The Creative Process | Research

Creativity is not mystical. It follows patterns that can be understood and cultivated. This document covers the stages of the creative process and practical techniques for writers.

The Four Stages (Wallas Model)

Graham Wallas proposed this foundational model in The Art of Thought (1926):

1. Preparation — Gathering information, doing research, defining the problem. Conscious, deliberate work where you immerse yourself in the subject matter.

2. Incubation — Stepping back to allow unconscious processing. You divert conscious attention away while your mind continues working in the background.

3. Illumination — The “eureka” or “aha” moment when insight suddenly emerges. Often arrives unexpectedly during relaxation or unrelated activities.

4. Verification — Evaluating, analyzing, and refining the idea to determine if it is useful and novel.

These stages constantly overlap in daily work: you might be incubating on one problem while preparing for another and verifying conclusions on a third.

Where Ideas Come From

Sources of Creative Material

Real life and observation — Mark Twain based Huckleberry Finn on someone he knew. Writers are observers who pay attention to conversations, interactions, and emotions.

The “What If?” question — Ideas spring from asking “what if?” about ordinary situations. This is practically “an idea mating call.”

Combining unrelated concepts — Arthur Koestler called this “bisociation”—bringing together two unrelated frames of thought into a recognized relationship. Newton bisociated when he saw a falling apple as both fruit and demonstration of gravity.

Dreams — Stephen King attributes the inspiration for Misery to a dream. Paul McCartney came up with “Yesterday” in a dream.

Reading widely — Engaging with diverse genres, styles, and forms exposes you to new perspectives that inform your own work.

Steven Johnson’s Key Concepts

From Where Good Ideas Come From:

The Adjacent Possible — New innovations are built on existing ideas and technologies. Good ideas assemble from a collection of existing parts.

The Slow Hunch — Most innovative ideas are not sudden flashes but gradual developments that linger in the mind, sometimes for decades. Darwin’s theory appeared as an epiphany but his notebooks reveal he had nearly described it far earlier. Tim Berners-Lee’s fascination with information portals took decades to mature into the World Wide Web.

Capturing Ideas

The Commonplace Book Tradition

Commonplace books have been kept since antiquity—personal notebooks for compiling quotes, observations, poems, and anything useful.

Famous practitioners:

Marcus Aurelius (Meditations began as a commonplace book)
Leonardo da Vinci
John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Virginia Woolf
Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, H.P. Lovecraft
Thomas Jefferson (separate books for literary and legal matters)
Francis Bacon (1,655 handwritten proverbs, metaphors, and aphorisms)

The Zettelkasten Method

German sociologist Niklas Luhmann used a “slip box” system to produce 50 books and over 600 articles. His 90,000 handwritten notes over 40 years formed a network of connected ideas.

Key principles:

Each note contains one atomic idea
Notes link to related notes through a branching numbering system
Emphasis on connections, not collection
Luhmann called it his “conversation partner” and “second memory”

Incubation: The Subconscious at Work

Research confirms that during incubation, unconscious processes genuinely contribute to creative thinking—it is not merely the absence of conscious thought.

The Role of Sleep

Sleep facilitates memory and learning processes that contribute to creative problem-solving
Sleep onset (N1 stage) may be ideal for creative ideation
Famous examples: Paul McCartney dreamed “Yesterday”; Nobel laureate Otto Loewi woke with the experimental design proving chemical neurotransmission

The Default Mode Network

The brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes active during rest, daydreaming, and mind-wandering:

Allows the mind to wander and explore different mental scenarios
Promotes association of seemingly disconnected concepts
People who engage in frequent mind-wandering score higher on creativity measures

Jonathan Schooler’s research found people often solve difficult problems during periods of mind-wandering—the incubation effect.

Practical Incubation

Long incubation periods with low cognitive workloads yield best results
Activities that allow mind-wandering: walking, showering, doing dishes, light exercise
Sleep consolidates information, leading to clearer insights the next day

Making Connections

Koestler’s Bisociation

Arthur Koestler coined “bisociation” to distinguish routine thinking on a single plane from creative acts operating on multiple planes. The creative process involves bringing together previously separate areas of knowledge.

Many bisociative breakthroughs occur after intense conscious effort, during relaxation when rational thought is abandoned—in dreams and trances.

The Network Effect

Ideas connect better when you:

Read with an eye toward possible connections
Keep notes “messy” to allow unexpected juxtapositions
Let hunches develop slowly over time
Embrace serendipity—unexpected collisions of ideas

As Steven Johnson advises: “Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity.”

The Role of Reading

Research shows:

Reading stimulates the right side of the brain, enhancing creativity
Students who spent more time reading or writing performed better on creativity tests
Reading and writing enhance critical and creative thinking in a connected loop

Unlike passive media consumption, reading compels active imagination. Even from the same passage, each reader creates a unique mental picture.

V.E. Schwab sees reading as “a fundamental part of my job” as a writer.

Practical Techniques

Morning Pages (Julia Cameron)

From The Artist’s Way: Write three pages by hand, first thing in the morning, stream-of-consciousness, about anything. Don’t stop writing.

Cameron calls this “spiritual windshield wipers”—a brain drain that releases worries, fears, and distractions.

Walking

Stanford research found creative output increased by 60% on average when walking compared to sitting:

Works for both indoor (treadmill) and outdoor walking
Effects persist even after sitting down (residual boost)
Short walks of 5-16 minutes show impact

Famous walking thinkers: Aristotle, Einstein, Darwin (three 45-minute walks daily), Nietzsche (“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”), Dickens, Thoreau.

Freewriting

Let stream-of-consciousness take over without judging. Pick a set time, commit to 5-10 minutes. Dani Shapiro suggests beginning with “I remember” and writing a sentence, then dropping down and beginning again.

Short Sessions

Joyce Carol Oates recommends writing assignments of no more than 40 minutes. A limited time frame gives freedom to not fuss and write into the rush of creativity.

Generate Quantity

Research supports that quantity breeds quality. Alex Osborn: “The more ideas we produce, the more likely we are to think up some that are good.”

One study found a strong correlation (r = .893): more ideas produced means higher quality ideas.

As Stephen King notes: “No one would argue that quantity guarantees quality, but to suggest that quantity never produces quality strikes me as snobbish, inane and demonstrably untrue.”

Creative Constraints

Research shows more creative outcomes often emerge under constrained conditions:

The relationship forms a U-shape: too many constraints stifle, too few cause complacency
Constraints limit scope, reduce cognitive overload, encourage focused exploration
Dr. Seuss used only 50 different words for Green Eggs and Ham
Miles Davis wrote Kind of Blue without a single chord

Create an Environment for Flow

Flow state—complete immersion in a task—yields a 700% boost in creativity. To achieve it:

Eliminate distractions
Task should be 4% harder than your comfort zone
Use rituals to signal the start of work
Protect the first hour of your day from reactive activities

It takes workers an average of 23 minutes to refocus after a distraction.

Advice from Master Writers

Stephen King

“Read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things.”
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
“Kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart.”
Stories are “found things”—you pull them out of the ground

Neil Gaiman

“You have to finish things—that’s what you learn from.”
“Tell your story… start telling the stories that only you can tell.”
If you don’t know the rules, you won’t know what’s impossible
The best advice (from Stephen King): “Enjoy the ride”

A Framework for Creative Practice

Prepare intensively — Read widely, gather material, define problems, fill your commonplace book
Capture everything — Keep a notebook system (commonplace book, Zettelkasten, swipe file)
Let ideas incubate — Step away, walk, sleep on it, allow mind-wandering
Make connections — Link ideas to each other, embrace unexpected juxtapositions
Show up consistently — Establish a routine that works for you
Generate quantity — More ideas lead to better ideas
Use constraints creatively — Limitations focus and enhance creativity
Create space for flow — Minimize distractions, protect focused time
Finish things — Completion teaches more than endless polishing
Enjoy the process — The ride matters as much as the destination

Go Deeper

Books

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson — The adjacent possible and slow hunches
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron — Morning pages and creative recovery