Many people have compared creativity to fishing, suggesting that ideas are like fish. They say the deeper you go, the bigger the fish. I disagree with that analogy.
Ideas are not fish.
Creativity and ideas are more like the water itself. It doesn’t matter if you’re in shallow water or deep water. In fact, you don’t have to be in the water at all. You can simply watch from the boat, from your window, or from your mind. Be the water. Imagine the fish.
Finding the words. Now, that’s a different story.
Here’s where fishing comes in. I’m no master writer, or fisherman for that matter. I have middle-of-the-road vocabulary to say the least. But I always take the time to go fishing, to find the right word for the essay, the poem, or the song that I’m writing.
When one goes fishing, you take your pole and tackle box, your tools so to speak. When you write, you have tools, too: dictionaries, thesauruses, Wikipedia, Google. You go fishing for the right words.
Words are like fish. You keep reeling them in until you catch the right one. – dse
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