The cartoon caption contest that appears in each issue of the New Yorker magazine has become a habit. It’s fun. It’s challenging. And, the experience is pointing up larger lessons about writing and creativity.
Lesson One reaffirms a course I took in grad school taught by Glenn Karowski. Although textured and comprehensive, the main take-away can be summed by the class’s name: “The creative process.” Not creative magic. Not voodoo. Not the gift of creativity. Process.
I entered the caption contest for the first time just a few months ago when an idea popped into my head (and had not entered before because nothing had come speedily to mind). But that first inspiration was like a double-dare to do it again. So, when the next issue came, I turned to the last page, looked at the captionless cartoon and … nothing. And that raised a question that comes up almost daily in my work.
What do you when the light bulb doesn’t go off?
There exists a mythical creature known as a “creative person.” Just as leprechauns can lead you to the pot of gold or a genie can grant three wishes, a creative person is believed to be able somehow to tap into a magic fount of ideas and concepts. Ask for an idea, and all they have to do is uplink to the mothership from Planet Creative and, zzzt, there it is. Mount it on foam core, pitch it and submit an exorbitant invoice.
Yes, I’m certain some people are born with more natural creative talent than others. And, most everybody has, at least once or twice, been visited by an effortless insight. But even for the most creative, the killer concept is usually the result of hard work. When the idea doesn’t magically appear—and it almost never does—you have to go looking for it. How quickly you find it, and how good it is when you do, will depend on working a process that’s systematic, methodical and disciplined.
I expect future posts will get into more detail about the creative process. In the meantime, here’s a cartoon for which no caption came readily to mind.
By spending fifteen minutes and applying a few pump-priming tricks, I did manage to generate a handful of caption ideas. Here are the three I liked best.
“If I live through this, I’m never voice-dialing again.”
“Turns out he can hear me now. And he’s not pleased.”
“I hate convergence.”
Which one do you think I should have entered? How do you think any of them compare to contest #287’s three finalists?
