This is the best creative advice I have ever been given. “Rules are good,” my college creative writing professor told me. We were sitting in her third-story office space with louvered windows. I could see Spanish moss collecting in the ancient oaks through the shadowed panes. “Set rules for yourself to reign yourself in. Set up firm guidelines, and ignore the rest. The story will be stronger for it.”
So I set some rules for my next story. And the fiction I wrote, the story of a homeless man who counts each step he takes along a set of railroad tracks each day, was the story I submitted with my graduate school applications. And I was accepted. It’s a good story. And I’ve never forgotten the advice to set rules for my creativity.
At first glance, it doesn’t really make sense, does it? But here’s what I think. Creativity this amazing thing with limitless potential, right? We always hear cliches like, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” And that kind of encouragement is great until you stop and think about everything that you can dream. The lack of boundaries can be intimidating, paralyzing even. Plus, without some kind of limits, you feel compelled to include too much. And your work, whatever you’re working on can never be finished. Or if you do declare your story or painting or craft finished, stamp it “Done,” then the piece is too sprawling to be as strong as it possibly can be.
Creativity functions better when it is squeezed into a tunnel, confined, and pushed through. On the other end, it’s only going to be stronger, more polished, perfected.
Amazing right? What rules do you set for yourself?
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