Inspiration

Curiosity, creativity and an encounter with an oven

/ The Magpie at Midnight / Leave a comment

Just before Christmas I was out in the morning doing the nursery run, when I spotted this oven and stopped to take a photo. I liked the way that it was peaking out from behind the tree. I was thinking to myself I wonder who left that there? Why leave it there, although the poor thing has probably been fly tipped and is destined for the dump.

On my way back from my encounter with the oven my mind followed a tangled strand of thought into the area of curiosity and creativty. At the moment I don’t have a huge amount of time to spend on my creative projects, most of my time is spent either working on the day job, or looking after Toddler Magpie. Sometimes this is frustrating, but I am not sorry. Time spent with him has been it’s own eduction is creativity.

That morning I was thinking about how if you are a toddler, expressing curiosity and giving something a try, even when you can’t really do it yet, is cause for celebration and encouragment from people around them. Somehow by the time we reach adulthood, for many of us this exact same process has earned us ridicule and sometimes even rejection. I began to wonder if the fear of being seen to get something wrong, or to not to already know the answer, stifles the natural curious instincts we are born with in many adults. Maybe adulthood trains it out of us, as we are busy struggling through other things?

During this last year and a bit of creative prompts (for all the links see this post) I have found myself re-claiming that sense of curiosity. Perhaps I am now known locally as that eccentric lady with a pram who stops to take photos of rubbish. I think I can take that. These days I’m too busy asking myself questions that often lead to other ideas and other creative projects.

I wonder who?

I wonder what?

I wonder why?

I wonder how?

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you are interested in the process of creativity and want to get a copy of my free short book of creative prompts, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt (Lost shoe series #1): ‘Was there a body nearby?’

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

It doesn’t happen to me very often, but now and again you see something and a blog post almost writes itself. That’s what happened with this creative prompt. I was out walking with my son on New Year’s Day, having taken him to the park to burn off some of that Christmas energy, and we were on our way home via the train station so that he could look at some trains.

Just outside our local station is a set of railings that fence off the embankment for the tracks leading inot the platforms. Over time the space between the slope of the embankment and the fencing has become full of stuff. Rubbish, brambles (both dead and alive), and odd bits of clothing. I saw this shoe poking out near the bottom of the rails and stopped to take a photo.

Later in the week I posted the photo on instagram (you can follow me here, should you want to) and someone made a comment along the lines of ‘was there a body nearby?’ which I found kind of funny. But it did get me thinking – given the build up of stuff behind those railings, who knows what is burried at the bottom of it? It feels like it could be the beginning of a good thriller or police procedural story for someone.

Who do you think the shoe could have belonged to? How do you think it got there?

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these so please do link to blog posts or comment below.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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A year and more in creative prompts: all the links

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

Happy New Year!

It’s been a little bit over a year since I began posting regular (sometimes weekly) creative prompts for anyone who may find them useful. My normal format now is to post a photograph of something I find interesting or quirky, and to add some thoughts or observations of my own. This is a format that had developed over time – as you’ll see the prompts in 2020 posts were quite minimal, with a photo and a very simple caption. Over time the written parts of the posts have developed into longer, slightly more complicated thoughts or questions. This culminated earlier in the year in the production of a little book of prompts and thoughts about creativity, which you can get here for free if you sign up to my mailing list.

When I started writing this post I had an idea that I would wrap up the year by posting all of the creative prompts from 2021, but as I began going back through my posts I realised that I had actually been posting these for a little bit longer than a year, and that there were patches of time earlier in 2021 when I didn’t post at all. I had wanted to write a post that bought them all together in one place, as thank you for anyone who has been following along with these posts. So, here they are, all 49 of them, in one place. I hope this year proves to be a little kinder to the world than the last two have been.

Prompts from 2020:

Prompts from 2021:

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: The Chariot (to take us into the new year)

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

We had a cold snap about a week ago, and while I was walking towards my home one morning I noticed this little car, dusted with frost, sitting on the wall. As we were approaching the end of another strange year, it bought to mind the idea of a chariot to carry us into the next one.

In normal times, for many people the turn of the year is a time to reflect on what has happened over the months that have past, and think about what they may want to do in the months to come. It is a time for resolutions. But these have not been normal times, and making any concrete plans for the next few months may feel premature to many.

I’m not a fan of New Year resolutions in any kind of time, as my ideas seem to shift frequently enough to make them feel outdated quite quickly. I have a list of projects that I have been working on for a while, and I’ll continue to inch towards the finish lines with those, but this doesnt feel like a new ‘resolution’, just a continuation of what I’ve been doing over the last few years. However I do think it’s quite a good time to stop and take stock, creatively speaking, of how things have been developing and to think about what may come next.

While this wasn’t part of the plan when I started them (like there was a plan!), these creative prompt posts are becoming quite in interesting space to explore ideas in a short form way that won’t necessarily make it into bigger projects. A few weeks ago I published a series about neighbourhood intrigues (here, here and here) that diverged a little from my usual format, and detailed strange little incidents or behaviours I had observed in my local area. I had begun to feel like I was writing the same thing over and over, so to do something a bit different was refreshing and enjoyable. I’m hoping to do a bit more of this, and to also explore some other sources of inspiration. I have wanted to take a deeper look into the idea of psychological archetypes for some time, and these posts may lend themselves quite well to this. So, look out for a few new approaches from me next year. I hope that this time provides you a similar moment of pause, that allows new ideas to flow.

Do you have new creative ideas that you would like to pursue next year? Where may this chariot carry you?

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: A key on the pavement

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

It’s getting close to the end of the year and I have been trying to spot some more festive creative prompts for the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately I’ve not actually come across many that I like yet. However, while I was out and about yesterday I did spot this key on the pavement in the lunchtime sunlight.

I was particularly drawn to this little key because of the rust on it. When I look at it I get the sense that it may have been lost for some time, dropped somewhere cold and damp a while ago, only to return to the light now, for reasons unknown. It brings to mind the opening sequences of those adventure movies I used to watch as a child, where some kind of object like a treasure map, or indeed an old rusty key, falls into the hands of a gang of children, who then decide to set off on their adventures.

This key is a bit more modern looking, but they mystery of what it may be the key to still stands. What kind of lock do you think this key opens? A bike lock? A security box? A burried box of treasure?

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt (neighbourhood intrigue series #3): A Disagreement

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 3 Comments

Long time followers of these posts will know that my usual format is to post a photograph of something quirky that I have seen, often an object that has been lost or left somewhere, and then add my own thoughts or questions as a kind of prompt for other people to have other creative ideas. In this mini-series of neighbourhood intrigue I have been trying out a few different things. I would be very interested to know if people like these experiments with the form?

I tend to try to adopt a mindful, curious approach to my day to day errands these days, as in these Covid-19 influenced times, I don’t often get to roam as far as I used to for inspiration. Recently I’ve been quite intrigued by some of the little clues I see to odd little interactions happening between people who live near each other, but may never have actually met.

One of the recent little dramas I have become intrigued by started with this sign:

Someone had printed and laminated a number of these signs, and stapeled them to fences or taped them to lamp posts along a particular strip of pavement along one of the streets where I regularly walk. Along that particular route someone else seems to regularly walk their dog and frequently doesn’t clean up after it releaves itself on the pavement. I have never seen the person with their dog, but can only assume it is a large dog from the available evidence.

After these signs went up, there did seem to be an improvement in the problem for a while, but then a few weeks ago the dog mess seemed to return, and this had happened to the sign:

This is where I leave the story for now, as this is where my clues run out for now. But I am curious to know, what will happen next?

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: Space Blanket

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

One of our neighbours is having a loft conversion. The house is across the street from us and on a daily basis we can see the progress being made. I’m not exactly sure on the shape of the conversion, as the work is happening to the part of the roof that faces away from us, but we have amused by the rather casual approach to health and safety on the part of the builders in their day to day work.

A few weeks ago they filled a skip with old bits and pieces from the house as well as left over materials from their work on the conversion. As the level in the skip rose I didn’t see too much to interest me in there, although a couple of the other neighbours did have a poke about for useful left overs. Once the skip was full, they started piling things around and about it, I guess hoping that as other people took bits out, they would be able to fit more things in.

I saw this shiny material one day after it had rained quite a lot. I think it is some kind of insulation, although I am not entirely sure. It reminded me of some of the fabrics they used to use on episodes of Star Trek (I’m thinking Next Generation here, but the principle probably applies more broadly than that), where people would wrap themselves is improbably shiny blankets or wear outfits covered in sequins. It certainly has a space age feel to me, which made it stand out in our rather mundane suburban street.

Maybe the loft conversion is a cover, and someone is quietly building a rocket ship in our street?

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: Lost on the highway

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 1 Comment

I’m sorry this week’s prompt is late. I’ve been quite unwell recently and seem to be struggling to recover completely. I took a day yesterday to try to relax a bit.

I saw this toy pony in the road while I was on may way somewhere. It had been left right in the middle of the road and was amongst a pile of other bits of rubbish. I normally wouldn’t try to take a photo of something in the middle of the road, but it was early in the morning and there were no cars about so I darted across for a quick snap.

There is something about the shock of the coloured hair against the damp grey of the tarmac that I find interesting. When I was a child this brand of toys were chunkier and less colourful. I did not have many because I was more interested in making things than playing with the kind of toys people seemed to design for girls back then. Things haven’t changed much to be honest!

I am wondering how it got there? Is this a lost little toy, dropped by a passing child, or has it been abandoned during a clear out or house move? Maybe this brave little pony has set out on an adventure of its own?

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: Offerings #2

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 5 Comments

I saw these jugs early in one morning, while I was taking Baby Magpie off to nursery. I stopped to take the picture on the way home, and by the evening they were gone. In my post last week I wrote about the offerings members of my local community make to each other. When I saw these jugs I felt that this could be an offering of a different kind. I remember my aunt making wine in jugs like these when I was a child, and have watched the bubbles rise and collect in the top of the jug as various kinds of fruit fermented.

For me these jugs felt much more like an offering of a mystical or spiritual kind. Perhaps these jugs held an offering of wine for the local street gods who reside over our community, or an offering of mead to the ancient spirits of the land that lies below the streets tarmacked pavements. It makes me wonder what those street gods, or those ancient spirits may be like, and what they may think of us.

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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Creative Prompt: Offerings #1

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 3 Comments

In the area we live in there is a tradition of people leaving things they no longer need outside of their houses, on the pavement, in the hope that they will find new homes. Baby Magpie and I were walking to the swimming pool when we saw these twin chests of draws, and the tantalisingly open bag of toys on the top. We stopped for a moment to pick a toy and then went on our way, leaving the rest for some other lucky soul.

I like the spirit behind this tradition, in which people offer things to each other in a relatively anonymous way. Of course it is a convenient way to get rid of things, but there is also a generosity to it. The person offering the gift cannot always know who will receive it, friend or foe.

It feels like a silent form of communication within a community. ‘I no longer need this thing, but maybe you do. We would like for this object, which has been useful to us, to be useful to someone else now. We will not waste its potential and send it to landfill.’ It stands in contrast to the silence communications of the fly tippers (of which unfortunately we also have a strong local tradition), which feels much more to me to be ‘we don’t need this junk anymore, someone else can deal with it.’

When I see these objects I sometimes wonder if they may be the start of a story, or a relationship between two people. Perhaps someone else, seeing that bag of toys, would have lingered long enough to meet the person who made this offering as they dashed to the shops, and said hello.

I’m not a huge fan of creative exercises, so it’s not my habit to tell people what to do with these prompts. There are lots of options – a scene, some flash fiction, a short story, an idea for a short film or a physical piece of art. If you do have a go with this one and would like to drop the result in the comments please do so. I would be very interested to see what people make of these.

Thank you for reading. I also write, make art and films. If you like these prompts and want to get a copy of a free short book of them I wrote, and to hear more about my writing projects please join my mailing list here. You can see my films at my YouTube channel here. You can see things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying. If buying art is not your thing, but you would like to support what you see I also have a Patreon Page here.

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