I generally enjoy thoughts about how the creative
process works.
A recent Dilbert Blog post has some open-kimono stuff on Scott
Adams' creativity: http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/the_creative_process/
At this point I will digress and give
you my untested theory about creativity:
Creativity is highly correlated to poor memory.
For me, ideas stream through my head at a frantic pace. I feel
like a bear trying to grab a salmon. If my paw misses its target,
that salmon is gone for good. I don't dwell on it. I just lunge for
the next salmon. I think people who have fewer thoughts per hour
have time to let them settle in and form memories. It's just a
theory.
The idea stream in particular rings true with me. I find myself
at the start of blogging a particularly fervent idea or writing a
other wishing that I could type faster. I type 75wpm, gusting up to
100. But my brain, when in "idea mode" and spewing forth thoughts
will run at 2-3x that it seems (having no radar for
ideas-streaming-from-the-brain, I am unable to accurately gauge its
speed).
If this indeed be true, then, dear reader, I have one important
skill to be one of the most creative thinkers this world has ever
seen - my memory is just that poor.
Eureka!
Scott Berkun's
The Myths of Innovation seems to be set on uncovering the
process of innovation. (I have yet to read the book but it is high
on my list and I have high hopes based on the lectures that I have
seen.) I image the process to innovate requires creativity so the
two are related.
Scott Berkun, talks about various invention myths, at 9:50 in
this video, he drops this:
How, if you want to be an inventor...
how does knowing about [Archimedes in his] bathtub help you?
It doesn't.
The whole video is interesting, but if you just pick off just a
piece, take 8:38 - 12:50.