A Key to Writer's Block: Conversational Synergy and Debate

[DeletedUser86]

Let me start by saying I don't personally suffer from writer's block; I suffer from interesting ideas forgotten. That is easy enough to fix: write/type them down as I have them in a place where I can go back later and refine them. There seems to be times in the day where my creativity flows effortlessly from one thought to the next, and there are times in the day where I am mentally spent.

The Concept of Synergy

Synergy is not just a hip buzzword passed around in the corporate world. The best (read simple) definition of synergy is "The output of a system is greater than the sum of its parts." To illustrate this concept with an example: if you want to build a car you need a chassis, engine, transmission, and wheels (sum of parts). Put these parts together and you have a car. Only with these parts working together do you have a vehicle that can get you to a destination (increased output).

An Interesting Exercise in Synergy

As an instructor: I asked a student to pick a letter (I told them it couldn't be an oft-used letter such as Q, X, Y, or Z). I wrote this letter on the board, told them to get out a piece of paper, and without talking they had 10 minutes to come up with as many movies as they could think of that began with that letter. Pretty much everyone was finished writing before the time was up. Once the time was up, we wrote all the movies that everyone came up with on the board. While writing them down, a common responses were "OH" and "I didn't even think of that one."

The second part of the exercise I marked on the board a new column, and I said we have 10 minutes to come up with more movies that are not already on the board- just shout them out. One idea led to other ideas, and the 2nd list often increased the total list of movies by 30-50%. Some may call this crowd-sourcing.

Conversations and Debate

Have you ever been in a conversation with a friend and during the conversation you were reminded of a story which you then told? I would venture to say that most have, and you can see where I'm going with this

I feel debate in this country is a lost art, as is critical thinking. Debates all to often devolve into name-calling when one side cannot articulate an argument. As with all things, debating takes practice and when done right can improve your understanding of both sides as well as increase your ammo for the next time you debate the subject.

Use conversations and debates to farm new ideas

 

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