Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: really liked it
"We came to understand that the blockages weren't an interruption in the [creative] process, they were part of it. For example, when you eat, the bit where the fork returns empty to your plate isn't a failure. It's just a part of the eating process."

What a lovely little bite of a book. Clocking in at just 103 very scantily printed pages, it's like a peanut butter cup of inspiration. You can't survive on it but if you just need a little something to motivate you and cheer you up, here it is.

Diane S ☔

Rating: really liked it
We would watch Month Python together, my hubby and I, but it was Fawlty towers that won my heart. John Cleese is brilliant. In this short book he shows us how our unconscious works, to aid us when we least expect it, often serving as a guide. Also ways to be creative and what being creative means. It doesn't just mean knitting, painting etc. but extends to many different fields. Being creative, thinking outside the box. What do we need to be creative and how to start. Much seems like common sense but this book does encourage one to keep trying and that fun and creativity can be had in many different ways.

Loved this quote about our unconscious. "And that's the problem with the unconscious. It... is unconscious. You can't order it about or hit it with a stick. You have to coax it out in all sorts of strange and crafty ways. And be clever about interpreting what it does tell you."

Some clever Cleese humor strewn about, here and there.

ARC from Edelweiss.

Sam Quixote

Rating: really liked it
Who better to tell us a few things about creativity than John Cleese, the beloved award-winning writer of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and a ton of other great stuff, eh?

A more cynical person might say the book has “stocking-stuffer” written all over it because the content is about the length of an essay stretched out into a dinky, gift-sized hardback aimed squarely at the more bookish members of your fam. But not me - I don’t think there’s a “might” about it!

Still, it’s not a bad read. It’s mostly aimed at wannabe writers, which makes sense as that’s Cleese’s background, and much of the advice is what you’d see in any other writing/creativity book: write what you know, be kind to your emerging ideas by not being overly critical of them to start with, the dangers of overconfidence, “kill your darlings” (ie. let go of ideas you like if they no longer fit the narrative), anyone can be creative and skilful at art, it’s not something you’re born with, it’s something you develop over time.

I also don’t necessarily agree in blocking out arbitrary amounts of time for writing, like 90 minute chunks, as I find, depending on the day, I can be productive in shorter 10 minute bursts, particularly in the early stages of a project, and that length of time might be intimidating to people starting out. But I do agree that perseverance and consistency is vitally important to success.

What stands out the most in this book is that Cleese relates an anecdote where he and his former writing partner, ex-Monty Pythoner Graham Chapman, used to spend hours writing and not come up with anything worthwhile - but that the time spent seemingly wastefully was necessary in order to reach somewhere that was good. And I think that’s definitely worth iterating to inexperienced writers: time spent thinking about your project, even if you don’t add words/pages, is still progress, so don’t get discouraged.

Patience, allowing yourself to feel somewhat panicked/uncertain, and not expecting to have all of your ideas fleshed out immediately, are all lessons worth keeping in mind, even if you’ve heard them before. Though I’m not sure we all have so many people in our lives who would be willing to read our writing efforts and provide feedback like John does. And parts of the book feel like vague anecdotes, ie. the importance of play/the unconscious, like he read an article or two once and is recounting it semi-reliably here.

Creativity may not be the most original or substantial thing John Cleese has written but, as he says, it’s not the originality that matters but the way it’s written, and he remains charming and pleasant company, however brief this book was.

Noah Goats

Rating: really liked it
This is not, in any real sense, a book. Yes, my copy is hardbound and 100 pages long, but all the monkey business that the publishers engaged in to get it to 100 pages made me laugh. They brought the margins in, blew up the font size, formatted to maximise blank space, and always left a lot of room between one line and the next. It reminded me of the shenanigans I pulled every time I was assigned to write a paper in high school. I'd quickly type out about 300 words and then I'd monkey with formatting and fonts until those 300 words had been spread over the required five pages. Well done Crown, an imprint of Random House.

The advice that Cleese gives is useful even if he sometimes resorts to shopworn truisms ("brevity is the soul of wit," and "kill your darlings," for example). But his core point is a good one. Cleese argues that creativity isn't necessarily born in linear thinking. The key is to tap into our unconscious mind. Creativity can often be found in those dreamy moments when we are staring into space, just vaguely thinking. He provides some tips to help this process along.

This book reads like an article from the web that might show up in an email from your mom. What makes it rise a bit above that is that it was written by John Cleese, and when it comes to creativity you know he knows what he's talking about. The man has authority.

Julian Worker

Rating: really liked it
This is a short book of 90 pages about the creative process of writing. It's an interesting work but probably overpriced.

There's some excellent information in here delivered in an amusing style. It was good to read that something I do, to let my subconscious do what it does best and think about ideas in the unconscious part of my mind overnight, is used by other people.

There were many other items of advice - you can't force yourself to be creative straightaway, ideas will come to you if you create the right conditions to accept them and if you're not interrupted by other thoughts or other people. Other points to emphasize are that a lack of clarity during the creative process is not a bad thing and that there's no such thing as a mistake when you're being creative.

There's lots more besides in this cheerful guide.

Bill

Rating: really liked it
A short and quite entertaining book in which John Cleese supplies tips on how to be creative, even if you think you're not a naturally creative person.

Patrick Kennedy

Rating: really liked it
Exactly what it says: short and cheerful. The older I get the more I prefer short books. Brevity and all that.

Bakunin

Rating: really liked it
A quick and fairly fun read. Contains some advice on how to be creative (but mostly anecdotal).
"When you're being creative there is no such thing as a mistake" (love this one although its hard to put into practice)

Creative people continue playing as they become adults i.e. they continue exploring alternatives without expecting an immediate answer or reward.

Creative people procrastinate decisions in order to maximize options and possibilities. This does not mean that they don't have deadlines but they wait until the last minute before they are forced to decide what to do.

Laurie Connolly

Rating: really liked it
A short, sweet read. Adding it to the shelf of favorites:

The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
On Writing - Stephen King
Writing without Teachers - Peter Elbow
Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg

Next up on my wish list: Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing.

Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance

Rating: really liked it
John Cleese shares all he knows about creativity in this 103-page book. He studied science and later law in college, but it was only after he joined a society called the Footlights that he began to learn about creativity.

He learned that if he worked on a comedy sketch for the society at night, he would get stuck, and he'd eventually give up and go to bed. In the morning, he'd wake and the solution to the problem he'd had the night before became obvious to him. He began to realize that his unconscious was working on stuff all the time, without his being aware of it. The language of the unconscious is not verbal. To better think in the slow, more creative way, a person must (1) know how to play and (2) defer making decisions for as long as they are allowed. The answer will eventually present itself.

He warns us that, to be creative, we must avoid interruptions. The longer we sit, the more the mind settles. Don't get too critical too soon.

And that's it. Of course he also talks about "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind," and offers lots of hints and suggestions, so you may want to read the book yourself. Hey, it's only 103 pages.

Rebecca Watts

Rating: really liked it
A very quick read. Nice and airy on the page. John Cleese reminds us of the power of taking your time, creating the space (and time) for letting the ideas come, the power of your unconscious mind, and other aspects of tapping into your own creativity. You won't be surprised that John Cleese, though trained in school to be a "maths" and science guy and then a lawyer, discovered the power of play and his own creativity along the way. I recently finished his book on some of the lectures he did at Cornell over the years and in that one, he had a chapter that interviewed the prolific writer/screenwriter William Goldman (who in this book is referred to as his friend "Bill Goldman") and in another chapter he talked about a book he'd read years ago called Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind (1999) that was written by Guy Claxton. The concepts from Claxton's book reappear here. A nice revisit. I now have Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind on my to-be-read stack.

blueisthenewpink

Rating: really liked it
"'Brevity is the soul of wit.' It is also the soul of not boring people." A guide that practices what it preaches, how lovely. It is short and interesting, ideas on how to be creative from a Python (who else better to aid us?). Also sharing the method of Dalí and Edison, which is falling asleep in a chair with something heavy and metallic in the hand and a metal bowl under the hand so that the clink would wake them up as soon as they drifted off, thus harnessing the most creative moments, those between being awake and being asleep. Just a reminder: you also need some proper sleep though to keep you sane. Nothing momentous but good pieces of advice throughout from setting boundaries to protect your creative process to using the energy of your panic.

Timothy Neesam

Rating: really liked it
A series of short, cheerful essays on the creative process that focuses on how the unconscious generates ideas and problem solves; and how effectively transitioning from an unconscious state to a conscious one can assist creativity. The essays finish with a short, cheerful essay about soliciting advice and judging what's best for your work, whether you're a writer, painter or architect. A thoroughly enjoyable read that helped me think through ways I can more effectively problem solve. Recommended.

Reader

Rating: really liked it
Sufficiently short for the entire book to be quoted for some reason or another ("listen to this, dear..."). A very useful book I may have to buy after saying I would only borrow from the library. I recommend to writers and aspiring writers for its practicality. Oh, and I defy you not to hear it in Cleese's voice as you read.

Rhys Plum

Rating: really liked it
Expected better Basil