I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity lately: Where it comes from, how it works, why the most unexpected things can spark the most exciting flights of imagination, all of this interests me. It must interest others as well; cliché as it is, people really do ask writers and artists all the time where they get their ideas. Some creative types might have better answers, but my typical reply is something like, “Ah, well, everywhere?”
I like to picture imagination like a dragon gathering a horde of strange and shiny ideas, and creativity is best nourished by an open-minded willingness to take in and contemplate what our big, strange world has to offer. This can include overheard snippets of conversation, works of art in different media, vague old memories, bad television, historical events, true crime documentaries, staring at a pond in the forest, the creepy things my friends’ son says about the imaginary friend who lives in their heating vents…
K-pop music videos.
And real life, I guess, sometimes.
But mostly K-pop music videos.