Creativity

Day of the week effect and Kickstarter launches
Diving into my own Kickstarter data, and my desire to be a creative generalist not a creative specialist.
 • John Ward
Why your best ideas are being killed by binary thinking
Creator advice is everywhere and often focused on binary, contradictory options. But a paradox mindset forces creators to integrate both options.
 • John Ward
Working harder got me nowhere until I started using a logic model
I wrote every day but felt like I was getting nowhere. Here's the tool I used to align my creative output with my actual goals.
 • John Ward
Struggling to pitch your dream project? Try making a 90-second pitch video
Pitching is an inevitability for creators, but making video pitches not only helps you become a better pitcher, they also have multiple uses from sales…
 • John Ward
How can sci-fi make you more creative?
A dive into another paper exploring the association between sci-fi and creativity. The secret? Transportation.
 • John Ward
Does being a sci-fi fan make you more creative?
Diving into the creativity research to understand the association between background interests and creativity.
 • John Ward
How to make your scientist characters more specific and engaging.
Generic scientists are everywhere in our storytelling, but they're almost always stock characters. Enough, I say. Here are three things you can do to…
 • John Ward
Meaningful and direct engagement with your audience
Creators need to think differently about how they connect with their audiences. The old ways are not working.
 • John Ward
Drowning in the sea of experts
How my imposter syndrome derailed my latest post and sent me on a downward spiral of negative reflection about my own creative process.
 • John Ward
One small change that shifted my writing mindset
Complaining about the lack of time I had to create was becoming a mental and emotional burden, and while I typically hate new year resolutions, I had to…
 • John Ward
Silver bullets, magic beans, and other ideas for growing your audience
Reflections on creativity over the past year, and some thoughts on the emergent growth industry on Substack
 • John Ward
November roundup
Posts that caught my eye in November.
 • John Ward
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