Monomyth: Using Creative and Critical Thinking
[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero's Journey that you need to know about...]
The Hero's Journey (also known as the monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.
Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.
The Hero's Journey:
a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.
and more...
Creative versus Critical Thinking
I recently gave a presentation at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design on a topic entitled "Is creativity management an oxymoron?"
The essential confusion to people resistant to the idea of "creativity management" was the word "management." Replace it with the word "optimisation" and the resistance disappears.
Then you can suggest that most people already implicitly accept the idea of creativity management: if you ask them to solve a problem or engage in a particular endeavour, one of the things they're likely to do is herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct some sort of brainstorming session and implicit in that action is the acceptance that certain methods, processes and procedures enhance creative output.
I've written extensively about creativity management and the topic is useful to screenwriters as well as many other endeavours. Ironically, it is in the business world that this topic has been most elaborately studied and applied – because businesses constantly have to create and sell new products and maintain competitive advantage in innumerable ways.
Below, I want to briefly touch on one aspect of creativity management - the concept of creative versus critical thinking - and then apply it to the use of the Hero's Journey.
Creative versus Critical Thinking
The process of creative thinking is often, mistakenly, intertwined with critical thinking. There is a tendency to write and edit simultaneously, couple hypothesis generation and evaluation, combine problem identification with solution.
To increase effectiveness, one should first apply creative thought, which is meant to be daring, uninhibited, free-spirited, imaginative, unpredictable, and revolutionary. The trick is to ignore content and maximise the size and richness of the idea pool.
Second, critical thinking is exercised to achieve applied creativity. This is reductive, logical, focused, conservative, practical and feasible. During this stage, the idea pool is reduced to achievable, appropriate ideas.
Now onto the Idea Pool itself:
Maximising the size and richness of the idea pool is a conscious process that has a lot in common with a) lateral thinking and b) the elicitation of tacit knowledge. It is the pre-critical thinking phase and some elements include:
a) Coming up with ideas for the sake of generating ideas.
b) Using a variety of stimuli and frameworks to open up as many pathways as possible.
c) Not having a conscious direction.
d) Not stopping when a goal seems fulfilled.
e) Consciously stimulating change in direction.
In short, the key principle is to produce first and scrutinize second – writing and rewriting are two separate processes. This applies across the board, from business problem solving to screenwriting. The more people try to understand meaning, the less they produce.
As you work your way along our 188 stage Hero's Journey use the above process to maximize the idea pool. Go through each stage and simply generate ideas, leaving the editing to a later stage.
Learn more…
The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/
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Kal Bishop, MBA
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Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kal_Bishop |
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