So, how do you regulate your awesome thoughts into a well-delivered piece of writing? Since I always struggle with this issue myself, I thought I'd try to pin down a few tips and starting points for other people who might be having trouble.
1. Just write
Get your thoughts and ideas down on paper or on the computer, no matter what. If it doesn't make sense yet, that's okay. There is this wonderful thing called editing that helps you to go back and revise a draft again and again until everything fits to your satisfaction. Have you ever heard that old annoying phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day'? Well, Rome wouldn't have been built at all if people didn't get right down to it and start laying bricks on the ground.
This is the simplest tip and yet the hardest one for me to take. I'm constantly writing bits and pieces in my head without following through and committing them to paper. I'm trying to train myself out of that habit by always having a pen and paper in my purse and by telling myself that creative thinking does not a writer make. It doesn't matter how many great ideas you have if you never communicate them to other people in a concrete way.
2. Experiment
Just because you like to read historical fiction, that doesn't mean you'll like to write historical fiction. Or, in fact, be good at writing in that style. On the flip side, you don't have to love cooking in order to write about recipes or food. Interests don't always converge with strengths, so play around a little and see what you are actually good at versus what you'd like to be good at.
Stretch outside your comfort zone and see what happens. Maybe you'll discover you have a knack for something you've never tried before. Try researching techniques, styles, voices, even specific authors. Pick up a book that didn't catch your eye at first glance and read it cover to cover before starting a piece inspired by it. Start a fashion lookbook for your next novel and paste in pictures of clothes, houses and locations that fit in with the ideas in your head. It might take you in an entirely new direction, but that is not a bad thing!
3. Don't write
It might seem like I'm contradicting myself already, but bear with me. Combine tips 1 and 2 and see what you come up with. Perhaps your short story isn't working out because it would make a better graphic novel. Maybe your film script is too wordy because it was meant to be a book. Who knows where this can lead - maybe your idea for a marketing campaign will somehow turn into the next hot television show. Playing around with a lookbook could help you develop a more visual style and start your future career as a designer!
The key is to keep producing and creating, using your ideas to develop tangible results from your creative impulses. Personally, I always fall into the trap of letting go of my creativity instead of figuring out where I can make the most of it. It is extremely easy to let an idea flow through your brain without putting it into action - and incredibly freeing to allow yourself to embrace an idea and let it play out naturally, even if that means it doesn't fit within the bounds of your project and how you wanted it to go.
4. Practice
Someday, with practice, what you're actually good at and what you want to be good at can meet in the magical future built by hard work and dedication. And blah blah blah, and magic and unicorns and hope for the future. But really - it's the only way to improve and hone your talent.
"Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." -Martha Graham
5. Edit and revise
Most things that fall out (or are forcibly pulled out, kicking and screaming) of your brain are not going to sound wonderful right away or even clearly express the ideas and stories that you are trying to convey.
For example, the previous sentence is a mess. If I didn't decide upon rereading that it would be a great example of exactly what I'm talking about here, I would have revised the hell out of it. I could have cleared up the meaning of the sentence by taking out the parenthesis, although that would lose the imagery. Perhaps I would have sat here for ten minutes trying to come up with a more concise, yet still descriptive, turn of phrase. At the very least, I could have split it into two sentences to make it easier to read.
A lot goes on 'behind the scenes' of any creative project, and learning how to critique your own work (and take critical reviews from others) can have an immediate and noticeable impact. With the advent of self-publishing social media such as Twitter and Facebook (and, uh, Blogspot), people have lost their critical eye because of the availability of instant circulation. Does it really matter anymore if you can spell, finish a thought, or argue a point intelligently in a world where the only thing standing between you and the world is a tiny 'Publish' button? Why yes, yes it does. Which brings me to my next point....
6. Stand out from the crowd, in your own way
If you are the seven hundredth person to come up with the same idea, does that make your idea less valid? No, but perhaps it is less interesting. In an era of (social and general) media overload, you're going to have to develop your own style and find a hook that will keep readers coming back to your website, your newspaper column, your TV show. Use these tips to help you figure out what works for you before you throw yourself into a project. It will save you a lot of time, energy and stress if you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses as a part of finding your own style, instead of later on when you might have problems that could have been prevented.
7. Research
You can't write about something if you don't know about it. All considerations of creativity and imagination aside, you can't give details and properly incorporate important facts if you don't know them. For example, you can't describe the life of a pilot without having a vague outline of what a real pilot might actually do in a normal day. Whether or not that same pilot grows his own wings and learns to communicate with birds is a matter for your imagination, but you have to understand the basics first.
Here is the guilt factor! People do not really consider research to be 'real writing'. Seriously - taking a belly dancing class or spending the weekend in Vegas might be vitally important to the success of your current project, but what working stiff looking down the barrel of another 9-to-5 is going to believe that? It might sound like you are goofing off or wasting time, but you have to take yourself seriously and not feel pressured (by friends, family, OR yourself) to ignore or minimize this important step to success.
8. READ
I can't stress this enough. If you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader. If you don't regularly immerse yourself in the works of others, you will start to lose perspective and focus too intently on yourself.
Take notes on the books you read; what do you like? what do you hate? is there a particularly interesting turn-of-phrase that captures your attention and sparks an idea? Don't just let these thoughts go - use color-coded sticky notes to mark especially noteworthy passages, or come up with related topics to start your own inspiration projects. Make a Quotes notebook to help you remember authors and phrases that command your attention and flip through it when you're blocked.
Read, read, read! Devour the thoughts of others in order to better understand and communicate your own. And then quiet your brain, sit at your desk (or local cafe shop table), and pour out your own inspired prose!
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