Creativity isn’t as elusive as people think and it isn’t a case of you have it or you don’t. Everybody has the ability to be creative, it just takes practice and training to get it right. There are plenty of creative exercises that you, as a writer, can do to train your brain and here are six of the best.

A Pile of Pictures

Pictures really can be worth a thousand words; keep everything. Postcards, images clipped from magazines, anything that could possibly be useful and, when you are stuck for inspiration, look through them. If you have images with people, they may be the inspiration you need for a character; scenery can serve as a setting for a part of your story. Cityscapes are especially good for these because there is usually plenty of information that you can gain from one picture. Have a look through travel brochures too, these can help immensely. Make it a habit to find and store away at least one image per week so you always have a collection to fall back on.

Draw a Character Compass

Character compasses are useful tools that can help you to work out well a specific character is brought alive in any given scene. The compass has four elements – Thoughts, Actions, Appearance, Dialog – all designed around the character.

Start by drawing a large circle on a piece of paper. Now draw two straight lines through it – one vertical, one horizontal – splitting the circle into four equal parts. Starting at the top point and working clockwise, label each axis with one of the four elements.

Read through a scene that you have finished writing. Mark each of the axes with a dot to represent how much of the element you used with your main scene character. The more you have of one element, the further out towards the circle the dot should be placed. When you are done, connect all the dots and color in the shape – that tells you how you have represented your character.

The Theory of Color

Every one of your characters has a specific color that represents their personality. Whenever you start a new project, head to the hardware store and pick up the color swatches that match both your protagonist and his or her supporting cast. Don’t think too hard – pick a color that feels like it fits for each character.

Now you need to be a little bit abstract to take these colors and the basic color theory elements to inspire a bit more drama between your characters. Every single color is on a color wheel; those colors beside one another are analogous while those opposite from one another are complementary. For example, blue and orange are complementary, red and green are and so are purple and yellow. If you place characters that have complementary colors together, you might find that you get more dramatic scenes with more excitement. Try it and see.

Creativity doesn’t come easy to everyone but with a little practice, you’ll start to find it easier. Read the next part for more tips.