quote: Original post by adventuredesign
adventuredesign - Well, this is very interesting.Before I reply, would you mind explaining what the Harvard method is and how your TOMA/database works?
The Harvard method simply put is an exacting definition of the problem. Some say it is the first step in problem solving. There are books on it out there that go into excruciating detail about it, and they can illustrate the formal approach. I just analyze what data I view and ask myself, "Is the problem clearly defined here?", and that does half the job. It won''t work for more complex problems, but then you''d have to apply criteria anyway, and that is where the formal approaches apply.
As far as the database works, it''s derived from something I learned in my very first database design class: before you create one table, think about you data.
Well, that was a tall order for me, because I think and work about a lot of stuff. Besides game design, I write for TV (commercials, interstitials, PA''s, show concept proofs and executive summaries, etc.), film (screenplays, treatments, outlines, character bio''s, exec summaries, pitch docs, queries, etc.), industry (business plans, ad campaigns, creatives, process docs, etc.) -- you get the picture.
What it boiled down to was that I wanted to cover everything I created, no matter what the subject category, and not let anything slip through the cracks. That span of activity, per se, became the column heading for my row of columns at the top of the DB. Then I broke down by level of complexity (you can arrange it anyway you want as long as you define yourself) of the project (a novel takes longer to dev than a commercial, and has more support and research associated with it, thus it is deeper down the row in that genre or area column), and last but not least the third dimension of the data is related to time (e.g.; how far along the project is in terms of it being completed, final draft submissible copy).
Once I defined the scope of my endeavors, activities and aspirations, then I began associating all creative production activities (conscious or sub) with their relative category and project row (or folder, more precisely, as it is not an excel spreadsheet per se, but a directory tree structure similar to Windoze Explorer).
Three marvelous things happen when this construct is applied. One, you have a place for everything, even if the folder is names ''morgue'' (a very old tradition in writing for things we find interest in but have to bury until we see where it fits in, then it is ''resurrected'' LOL), and this means you miss nothing.
Two, it prevent the predelection of humans to avoid closure and completion by showing you at all times what you''ve got and where it is at in the process (I think this is more closely associated with the human addiction to wonderment; but that is another thread), and three, it''s a plain old graphical representation of what you represent as a human creative entity, and what you have accomplished while in the warm and vertical fleeting moments we entities enjoy.
So it keeps you on track, you lose nothing (unless of course you failed in discipline to write it down and file it later; but these are the earmarks of the professional), and it''s a comprehensive and finite management tool for your career.
TOMA feeds this construct by presenting to your awareness the thoughts and ideas that come up during the day or night. This we recognize behaviorally as going, "Oh, I thought of something just now, I think I''ll jot it down." It is immaterial whether or not this thing we just thought of is relative or even a priority to anything we are currently involved in. What is material is that the record is created for the database (you''d be quite surprised what crashing two plots that were going nowhere individually into each other can manifest, but that is another discussion), and the record you create finds it''s way methodically and in a timely manner into the database, even if you are only filing it in a folder named Misc./misc.
I actually have a folder named that. You will have to find your own naming convention, and I venture it may be more flavorful than mine.
The point here is that by working in this way, you create the trust that has always been lacking between you and your incredibly far more powerful, far more intelligent and far more creative subconscious mind that if it goes to the trouble to come up with something, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time *consciously*, you are going to honor yourself and the creative process by not dismissing it as a lesser being may, but instead consider it significant enough to do the due diligence and write the thing down.
I am touching on a very important point here, one that may effect your creativity for the rest of your life, so pay attention: we tend to dismiss our subconscious processes almost exclusively in our ''rationalizations only'' waking mindsets, and this discounting and tossing out what bubbles up from where we have no control, or have given no credibility tends to piss off the subconscious. If you were really sensitive and self aware, you would see that this is actually self abuse, but that is a wide, wide other discussion. LOL
Our whole culture and civilization has historically discounted, diminished and swept under the carpet or discredited the very thing that makes us protean to begin with, IMO (getting past archetypes to the protean self is another thread also, tyvm).
After all, who''s got time for incomplete and uncomfortably revealed deeply intuited data? It has no practical, immediate profitable or exploitable value, so what possible value can it have. This has been the POV towards our subconscious long before the word evolved in the dictionary.
Just like humans to squander resources as if they were unlimited and controllable.
Rare, unique and courageous individuals discovered within themselves this fount of info, and started giving it it''s due, and as they began the relationship with this part of the self, it began to get less and less pissed off that it''s contributions to consciousness were being dismissed and discarded, and just like people, it warmed up to the idea that it was being respected, listened to and given credibility.
Voila, protean thinking emerged, and creativity was out of the gate and in the (human) race.
What is distinctly different from honoring these contributions from deep within ourself, and working with a process we cannot control (frankly it kind of scares me that this does not work unless you give up control, but I''m still corporeal and don''t plan on dissolving through evolvement into the etheric quite just yet :D) and all other known development processes is that you have to be patient, disciplined and above all else at a high level of trust in order for it to work on the level it''s capable of operating on.
Now, as a creative entity, I''ve seen many, many sides of development. I''ve stayed up all night to draft three times a twenty one page script based on a dream to my conscious literary satisfaction, stumbled down to the coffee shop in the early light to revel in my creative feat and fortune, and literally have a director tell me they would make it before the second cup of coffee was done, to long term projects of epic story scale that have taken literally years (this last screenplay took six months to write, but seven years to research and ferment) to complete.
The bottom line in either type of dev scenario was that I was patient and trusted the process enough to know my onboard wetware would do the job if I was a, using it properly, b, trusted it, and c, was on good terms with it.
I think those three things must be present, along with the aforementioned construct if you are to be capable of all the creative things desired or necessary that you want out of life.
What we are talking about here is creative development and methodologies, not jumping both feet first into the black depths of the subconscious mind. Of course, the degree of innovation is reciprocal to the amount of resistance it encounters, which is why I am a writer. I am solely responsible for the content and context of my market viable or not market viable output. I choose how to configure the system (did somebody mention success is a system?) of creative production so that it suits me, and serves me, so I can serve the audience, lest we forget too quickly greatness lies in humility.
Frankly, I can think of no higher freedom choice. And, I can also tell you from direct observable experience very, very few people, even creative human beings, will go this far in foundating their careers or skillsets. Part of the problem lies in acceptance (which arises before this in the dismissing of the idea because it has no immediate, practical applications) that the undefined or underdefined thought is not what our expectations desired (boo hoo, expectations are the bane of culture and civilization in most cases anyway), and the other part of the problem lies in the fact that if it did get out there was a way for this to work more powerfully and for everyone anywhere, why then, many artists would not be able to put themselves on a pedestal because they somehow can hack away at a creative process most other people find too much work.
And yes, it is hard work. True creativity is in everyone, and to manifest it everywhere would simply ruin the perception that only the lucky or special can access and use it. That would sure burst a lot of bubble of self aggrandizing perceptions, but then again, preservation of those perceptions have led to most of the exploitation, suffering and abuse you can think of or name. We could have to stop using words like genius and special and jedi if that happened. Oh pity.
I''ve been studying and developing creativity for a very long time, and I''m certain just like the guy who can take anybody off the street and turn them into a real estate millionaire over the weekend with no money down, I could take you and any one of your projects, and not only litmus test it for validity as developmet worthy, but help you complete it in less time, at better quality, while simultaneously supercharging your productive creativity process that the only things that would prevent you from heartily accepting such an offer is that a, I''m booked, and b, it wouldn''t have quite the same magic feeling about it anymore after we were done. That''s a quick descent from the altitude of wonderment.
Sorry for the soapbox. Hope this helps.
Addy
I looked through all my old stories and thought about my favorite books and anime, and tried to make a list of what I was most interested in writing about and what problems I had run into in my attempts so far. I came up with about two and a half character archetypes that I really like, which suggests to me that I need to work on developing the third. I came up with a couple of proto-plots which were ideal for exploring my favorite themes, and tried to describe my ideal story climax and resolution. All of which still doesn''t give me a clear path toward creating a large work of fiction, but it''s helpful to have all your building materials laid out in front of you. So, take a look at what I came up with and tell me what you would suggest I do with it. 
