100 methods of creativity training: Creativity can be learned as long as you are not lazy!

1/ Divergent

What if God is a girl?

Please write down your ideas, the more the better. Note: when writing, do not write line by line. Please use the method of Mindset: write the main idea you want to think of in the middle, then draw a line and write your idea, referring to the sketch below.

This method is called science fiction training, and its basic formula is: What if...? You can also train your creativity by thinking of some “what if? ” questions.

The principle of this training method is: when there is an impossible hypothesis, people can break through common sense, conventions, and common sense, and have some extraordinary ideas!

A similar training method is the Tolstoy Training Method - The Uses of Empty Tin Cans: Write down various possible uses for empty tin cans, the more the better.

As you write, use the sketching method mentioned above, with one line for each idea. There are four scoring criteria for this project:

Fluency - the ability to come up with a large number of ideas, that is, how many ideas do you come up with in total?

Flexibility - different types of ideas, that is, different types of uses for empty tin cans, such as as containers, as toys, as communication equipment, etc., involving such different types.

Originality - If you keep thinking of typical uses for empty tin cans, you won't get any points for this.

Derivative – You get this point if your idea requires the empty tin can to be melted down, ground into powder, painted, or combined with another can.

After divergent thinking, there is the Osborn checklist method, which uses 9 major questions to diverge thinking and test whether the creativity is comprehensive.

The basic approach is: first select a product or solution to be improved; then, facing a product or solution that needs to be improved, or facing a problem, raise a series of questions from the following perspectives, and generate a large number of ideas; third, based on the ideas raised in the second step, screen, further think about, and improve them.

1. Can it be introduced? Can new elements, new materials, new shapes, new principles, new processes, new ideas be introduced from other fields, products, and solutions to improve existing solutions or products?

2. Can it be replaced? Can the existing product, solution or part of it be replaced by something else?

3. Can it be added, increased, or expanded? Is it possible to add some elements, or increase the value of existing elements, such as new materials, colors, or larger

4. Can it be reduced or shrunk? Can the improvement be achieved by reducing the value of a certain factor, such as length, volume, size, capacity, or by reducing some of the ingredients?

5. Can it be elicited? Can the principles, structures, materials, ingredients, ideas, etc. of this product or solution be used elsewhere?

6. Can it be changed? Can the noun, verb, adjective attributes and characteristics of this product be changed to achieve improvement?

7. Can you go against the grain? Can it be reversed in terms of procedure, structure, direction, position, up and down, left and right, etc. to achieve better results?

8. Can they be combined? Can existing products or solutions be combined with other products or solutions to form new ideas?

9. Can it be used in other fields? Can this product or solution be used in other fields, expand its use, or be used in other fields or other purposes after slight changes?

Using the Osborn checklist method, a large number of original ideas and creativity can be generated, which can greatly inspire people's divergent thinking.

2/ Association

1. Thoughts after the movie

After watching a movie, ask your friends questions about some very detailed details in the picture and see how much you can remember. Every movie can be trained and reviewed in this way, so why do this?

First, we need details, because details are the material of creativity. Moreover, details are often provided by pictorial thinking rather than textual thinking.

Therefore, doing this can continuously train your thinking and memory abilities for images, accumulating raw materials for creativity, so that when creativity comes, you will have an endless supply of materials:)

2. Thoughts before the movie

Thinking before watching a movie is an interesting creative training method I invented. The specific steps are: find a movie you have not seen, even if you have heard of its name. You can also learn about its director and related reports. Then, based on the information you have, write down your guess about the movie. Finally, compare your own guess with the movie to see whose idea is better.

The advantage of this creative training method is that it makes use of stories that have already been created by others. We can first make guesses and then compare them to discover our own shortcomings and continuously improve and enhance ourselves.

3. Word relay method

We have played relay races and sung songs in relays. In fact, words can also be relayed in creativity.

Black—hair—washing hair—stream—pebbles—fish—sea—sailboat—Columbus—natives…

"In fact, everyone's writing will be different, which provides many creative entry points. You can write a lot, and write a few according to this detail, and the results will be very varied. If the selling point of the product is 'black', then you can find an entry point from any word that comes to mind, instead of always going around in circles..."

3/ Commonality

Common ground training

This training comes from "Creative Man" by James C. H. Chan. He called it anti-analysis training, we can also call it common point training. The basic idea is to try to find the commonalities between two unrelated things.

Step 1: Spend 10 minutes to find out what the cup and the fly have in common;
Step 2: Spend 10 minutes finding some useful or interesting combinations for the cup and the fly.

The more answers you have, the better, and they can be a little absurd. To ensure the fluency of your thinking, just write down everything you think of.

The similarities between cups and flies may seem confusing at first glance, but once you get used to this type of question, you will find that it is not difficult. For example, they are both open, naked, often appear on the dining table, and will make people unhappy if they land on your head...

After doing this training, you can find many things to practice on your own.

For example, have you heard of the Egg brand sewing machine? What will it look like?

This is a method proposed by Swedish creative expert Hahn, which requires using eggs to transform sewing machines. What this means is that we discover some interesting principles and phenomena in eggs and then apply them to the transformation of a sewing machine.

Now please think about it, what methods are there?

For example:

Find an egg inside an egg that can lay a chick - put a Mini sewing machine inside a sewing machine, and people can go out with just the mini one.

Scrambled eggs is a dish that everyone can cook - invent an automatic sewing machine, design a few programs, and everyone can sew beautiful clothes. Find some interesting principles and phenomena, and then apply them to the transformation of a sewing machine.

Isn’t this the rational use of common points after they collide? You can also find something to transform your product or service, and I believe there will be many unexpected gains.

4/Word Class

1. Incest of words

The essence of language is incest. In other words, you have to constantly create new combinations of words to achieve unexpected results.

Find two words in the dictionary and try to make a few sentences with them. For example, you found these two words: "eggplant" and "love". So what kind of sentences would you create for them?

2. Tampering with idiomatic expressions

Dongdong Qiang’s book “As the Saying” is mostly clever jokes. Although they are all available online, you can use them as a reference if you are writing a humorous advertisement. The book is full of Dongdongqiang-style witty sayings, many of which have been circulating on the Internet for a long time. It was discovered that Dongdong Gun’s common method is to tamper with idiomatic expressions. like:

• I came from the Tang Dynasty in the East, and went to the West to pray to Buddha and ask for marriage.
• I'm a bitch, you laugh
• You and I are both annoying, left in this world
• Sorry, the user you dialed is married

After such tampering, the meaning of the word has really been renewed, reflecting the true side of things. Let's try to modify the idiom. Please find ten idioms and modify them one by one. Rules: The sentences may not make sense, but the purpose is to attract attention.

5/ Perspective

Although you can’t perform 72 transformations, you can imagine yourself, put yourself in different roles, and experience new ideas from different perspectives.

"The teacher asked us to speak Mandarin, but I am not an ordinary person, so why should I speak Mandarin?"

"Girls are born by their mothers, and boys are born by their fathers?"

All of the above witty sayings are children’s language.

Children's words are always so vivid, interesting, creative and imaginative, so we can learn interesting ideas from children's language. So we can find a topic and try to describe it in childish language. At that time, we all tune the knob of our brains to the children's band, and unexpected witty remarks will emerge in an endless stream.

Some people say that creativity is all about learning to switch perspectives and combining old elements in new ways. It sounds simple in theory, but it is not easy to do. The difficulty is that those elements are not easy to discover. So in order to switch perspectives and combine elements, you need to store certain materials in your brain so that you won’t be at a loss when you really come up with creative ideas. For example, try "Animal View". Animal perspective means observing something through the eyes of different animals.

Although it is not easy, it can be trained. Find any problem that needs to be solved and then make a long list of various philosophers, novelists, poets, directors, actors, cartoon characters, teachers, civil servants, lawyers, etc. Then write down each character's opinion on this issue. You will find that because everyone's point of view is completely different, everyone's opinion is very interesting. Just like the stones floating everywhere in a flowing river, they have different edges and lusters. The game is full of endless open possibilities from the very beginning.

This game can go on indefinitely. Feel free to add characters you like or not and use their ideas to break the balance of your mind.

6/ Sensory

Turn your ears into pens

Please find a piece of pure music you have never heard of - such as a work by Bach or Paganini, or a song called "Off the Strings" is also good - please write down the scene you imagine while listening to the music, try to put aside some existing ideas, and just find the feeling in the music.

Music, how to express this sound with words? What kind of imagination does it bring to you? Is there something subtle and wonderful hidden in it? That’s the beauty of this creative training method.

Dual sense linkage means combining two senses to conduct experiments.

We selected ten from all the senses, namely: vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, intuition, temperature, pain, sense of space, and sense of emotion, collectively referred to as the "Ten Senses".

Now, please randomly choose one of the first five, and then combine it with any of the last five to describe the phenomenon of "time":

Vision Intuition

Hearing Temperature sense

Touch Pain

Smell Sense of space

Taste Emotional

For example, you chose "hearing" first and "spatial sense" later.

So, please listen carefully, what is the spatial sense of time like? Or what kind of sound does the spatial sense of time have?

7/ Rhetoric

Do you know how many types of rhetoric there are? Common rhetoric devices include:

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Are you a little confused by so many techniques? I must give examples here so that you can understand them better! The original sentence is "A giraffe is walking down the street", but with the addition of rhetoric it becomes very different.

Simile : A giraffe walked slowly down the street like a piece of rag.

Metaphor : Walking down the street, the giraffe becomes a philosopher

Metaphor : A huge fairy tale book walks through the streets

Metaphor : A giraffe walking through the street looks like a tall building, a dream, or a woman who has just bought new clothes.

Metaphor : Like a tornado, a giraffe walked down the street

Antonym : Giraffes walk very slowly, but they are not like antelopes that run away in the blink of an eye.

Metaphor : The wind blows on the rice, swaying heavily like the giraffe; the giraffe sways like the rice in the wind.

Metaphor : A giraffe walks so slowly, even slower than a snail.

Metaphor : That blade-like giraffe walked so lonely.

Metaphor : A giraffe walking down the street is always leisurely, just like people in the park, always strolling in square steps.

Line drawing : A giraffe, eight feet tall, slowly walks across the street

Analogy : A giraffe, mumbling to himself, singing a sad song.

Avoid and reply : A giraffe stretched out its left leg, pushed with its right leg, and slowly walked across the street.

Layers : A giraffe walks through the day, through the night, and through the long street.

Positive contrast : The giraffe is so tall that it makes the street look wider.

Contrast : The giraffe is so tall that the street seems even narrower.

Reverse text : A giraffe walked along the street.

Inversion : Walking down the street, it’s the giraffe.

Reduplication of words : A giraffe was walking along the street, walking and stopping, looking around.

Really : A giraffe was walking, crossing the street.

Comparison : Some giraffes are walking and have stopped, while some giraffes have stopped and are still walking.

Couplet : Walk slowly and forget the passers-by, and walk through the street with your head held high

Renovation : A giraffe walks down the street with nothing on his hands, looking very austere.

Repeatedly : Walking, walking, walking, the giraffe felt like he was about to fall down.

Counter-question : A giraffe is walking down the street, is there any reason to doubt it?

Irony : The giraffe's skill in trampling on pedestrians and its virtue of urinating and defecating anywhere are truly worth learning for a lifetime!

Imitative word : A giraffe has a very long neck, it really is a neck that connects the past and the present.

Imitation : Crossing the street at noon, the deer is sweating and feeling the pain.

Feibai : A frightened deer walked across the street.

Description : Giraffes run or walk across the streets and grasslands.

Call : Giraffe, you are so awesome, you dare to walk down the street with your bare hands.

Intertextuality : The streets of New York, the roads of Tokyo, the giraffe walking alone.

Interaction : The giraffe twists in desire, and the street shouts in the crowd.

Conversion : How long is a giraffe's neck? Same with this street.

Loop : Giraffe neck length

Palindrome : Giraffe, long neck

Usage : A giraffe walked across the street and entered a harmonious society.

Metonymy : A neck walked down the street.

Question : Is a giraffe bored? Yes, if you don’t believe me, look, it’s walking down the street.

Parallelism : Jay Chou is coming, Jolin Tsai is coming, and the giraffe is coming.

Connection : The giraffe is walking, and the boundless loneliness is also walking.

Sketch : A giraffe named PiaPia is walking down the street.

List : giraffe, crowd, wind, meteor.

Lian Ji : The giraffe knows the length of this street.

Exaggeration : Although giraffes look very tall, they are as timid as sesame seeds.

Warning : A giraffe will have to walk through the streets sooner or later, just like a congressman will have to give a speech in front of the public sooner or later.

Manifestation : I seemed to see the giraffe walking on the plane, like a stewardess, pouring a thoughtful drink for every customer.

Pun : In life, sometimes there are deer, sometimes there are no deer, it all depends on one’s timing and luck.

Repetition : Giraffes are big and small, long and short, walking and running.

Reference : Next to the giraffe, there are some hats and some skirts.

Quotation : A giraffe walked across the Lingding Ocean.

Quote : A lean camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how small a giraffe is, it will still attract people's attention if it walks down the street.

Transfer : A bustling giraffe walked down the street.

Homophone : A singing deer walks through the street, how peaceful.

Afterword : A giraffe crossing the street - it's a road either way!

Symbol : The giraffe walks proudly, unafraid of worldly ridicule.

Inlay : Deer with long neck, long deer's neck.

Analysis of the word : A giraffe was walking across the street, walking in a hurry.

Euphemism : A giraffe looks very courageous and walks very proudly.

Wanqu : A giraffe walked down the street, probably to be greeted by eggs and tomatoes.

Synaesthesia : A giraffe walks down the street and the air is filled with the smell of grassland.

Jump : This giraffe has actually walked down this street. Do you remember the last time...

Transferred to : The road is dark at night, the street lights are illuminating people, and a giraffe is walking across the street.

Repeat : The lonely giraffe, the crying giraffe, the speechless giraffe, walks across the street.

When training, strive for accuracy first, then strive for brilliance. That is, write the rhetoric correctly first, and then try to write it better. Rhetoric training is worth trying at least 3 times, so that each technique becomes your own common method and can be used by you to add a lot of interest and charm to the language.

8/ Analysis

Can wild and imaginative ideas be analyzed rationally? sure!

5W1H is an analytical method.

5W stands for What, Who, Why, When, and Where, and 1H stands for How. 5W1H means raising questions and thinking about these six aspects: cause (why), object (what), place (where), time (when), people (who), and method (what method). 5W1H is a way of thinking, and it can also be said to be a creative technique.

I don’t know if you have ever played the 5W1H jar game, which is to find six bottles and ask everyone to write one of the numbers “He Liu” and put it in the designated jar. Then take a piece of paper from each jar and put them together to form a sentence. like:

When Who Where How What Why

At 8 o'clock in the morning, Xiao Li ate a piece of cake in the bathroom with great enthusiasm because the teacher criticized him.

Because everyone writes something different and they are put together randomly, it will be very interesting. (There is also a simple version of this game that only uses characters, places, and events.) The key point of the game is for everyone to use their imagination to make each of these six elements more interesting. It's even more bizarre when put together.

In addition, this training method is actually an important creative method. I remember Wang Yixing said: When creating a film or TV program, you only need to change one of the time, place, and characters, and that's creativity.

9/ Poetry

The poems selected for reading aloud should be as interesting as possible, not pretentious, suitable for reading aloud, easy to understand, and allow the listeners to quickly enter the situation.

The purpose of this training is to enhance the limits of imagination and creativity by leveraging the differences between poetry and life. This exercise can also be done by one person. Try doing a personal poetry reading session at home. Those imaginary listeners will also feel the same way.

10/ Questions

Learning to ask questions is the first step to solving problems. Because many of the answers are hidden in the questions.

For example: the impact caused by volcanic ash in Iceland.

What questions would you ask about this sentence? The more questions you ask, the deeper your thinking.

Alternatively, you can use this tip sheet:

1. Related
2. Clarity
3. Assumptions
4. Authenticity
5. Reasons
6. Results
7. Measures
8. Going off topic

Asking questions based on this prompt sheet may make the questions more comprehensive, such as:

1. Related: Find out the basic relevant information, such as: Where is Iceland? What is volcanic ash? What are the effects of volcanic ash?

2. Clarity: Make the problem clear, such as: What impact will it cause?

3. Hypothesis: Make some predictions or guesses, such as: What impact will it have if volcanic ash comes over China?

4. Authenticity: Is the source authentic? For example: Is this true?

5. Reason: Why did this happen, such as: Why did the Icelandic volcanic ash have an impact?

6. Result: What are the consequences, such as: What consequences will the impact cause?

7. Measures: What methods are there, such as: What methods can be taken to avoid the impact?

8. Digression: bypass the original sentence and ask other questions instead: What volcanoes are there in Iceland?

11/ Combination

Some basic rules about combinations:

The combination method is a creative method of obtaining new technologies and new products with unified overall functions by cleverly combining or reorganizing two or more existing technical principles or different morphological structures.

1. Pair Combination

Paired combination is a method of combining two or more existing items of different technical factors. There are many combinations according to the factors involved.

a. Material combination

Recombine materials with different properties to obtain new materials and new functions. If hard nylon threads and soft nylon threads are used to make a toothbrush with a hard middle and soft edges, it can clean teeth without damaging the gums.

b. Combination of tools

For ease of use, combine supplies and tools with similar purposes. For example, a thermos flask and a cup can be combined into a thermos cup; a fountain pen and a ballpoint pen can be combined into a dual-purpose pen; a writing brush, ink, and inkstone can be combined into a study box; and agricultural machinery such as a plow, harrow, sowing, harvesting, and fertilizing can be combined into a multi-purpose tractor.

c. Functional combination

Combine two or more items with different functions to create new functions. Such as medicated toothpaste, multi-purpose folding chair (children's carriage, trolley, happy chair, rocking bed and other functions).

2. Radiation combination

When a new technology emerges, people always try every possible means to quickly apply it to various traditional technological fields, to promote the innovation of traditional technologies, and to form invention techniques of novel technology radiation combinations. For example, with electric motors as the center, the combination radiates to electric toys, electric pencil sharpeners, hair dryers, etc. The radiating combination thinking method reflects the fluency and flexibility of divergent thinking.

3. Plug-in combination

It is a method that takes one technology as the main body and inserts other technologies to improve and increase product functions. For example, with the pencil case as the main body, gradually insert the eraser box, triangle square plug, class schedule card, anti-myopia buzzer, etc.; with the electric fan as the center, gradually insert the shaking device, timing device, level switch, indicator light; with the desk lamp as the center, insert the calendar, electronic watch, pen holder, eco-ball, etc. to form a "multi-functional ecological balance lamp".

There is a certain degree of consistency between product innovation and advertising creativity, and sometimes even the visual performance is the result of product innovation.

12/Visual

As a creative person, visual sense is crucial. If you are given an O, a T, and an X, what graphics would you think of? It is recommended to print out the following pictures for practice:

Finally, the teacher said: "When you can't find more inspiration, you need to be your own teacher. This is one of the important reasons why I wrote "100 Methods of Creative Training".

On the other hand, it is also for communication. Among these creative methods, some are quoted from others, and many are designed by myself. Compared with other creative training, the method you design yourself may be more suitable for your actual situation and the gains may be relatively greater. ”