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admin February 12, 2013 Leave a Comment

Writing a story

I’ve been thinking a bit more about the virtual world pitch that I started to develop for a children’s website. Reflecting on how much I’d enjoyed creating it, I’m now wondering about the possibilities of developing the idea into a children’s fiction series. The concept lends itself to a series of seven books, so I’ve begun the creative process of planning what might happen in each book, and in the overarching story that links everything together.

There are some drawbacks to writing such a long series. As a children’s fiction editor at Scripture Union, it was always the case that the first book in a series sold really well but the sales of subsequent books were significantly lower. And, having read a seven book series by a favourite young adult author, Garth Nix, I found that I’d forgotten what had happened in previous novels by the time the next one in the series had been published. Indeed, before I read the seventh and final book, I went right back to the start and reread numbers one to six.

Yet other long series have grown as they’ve gone on, the most obvious example being Harry Potter – children didn’t seem to mind to read overlong books to see how the story ended.

So, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m going to get some lining paper (an amazing aid to creativity, trust me!) and plan out seven books, to see if the story can be sustained over that amount of novels. Then, it’s time to investigate the self-publishing options on Amazon! I’ll let you know how I get on…

To get hold of Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series, click here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

admin February 4, 2013 Leave a Comment

Letting your imagination run wild

I’ve been working on a proposal for a virtual world recently. The brief is to outline some initial thinking about a virtual world and how a child might interact with it. It’s been a tremendous exercise of letting my imagination run wild! Granted, there are parameters within which I have to work, but there aren’t many and they haven’t curtailed creativity yet.

I’ve been really surprised how excited I’ve been about the chance to do something so creative and free. Many of the things I’ve done so far as Creative Daydream have been enjoyable and creative in their own way, but this is the first project that has completely lived up to my company name!

And it’s something that discovered I’ve really needed. In the rush to create the business, set up the website, tell people about the new role and start to work on projects, I’ve not had the space to be truly, outlandishly creative. There’s a thrill attached to following an idea and not really knowing where it might take you, a thrill that’s different when you’re fulfilling quite a focused brief.

So, whatever projects the future holds (and if they’re similar to those I’ve done already, then I’ll have a varied workload), I’ve learnt that once in a while, it’s great to let your creative hair down. What shape that takes, I’m not sure – a new novel, a painting, a musical – but I’ll be setting aside some time to give something crazy a go!

I think a lot of us have some crazy stuff we’d love to try, but other things seem to get in the way or we feel too nervous to give them a go. Why not give something new a whirl this week? After all, as Dr Pepper* said, what’s the worst that could happen?

*Other brown carbonated soft drinks are available.

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged: creativity, daydream, virtual world

admin December 17, 2012 Leave a Comment

Creative inspiration

I have a personal Tumblr blog, called Alex’s Creative Daydream (it’s where the company name came from!). I don’t post very often, but I do visit the blog every day. You see, I use it as a kind of voyeuristic creative inspiration. At the moment, I’m following about 15 bloggers who post regularly – everything from an American obsessed with ‘olde worlde’ Britain (particularly the Sussex town of Rye) to a Spanish guy who posts pictures of amazing locations and landmarks from around the world. I picked these blogs up from here and there, many recommended by Tumblr itself.

There are three that I really like reading:

Humans of New York – this is a man who goes round New York, taking portraits of people whom he thinks are interesting in some way. He captures a sense of humanity and individuality in a city which can seem huge and overwhelming. There are some wonderful moments of poignancy and joy. He has become quite a celebrity, with the subjects of his photos often really excited that they will appear on HONY. At the moment, he’s on holiday in Iran and taking portraits there too.
www.humansofnewyork.com

Piano Across America – this man plays his piano anywhere and everywhere, in the company of his dog, Brando. When I first started following him, he was travelling across America, but at the moment, he plays in New York. He’s planning to make it down to Panama, starting out with just a tank of petrol and $2, surviving off money earned playing the piano as he heads south. It’s inspiring to see someone follow a dream like this – he gave up a lot to follow his dream of playing his piano.
www.pianoxamerica.tumblr.com

Becca is Learning – Becca Dean is a great blogger. She strives to be real and vulnerable, and her posts are reflections of what she has learnt from her life, both formally (she is doing post-graduate studies in Durham) and informally. She is funny, honest and thought-provoking. And a shameless devotee of Instagram.
www.beccaislearning.com

I think the point of what I’m saying here is be a bit voyeuristic* in your search for creative inspiration – absorb all you can, even if you don’t like what you see or don’t agree with what people say. Reach beyond your comfort zone and hear lots of voices: follow people on Twitter whose political viewpoints you don’t agree with. Read something by an atheist, Muslim or Christian. Switch newspapers/news websites for a day, walk in someone else’s shoes. After all, if you only see and hear things you agree with, then you’re never challenged and you ignore chances to grow. Only listening to voices you approve of can lead to a very narrow world viewpoint. I’m on the look-out for more contrasting voices, so if you know some, let me know.

And if you want to follow my personal blog, it’s www.alexbtaylor.tumblr.com. Who knows, I might start posting there more regularly myself…

*Not illegally, mind. I’m not advocating being a peeping Tom.

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged: Different viewpoints, Inspiration

admin December 10, 2012 Leave a Comment

Despicable lesson plans

I spent a very creative hour or so recently with a primary school teacher, thinking through the use of film clips in teaching literacy. She was due to be observed by her head and some of the NQTs at her school, both for her own assessment and as a training session for those newly qualified teachers.

We chatted about various films before settling on Despicable Me. Lots of ways to use this crazy story in a classroom setting were thrown about before we settled on the idea of writing diary entries for the characters involved. Developing this further, we discussed the different viewpoints that each character would have had and the spread of emotions and thoughts each one would be experiencing. Each child would have to think carefully about their chosen character before starting their writing. We chatted through creating a different environment for the children to encounter the story and how best to make use of the space as well as the subject material.

The result of this creative free-falling was a lesson that was rated as outstanding in every category and a lesson that will go on to influence teachers throughout the school. (The lesson was observed not only by the head and four NQTs, but also the deputy head and three other teachers!)

It was great fun to help foster the creative process for this teacher and help her come up with a lesson that knocked the socks off the children and the observing teachers alike!

Filed Under: Creativity, Education Tagged: creativity, ideas

admin December 3, 2012 Leave a Comment

Christmas is coming

I love Christmas. And for some reason, I’m looking forward to Christmas much more this year than before. I got very excited that the Food Network channel were showing Delia’s Christmas this weekend – an hour and a half of Christmas loveliness. I’ve got lots of presents already, my Christmas cake is made (well, I’ve done two actually, using different recipes, to decide which one I prefer) and I’m resisting the temptation to put up the Christmas tree (the infamous Eurovision tree) till closer to Christmas

Christmas is also a great time for storytelling. All the best TV programmes (and some of the rubbishy ones too) have Christmas specials, lots of amazing books are set at Christmas and the Christmas story itself is one that is told again and again. Christmas gives us lots of chances to be creative – my church, New Life North, is using The Polar Express as the theme for its December services and has done an amazing job decorating the church, creating an evocative environment to help people experience the story.

WordLive, Scripture Union’s online Bible reading guide is running a creative retelling of the Christmas story, and I had the pleasure of writing it. The team at WordLive have taken my script, recorded it with Russell Boulter (once a regular actor on The Bill) and sent it to an animator called Jon Birch, who has done a brilliant job of putting visuals to the audio track. You can catch it here.

Enjoy the experience of hearing and telling stories this Christmas. Enjoy the magic, enjoy the trappings, learn from the stories.

Jon Birch of Birch Animations and Eddie Nock of Scripture Union created the picture with this post.

Filed Under: Christmas, Creativity, Storytelling

admin November 16, 2012 Leave a Comment

Welcome to Creative Daydream!

Creative Daydream is a new venture, but backed with lots of experience and a big bundle of creativity.

Do you need help in your creative processes?
Need a hand refining ideas and developing them?
Or are you looking for publishing or editorial services?

Then you’ve come to the right place. Take a look around at what help we can provide, and then drop us a line.

Filed Under: News Tagged: creativity, development, editorial services, ideas