Stages of the Creative Process

Four Stages of the Creative Process

Psychologist Graham Wallas, in The Art of Thought, explored creativity as a process.  Based on the accounts of famous artists and their experiences, he theorized that there are four stages to the creative process.

1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification or Revision

Our different modes of thought, both conscious and unconscious, come into play at different stages.  This is the foundation for the process I developed in the Creative Writers Way.  Here’s how it works.

Moving Through the Stages of the Creative Process

1. Preparation and Revision, the first and last stages of the creative process, are mainly the domain of the conscious mind.
2. During the second stage, the person releases conscious control as the problem is turned over to the unconscious for Incubation.
3. Eventually this leads to the solution that emerges in what is called the Illumination stage, often coming when we are least expecting it.
   In fact, many creative people report that illumination or inspiration comes to them during what is described as a half-waking state.  They are either emerging from sleep or from an induced state of reverie like meditation.  The work I do involves learning how to access and use this state.
4. The process is completed by what is called the Verification.  When applied to writing, the manifestation stage where we are actively writing and editing the story.

Malcolm Cowley, novelist and literary critic, applied the model directly to writing.  He redefined it as: ideation, Incubation, first draft and revision.  The first stage is usually focused on identifying the germ of the story or idea.  This is followed by a period of what he called conscious meditation (incubation).  It leads to the creation of a draft and finally is brought to completion in the revision(s).  This model has been confirmed by writers and creative people who talk about how the idea for a book came to them.  Often there is a breakthrough, a flash of inspiration that comes after much preparation.  This often happens when taking a break, going for walk or doing something neutral.

The Natural Process

These stages are a natural part of the creative process.  They track the ways the mind and the different parts of the brain are involved in creative processing, working together naturally.  The creative process can be likened to a dance between the conscious and the unconscious in consort with the imagination.  Each one plays a role and takes the lead during different stages.  The empirical research I did for my PhD supported the notion of stages to the creative process as an interplay between the conscious and unconscious mind.  This can be likened to the ordinary and the special world.  The interplay is never not entirely linear but involves repetition, a back-and-forth or overlapping of the stages.

Ultimately, the creative act, the journey, is completed.  Like the heroic journey, the creative writer’s journey includes a movement through different stages or states to manifest and bring forth the gift.  The finished writing is born.

 

The Creative Writer’s Journey

In that sense, the creative writer’s journey can be viewed as bearing a resemblance to a rite of passage.  This model first identified by the ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep, defining a universal experience of human development.  This work inspired mythologist Joseph Campbell.  He modified it to what has been popularized as the hero’s journey.  The same model that applies to story structure and personal development.  Louise de Salvo said, sometimes it seems like we are being helped by an outside force that guides our work.

Just as in the hero’s journey, when we embark on a creative project.  We accept the call to create and leave the ordinary world and go on an adventure to the magical world.  We enter the world of the imagination where we will meet up with our Magic Helper or the Muse.

The ancient notion of a Muse dates to Greek mythology.  It comes from the story of the Muses, the daughters of Zeus who presided over the arts.  Now we think of the Muse as a personified force that is the source of inspiration for creativity.  We can learn how to access that inspiration and overcome the trials and tribulations inherent in creating.   Eventually, if we stay the course and defeat the antagonist, the inner voice of judgment.  We go on to complete the task we’re called to undertake, the last stage when the hero returns with the gift or story we give to others.  Perhaps we will be changed by the experience or the ordeal, as the hero of our story will be through his or her character arc.

Stages of the Story, Stages of the Writing

What we will see is that in some ways the journey of the writer and the protagonist is a parallel experience.  Just as the character goes through the trials and tribulations inherent in the story, and grows as a result, so does the writer.  What is most needed in the creative journey is a way back into the magic of play.  We need a space in which we once dwelled so easily and naturally as children.  Activating and navigating the creative process is the real hero’s journey.  This includes a process for dealing with the inner critic.  It is a way to call forth the imagination as a partner.  Creating and cultivating the right habits and character of the creative hero is potentially within everybody.

In that sense, the creative process can be viewed as an initiation of sorts.  The journey invites us to overcome fear and obstacles and find the magic helper.  The “secret” participation of the unconscious is our partner in the creating.  In depth psychology we refer to this as a movement toward a greater sense of wholeness.  As such, it forms a dual purpose.  It links to a recovery of the feminine in our search to be more intuitive and to value the role of imagination.  It also moves away from a masculine aspect that includes the cultural conditioning that can stifle creativity.

Once we understand how to navigate the conscious and unconscious stages of the creative process, we understand more.  As a result, it can help us in find our voice and maximize our writing craft in the way structure stories.