Video: 4 Steps to Getting an Idea (The Remix Method)
I have been tracking Kirby Ferguson and his “Everything is a Remix” videos since the very first one came out in 2010. So when Kirby reached out to me via email about his latest video — “The 4 Steps to Getting an Idea (The Remix Method #1) — I had to check it out. Here it is:
Kirby contends ideas derive from the subconscious mind. However everything we experience in the conscious realms feeds the subconscious. As Kirby puts it, “The subconscious mind cooks the meal, but the conscious mind buys all the groceries.”
In the video, Kirby talks about four steps:
1. Create boundaries.
2. Consume everything you can within these boundaries.
3. Digest the research.
With these three steps, as Kirby puts it, “You’ve thrown a bunch of ingredients into a pot. By processing these material as much as you’re capable, you’ve started your subconscious mind on generating an idea.” What to do next?
4. Drop it. Kirby: “Take a vacation. Go out with family and friends. Take a walk. Clean the house. Do some gardening. After a while, your subconscious mind will complete its work and an idea will pop up.”
I can get behind this as one approach to generating ideas. From my own experience, I know how ideas can emerge when I am as far away from thinking about them as possible. For example, when I’m out for a run and my mind hits a kind of blank zone, suddenly — BING! An idea. Or taking a shower. Staring out the window. Moments when the conscious mind is preoccupied. I’m sure you’ve had surprising insights like this, too.
That said, I also believe that for some writers, myself included, intentional and conscious efforts to brainstorm ideas — using the magic words ‘what if,’ playing around with existing story concepts and genre-, gender-, and geo-bending them, and so on — can result in ‘new’ story ideas. As Kirby says in his previous video serious, “Everything is a remix.” Why not embrace that and consciously attempt to generate story ideas?
That said, Kirby’s latest video is a great take on not only respecting the role of our subconscious mind in the creative process, but also feeding it with stimuli in the expectation it will eventually surprise us with an idea.
Here is the combo plate of Kirby’s first four videos in the Everything is a Remix series:
For the rest of Kirby’s videos, go here.
Where do your ideas come from? Conscious mind? Subconscious mind? Magic? Let me know your thoughts in comments.