through your life history. Remember the times when you may have been in graveyards. If you haven’t been in one, you might think of one you have seen while driving past.
2. Recall any ideas, moments, locations, props or scenarios that you remember.
3. Can you feel how fresh, original and unique this well feels?