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We all have one, like assholes and opinions. Our creative process is how the stories come to life from inside of us, how they unfurl, and the way we release ideas into something that others can experience, too.

It's natural.

Creative process isn't something that one author can dictate to another. It's also not something you can try to emulate to recreate a given author's success. It's like when Derice becomes obsessed with the Swiss bobsled team's process in Cool Runnings (1993). He tried to replicate it to force success for his country's team of novices. But it wasn't his team's process, so it didn't make them perform any better. Ultimately, the Jamaican bobsled team developed their own way, that was truer to who they were, and it was much more effective for them. This is also true of any creative process.

You have to make it your own, and discover it your own way.

I'll tell you about mine.

While it's nothing I'd recommend attempting to reproduce, I'd argue that it's still worth sticking around to hear about it. Inspiration is everywhere, and inspiration is not replication.

I have an intellectual construct called the Mind Theater. As can be inferred, this construct lives in my brain and exists in my imagination. It has roughly the floor plan of a real theater I've grown to love in real life, called the Hollywood Theater in Dormont, PA. It's the source material and filming location for The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)'s Rocky Horror Picture Show scene.

But my Mind Theater is abandoned, but for all of my POV characters who pass in and out of it like spirits. They exist in a sort of time-agnostic sense, flickering between who they are at each point in their journeys across their stories or series. In the mind theater, they are who they are, were, and will be, and it's all transpiring when they are “on stage” or “on screen.” My Mind Theater cannot decide if it is a cinema or a playhouse. Therefore it is both.

It's my space.

This is where my characters are born, and also where they tell me their stories. Performances range from one-man acts, monologuing from a stool on the stage, to whole scenes playing out on a projector screen.

All the while, other Main Characters that I created gather and bear witness. It becomes an institution of metafiction in this way. My characters are aware of who and what they are. They speak of The Canon and of Author, who is me. They argue with one another over whether Author is in charge of Fate, or they are. They have Opinions about the canon events. I watch it all from the Projector Room above.

In this metaphysical space, my characters come to life before my eyes. They not only speak directly to me sometimes, like a prayer, but they also form relationships with one another. In fact, they've been known to react to the media I've been watching. They've reached through the veil of fiction and have remarked on my real life, too. I can't tell you how many pointed emails Jack Morgan wrote for me.

Sometimes, the Mind Theater gives way to method writing. It's a dangerous game, to take on my characters so intimately. I try to use this tool sparingly. But when I do, a character will take the wheel of my Self and take me on their journey from the driver's seat.

The point is it's personal.

I have explained my creative process to other creatives before. Sometimes it clicks with them, and sometimes I get stares and cricket noises. I mustn't take it too hard. Writing is personal, even when doing it with a coauthor. You and you alone are privy to your thought processes. Make them work for you.

Finding a creative process isn't something I can teach you. It takes soul searching and exploration. It takes doing. Practicing. Creating. And the process can be refined and evolve over time. There's nothing permanent or essential about it.

Do what works for you.

There is no single way to harness creative energy. Once you find yours, you may become unstoppable.

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