The Oozil forum is still in its infancy stage, but an interesting question has already been posed: “If you could choose just one creative tool, which one would you choose?” While I suggested pen and paper, someone else suggested email. Though each has a distinctly specific purpose, the most important aspect of each is exactly the same: they send an idea from one person to another. Each is a medium, the same as a radio show, a painting, or a smoke signal.

Today we have more choices among types of media than ever before, and the Internet means that we can share our creative work faster and faster. That even goes for works that aren’t in an electronic form to begin with. You can photograph your painting and upload it in a flash instead of waiting for a buyer to spot it in a gallery. You can record your song and let people download it. Even something as archaic as a smoke signal can be filmed and posted on your web page, and it’s as easy as using your phone to do it.

But what happens if the process is interrupted? Maybe you never hit “send” on that email message. You might put the painting in the attic and put a blanket over it, or even build a fire in a valley, so the smoke signals never get seen by anyone. What’s the worst thing that can happen if your message is never received? I’ll tell you: nothing. While probably nothing too terrible can happen as the result of keeping your work hidden, nothing great can happen to you either.

There is at least one significant case of potential medias interruptus that was luckily averted . Stephen King thought his original manuscript of Carrie was no good, and he threw it in the trash. His wife Tabitha fortunately found it, and encouraged him to revise it into what became his first published novel. King and his family were struggling financially at the time. Carrie ended up selling one million paperback copies in its first year and catapulted him to worldwide fame as a writer. What would have happened if Carrie had never been seen? What if the novel responsible for Stephen King’s career had been carted off in the trash?

We often read about books, poems, or screenplays being discovered in the desk drawers of writers, books that end up being posthumously published. Sometimes they are paintings instead of written works, stashed away in a moldering attic. In some cases, the works that come to light after the death of their creator are shockingly good. The public has to wonder: why was this hidden away? What made the artist think it was not worth bringing to light?

It can only be because he or she questioned it –found flaws that no one else could perceive, or that possibly didn’t even exist. Because of their reservations, they never got to know how much those hidden works meant to those who later enjoyed and admired them.

While the people we’re talking about enjoyed success in their life, what about those that have not yet “made it?” What about you? Do you have a story, painting, song –an idea of any kind– that is rotting away in a desk drawer, or even worse, still inside your head? Get it out. Put pen to paper. Send an email. Show someone. Who knows what may happen once you share it.

I can guarantee what will happen if you don’t. Nothing.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Have an idea bursting to get out or opinions on the creative process in general? Comment here, or better yet: join the Oozil forum and let’s start talking.

We’ve all heard it said that too many cooks spoil the broth. Experience tells us that the cliché is quite often true. It’s not just broth-making, either. You could also say that too many painters spoil the masterpiece, or that too many writers spoil the movie. If you need a case in point, look to a film that employed a staggering thirty-two writers for its screenplay: The Flintstones. I probably don’t have to remind you how many Oscar nominations it received.

In contrast, screenplays that are written by one person alone are some of the best in the field. The Piano by Jane Campion, American Beauty by Alan Ball, Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe: what would have been the terrible result if thirty-one more writers had put their grubby hands on these scripts?

It probably appears that I’m making a case for creators to work alone. I’m not. These examples represent two extremes. Some good movies had several writers (Gone With the Wind had fifteen), and some singular visions are lucky to have even been made (anything by Ed Wood, Jr.)

The truth is that splendid things can happen when great minds collaborate. In 1954, a movie was made based on Cornell Woolrich’s noir short story “It Had to Be Murder.” John Michael Hayes single-handedly turned it into a screenplay. Grand master Hitchcock directed it, and Jimmy Stewart starred. The result: Rear Window, which received four Academy Award nominations and is #48 on AFI’s list of the best films ever made.

Do you see the difference in this kind of collaboration and the Flintstone’s kind? Rear Window’s collaborators weren’t all working on the same part of the machine, like the writers all unsuccessfully tinkering on the same film script. Each person had one job, and they did it singularly well, whether they were acting, writing, or directing. Several minds played to their unique strengths and culminated in a film masterpiece.

You might think that you work best alone. You may even be right. There’s nothing wrong with writing your novel, sketching your illustrations, or composing your music completely by yourself if you need to. But what might happen if you let another creative person add a new layer once your product is finished? What would your novel look like with illustrations? What would your painting look like if it were animated? How would your music sound as the background of a short film?

The key to successful collaboration lies not in several people all trying to do the same job, but in each person bringing their own brand of creativity, in their own way, to the project to make a single stunning product. Give it a try. The result could be the next Rear Window.

Of course you could always stick it out alone and try for the next Plan 9 From Outer Space. It’s your call.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Oozil aims to connect creative people of all types. The beginning of your successful collaboration could start here. Questions? Comments? We’re anxious to hear what you think.

Creative people who actually work in the creative field are some of the luckiest people in the world. Not everyone gets paid for doing something they love. There are some days when we work on a project and feel a sense of satisfaction close to what Hemingway or Picasso must have felt. It’s pride. It’s no wonder that artistic types often confess that they would still write, draw, design, etc. even if there weren’t a paycheck on the other end.

But then there’s the other side. Some days you go to work (whether in an office or at your laptop at home) and can’t believe you have a deadline. The fact that you must perform when you don’t have a single ounce of creative juice in your body at the moment feels wrong. How can you create art when it feels so much like work?

Don’t despair. Creativity isn’t something that just leaves you. Sometimes it just lies dormant and needs to be poked with a sharp stick to wake it back up. Think of these tips as sharp sticks, and pull them out whenever you feel a dreaded slump coming on.

• Get Out. No wonder your creativity is stifled if you’re sitting in front of a computer all day. Get outside of your regular environment (the coffee shop doesn’t count –it’s filled with writing zombies who need to get out too). Go to an art gallery. Visit an old friend. Take a walk around the block. Inspiration is right around the corner.

• Look at Some Bad Examples. Taking a look at the worst in the field can be one of the best creative boosts there is. Read some amateur fiction, check out some outsider art, or browse a website of failed ad campaigns. You won’t be able to help thinking that you could do it better, and once you realize how, you’re back in the game.

• Pick a Word. One of the simplest tools I’ve found for stimulating a napping brain is this random word generator. Let it pick a random word (rope, flying, rush), then force yourself to work with it, no matter how strange. You don’t have to actually use the word in your final creation, but you’ll find that the process of trying will lead you to a new idea.

• Recycle a Favorite. Chances are, one of the ideas you’ve already used is worth a revisit. I’m not advocating reusing the same work in its entirety, but the idea behind it. Take a look at some of your successes. What made each one work? An unexpected hook? A spoof of a classic? See if that same technique works for your current project.

If none of these seem to be working, then the best trick is to simply start. Just getting something on paper, even if it’s terrible, gives you something to mold, edit, or otherwise build into something remarkable. Then, once again, you’ll be bursting with the pride that makes you want to create in the first place.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Have a go-to trick for getting your creative juice flowing? Share it with the Oozil community.