The Hub presents a seven part series in which author Orna Ross examines the various stages of the creative process. 

An introduction:

The Seven Stages of The Creative Process are: Intention -> Incubation -> Investigation -> Composition -> Amplification -> Completion -> Implementation.

These stages are not mutually exclusive, as implied by separating and laying them out in a list like this. In practice, they interweave around each other in an interactive dance but isolating each stage is useful. It allows us to catch hold of a process that is, by definition amorphous, unconventional, anarchic, flexible, spontaneous and difficult to pin down.

          It also facilitates us in understanding the quite different challenges inherent in each stage of the process.

          One of the main reasons that creative projects become derailed is because we bring in thoughts and behaviours appropriate to a different stage. A common example is writers who try to edit into shape (amplification stage) their early ideas and insights (incubation stage), instead of allowing them full formation.

          Over the coming seven months, I’ll be examining these seven stages of the process as they apply to a long writing project like a book, blog series or film script. Each month I’ll focus in on one stage, working through from Intention to Implemention, outlining the defining experience of each, exploring its particular challenges and offering exercises that will enable you to meet them.

This month: Stage Three - Investigation

Here's a link to a pretty comprehensive (yet, we are assured, incomplete) list of literary magazines in the UK and Ireland that invite short story submissions.  

An ongoing compilation of written and audio pieces produced by the Hub.

The Hub presents a seven part series in which author Orna Ross examines the various stages of the creative process. 

An introduction:

The Seven Stages of The Creative Process are: Intention -> Incubation -> Investigation -> Composition -> Amplification -> Completion -> Implementation.

These stages are not mutually exclusive, as implied by separating and laying them out in a list like this. In practice, they interweave around each other in an interactive dance but isolating each stage is useful. It allows us to catch hold of a process that is, by definition amorphous, unconventional, anarchic, flexible, spontaneous and difficult to pin down.

          It also facilitates us in understanding the quite different challenges inherent in each stage of the process.

          One of the main reasons that creative projects become derailed is because we bring in thoughts and behaviours appropriate to a different stage. A common example is writers who try to edit into shape (amplification stage) their early ideas and insights (incubation stage), instead of allowing them full formation.

          Over the coming seven months, I’ll be examining these seven stages of the process as they apply to a long writing project like a book, blog series or film script. Each month I’ll focus in on one stage, working through from Intention to Implemention, outlining the defining experience of each, exploring its particular challenges and offering exercises that will enable you to meet them.

This month: Stage two: Incubation

The Hub presents a seven part series in which author Orna Ross examines the various stages of the creative process. 

An introduction:

The Seven Stages of The Creative Process are: Intention -> Incubation -> Investigation -> Composition -> Amplification -> Completion -> Implementation.

These stages are not mutually exclusive, as implied by separating and laying them out in a list like this. In practice, they interweave around each other in an interactive dance but isolating each stage is useful. It allows us to catch hold of a process that is, by definition amorphous, unconventional, anarchic, flexible, spontaneous and difficult to pin down.

          It also facilitates us in understanding the quite different challenges inherent in each stage of the process.

          One of the main reasons that creative projects become derailed is because we bring in thoughts and behaviours appropriate to a different stage. A common example is writers who try to edit into shape (amplification stage) their early ideas and insights (incubation stage), instead of allowing them full formation.

          Over the coming seven months, I’ll be examining these seven stages of the process as they apply to a long writing project like a book, blog series or film script. Each month I’ll focus in on one stage, working through from Intention to Implemention, outlining the defining experience of each, exploring its particular challenges and offering exercises that will enable you to meet them.

This month: Stage one: Creative intention

Novelist and tutor Jonathan Kemp treats us to some of his online treasures 

Literary agent Simon Trewin shares eleven of his favourite sites with the Hub 

The dos and don'ts of formatting - for those about to take the giant step of sending out that precious manuscript.