• Home
  • Books
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Events
  • Contact
Katie Van Ark
Passion on the page

Technique Tuesday: Thoughts on Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit

7/29/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
No choreographer wants to stand in an empty white room with nothing. No dance, no idea even, and a deadline looming. It's a similar issue staring down the blank screen for a writer, which is one of the reasons that The Creative Habit, though written by choreographer Twyla Tharp, is useful across creative disciplines.

I admit I likely would not have picked this book up without the recommendation (read: homework assignment) from my semester mentor but found it well worth my time. The essence of the book is on fostering your own creativity. Tharp discusses rituals of preparation used by creative professionals in many different fields, ways of determining what rituals might work best for you according to your "creative DNA," methods for "scratching" out new ideas,and how to avoid ruts as well as extend grooves where the creative juice is flowing. Many of her ideas I found I was already using but the discussions helped me understand exactly why those ideas were important.

I'll be reflecting on this book this week as I work on my assigned essay on it, but here's a few quotes in hopes they give you something to think about as well.
  • On acquiring skill: “I know one novelist who taught himself the craft of fiction by retyping the stories of his favorite authors. The act of typing someone else's words – rather than simply reading them – made him stop and think about how the author chose words, constructed sentences and paragraphs, arranged dialogue, and structured a narrative...If there's a lesson here it's: get busy copying. That's not a popular notion today, not when we are all instructed to find our own way, admonished to be original and find our own voice at all costs! But it's sound advice. Traveling the paths of greatness, even in someone else's footprints, is a vital means to acquiring skill.” (Tharp 66)
  • On finding ideas: “Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you'll find out how big a prize you've won.” (103).
  • On luck: “Your creative endeavors can never be thoroughly mapped out ahead of time. You have to allow for the suddenly altered landscape, the change in plan, the accidental spark – and you have to see it as a stroke of luck rather than a disturbance of your perfect scheme. Habitually creative people are, in E.B. White's phrase, “prepared to be lucky. The key words here are “prepared” and “lucky.” They're inseparable. You don't get lucky without preparation, and there's no sense in being prepared if you're not open to the possibility of a glorious accident.” (Tharp 120).

3 Comments
Amy Alkon link
7/29/2015 01:34:11 am

Elmore Leonard is the novelist who did that -- copied the words of Hemingway to get writing on his own work.

Tharp's book is very good, as is Elmore's "The 10 Rules of Writing." My favorite from it is #10: Leave out the parts readers tend to skip. Elmore was a master of dialogue, by the way, and is worth reading for both enjoyment and to learn from.

Thanks so much for your blog post. (I was looking for that Tharp quote so I wouldn't have to retype it, and came upon your blog.)

Reply
Nicole Morris
6/23/2022 11:28:32 am

I ordered a job spell on a Friday night and on Monday the place I applied for a job called for me to come by their office. They gave me the job I applied for and made me an offer of more per hour than I have ever made in my life! I am so happy! Government jobs sometimes are a slow process. You somehow managed to speed up that process, and I start in just a few days! DR EMU I will be forever grateful thanks once again. You can call on him for help on his email address emutemple@gmail.com or add him up on his WhatsApp +2347012841542. DR EMU also lent a helping hand to the following } 1. GETTING YOUR EX LOVER BACK. 2. WINNING LOTTERIES. 3. CHILD BEARING. 4. BREAKING OF GENERATION COURSE. 5. GETTING OF JOB. 6. JOB PROMOTION. 7. HERBAL CARE. 8. SPIRITUAL PROTECTION. 9. HERBAL CARE. 10. SPIRITUAL PRAYER. E.T.C.

Reply
Isabella Lucas
11/11/2022 02:43:52 pm

My ex-husband and I had always managed to stay friendly after our divorce in February 2017. But I always wanted to get back together with him, All it took was a visit to this spell casters website last December, because my dream was to start a new year with my husband, and live happily with him.. This spell caster requested a specific love spell for me and my husband, and I accepted it. And this powerful spell caster began to work his magic. And 48 hours after this spell caster worked for me, my husband called me back for us to be together again, and he was remorseful for all his wrong deeds. My spell is working because guess what: My “husband” is back and we are making preparations on how to go to court and withdraw our divorce papers ASAP. This is nothing short of a miracle. Thank you Dr Emu for your powerful spells. Words are not enough.
Email emutemple@gmail.com
Phone/WhatsApp +2347012841542.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Reflections on Writing

    Picture
    I love few things better than a bottomless to-read list of books and firmly believe the world has room for all the stories we want to share. This blog is intended to provide resources and spark discussion about improving writing. Opinions are my own and not intended to discredit anyone else's work, only to open conversation. Thanks for reading!

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    March 2020
    January 2018
    July 2017
    April 2017
    August 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Blog Hop
    Character
    Craft
    Craft Analysis
    Description
    Donald Maass
    Fantasy
    Figure Skating Championships
    Heather Demetrios
    Interview
    Jennifer Comeaux
    Jenny Elliott
    LGBT
    NaNoWriMo
    Premise
    Presentation Skills
    Rainbow Rowell
    Setting
    Skating
    Stakes
    Voice
    What To Read This Weekend
    World Building
    World-building
    Writing
    YA

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from diongillard, BLMOregon, ebbandflowphotography, French Tart, photographerglen, York College ISLGP, apalca, VinothChandar, 4Neus, ♔ Georgie R, anokarina, martinak15, photosteve101, revjett, Skley, Peter Werkman (www.peterwerkman.nl), Rusty Darbonne, JoshArdle Photography, ashraful kadir, Guillaume Paumier, ChrisL_AK, ryantron., koadmunkee, Jim Larrison, JMR_Photography, ulazarosa, jfingas, Hamed Saber, kyz