As a parent I long for the joyous day when that doozy gets dropped at the dinner table. It’s not an easy question to answer. And not because the answer is a mystery, or complicated.
The challenge lies in how the answer is framed, to avoid permanent mental scarring for my innocent, albeit inquisitive daughter. But more about babies later.
I’ve heard that we Creatives give birth to ideas. Apparently It’s what we do (excuse me while I wash the cliché filth from my skin).
And the idea is everything. It’s kind of the point. It’s the tree upon which we hang our baubles, the 11kw stove for the dried wood, and the trifle on which to place the cherry.
But where do the ideas come from? It’s perhaps a harder question to answer because, contrary to the first question, it isn’t nearly as clear cut.
They don’t come from one place, that’s for sure. They come in from all directions, from different places, at varying speeds, and they all look and sound different.
Some ideas don’t look like ideas at all. And some things look like ideas when you first see them, only to be found out as counterfeit market-stall knock-offs from the 5th basement level of Ebay.
Here are just 5 types of ideas that I’ve identified, caught, pinned, sketched and put in a scrap book.
The Switch
Some ideas appear fully formed like a big switch has been flicked in the brain somewhere. From an inky black nothingness to a back lit 4k vision of beauty.
From silent void, to all of a sudden Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus victoriously playing in your head at 11.
There is no explaining where it came from, you’ll be marked down for not showing your workings, but it’s here. It’s perfect. It’s beautiful.
The Tall Ship
Some ideas appear through fog. You look out to the horizon and your sentient brain tells you there’s nothing there. Then all of a sudden, creeping through the mist, the three masts of a ship named Gold Award drift into view.
You blink a few times to make sure you’ve seen it right. Gently elbowing the person next to you “You’re seeing this as well right? It’s not just me?”
The Tomato Seed
You know the drill: The brief gets planted deep into the soil. And then nothing. Nothing for what seems like forever.
You wait. Go off and make a cuppa. Come back: nothing.
You water it a little bit, get up and walk around, come back: still nothing.
You move it to the window and go and play a game of table tennis. Burn a few calories, come back to the desk and BOOM: tomato plant, complete with juicy red toms ripe for the picking.
The Airfix
Made up of a billion small pieces, and a bucket of glue, it takes time, sweat, effort and patience to create this one.
You’ve got someone working on the wings, another on the engine, and another on the landing gear and that other guy who just wants to put the stickers on at the end (I love the stickers bit).
It’s a team effort, and at the end of it all you step back to view the perfectly formed, not-at-all-glue ridden idea, with all of its pieces put together perfectly and stickers in all the right places.
The Sneak
This one creeps up behind you and taps you on the shoulder. You’re looking one way and it arrives from the other.
You look out to the horizon, and it’s sitting by your hand all the time. Like one of those weird little centipedes you get in the summer.
You sit humbled by the fact that it was there on the first page of the brief and you missed it.
It was contained within a throwaway line by that guy in Wilko’s. It was written on the wall in the Red Lion’s disabled loo.
All you had to do was look in a different place. Sneaky.
There is a larger list of idea types, including the Back Rub, the Straight Banana, the Head Against Wall and the Why-the-heck-didn’t-I-think-of-that-before.
But this will do for now.
My friend recently gave birth to a baby in the back of a camper van on the way to the hospital.
By the time she and her hubby rocked up to the Maternity unit at 1000mph, little Ollie was already in her arms, fully formed and awesome in every way.
The process was unorthodox, not the blissful birthing pool delivery that had been planned.
Instead, a chaotic, thrill-filled journey of fast turns and unhelpful speed bumps.
But though the process was unexpected, the end result remained the same: The birth of something brand new and full of potential.
Ideas are also birthed in varied, sometimes unexpected ways. The important thing is to expect the unexpected.