all talk and no action

Last week I went on a course on how to be more creative. Some of the points raised were obvious, but still useful as they’re easily forgotten, such as the fact that an increase in stress leads to a decrease in creativity – which is why our best ideas tend to come to us when we’re away from the desk thinking about something else.

One tip which I found really useful, both for editors looking to commission a great piece, and writers pitching ideas, was this:

Think of an idea that will get you fired.

As an example, a car magazine editor’s resignation might be delivered in the form of a piece called “how to print your own fake tax disc and MOT certificate”.

From that, a usable idea could be “how criminals fob you off with fake MOT certificates that you won’t spot”, or “how to spot a fake MOT certificate and avoid buying an insurance write-off”, or “how the trade in fake documents is turning roads into death traps”. I’m sure there are loads more.

It’s a great exercise and one that will hopefully help fellow writers and editors get out of that awful oh my god my creativity has gone and everyone’s going to find out that I had no idea what I was doing all along moment. Give it a try.

That's a great idea - although you know what I'm like, I'd pitch the idea that'd get me fired without going through the rest of the process :)

That's why you have editors :)