I’m doing this as a separate post because I figured it was going to be invisible in comments. (Where I originally answered the question.)
Here’s the question I got:
KalevTait Says:
April 13th, 2008 at 12:09 pmI don’t know how related it is, but you might want to look at ‘A whack on the side of the head’ for comparison. It’s much more about how to learn creativity than it is about thinking in a twisty way (which I suspect your course is about).
I own the Whack Pack (and book), actually. After reading the book and taking the pack out of the box and messing around with it once, I put them back and never bothered with them again. It’s not a bad course at all—but it’s designed for business users, not writers, first off, and it’s … thin. Impersonal. I liked the concept enough to buy the thing, but it didn’t fit me.
The Think Sideways course is something else entirely. It is very much about learning twisty thinking, developing a deep connection to creating unexpected events in fiction (and creating a fertile ground for serendipity in your life). It’s not random cards, but a series of specific techniques presented in an order that will allow you to build on what you’ve previously learned—everything works together
Each lesson will be in PDF format, (so you can work at your own speed), and will include:
- one sideways-thinking technique that I use,
- an example of how I’ve successfully used it,
- recommendations on the sorts of creativity you’ll find it useful for,
- and two exercises for putting it into practice—one for writing, one for life in general.
- Finally, I’m pretty sure I’m going to include one ‘Synthesis’ lesson a month, in which you’ll start putting together some project (probably writing, but not necessarily), and you’ll use the three techniques from that month in conjunction to develop it.
Beyond that, some lessons will come with bonuses that will give you a ‘live’ (MP3 or Quicktime video) demonstration of putting a technique into action (not all of them, because some techniques simply don’t lend themselves to this).
The objective of the course will be to make sure, by the end of each lesson, that you have acquired a new skill, or have at least found new ways to put to use skills you already have.
You can get all the sneak peeks as I develop the course (and an hour’s head start on getting one of the limited seats for the first class) by signing up below for the priority notification list.
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