This is it folks, the countdown to my first book on creativity, The Power Of Creative Paths!

The book is going to drop on Saturday the 30th.  I’m lining up some reviewers right now (and there’s a chance to get in on it) to help give people an idea of what’s in it from a reader’s viewpoint.  Only six more days!

So what’s in this book?

Basically, after years of working with Seventh Sanctum, I’d realized that creativity fit certain paths – ways we get to our “Big Ideas.”  Most people had one or two default paths, and not everyone knew how to get along with people different than them.  So I put all my findings into one book, a handy guide to help you get off of Creative Paths you’re a bit too stuck on and onto others, as well as how to work with people different than yourself creativity-wise.

A lot of this comes from my curious observation that the generators at Seventh Sanctum fit specific patterns, or certain little tweaks, trends, or sets of data seemed to inspire people surprisingly.  In time I began to see that these general observations fit specific trends, and formed a useful theory around it.

I’m pretty pumped as this will be the first book based around my work here – to be followed this summer by the Way With Worlds books  . . . and maybe a few more things over time.  I figure after some 16 years of doing this, it’s time to put my ideas and findings and advice into a new format!

So hang in there, it’s almost arrived . . .

• Steve

And hello again gang, I want to let you know I’m looking for reviewers for my first book on Creativity, “The Power Of Creative Paths.”  It comes out late January/early February, but I want to line up people who want to review it (don’t worry, it’s an eBook and it’s a reasonable size) and review it honestly.  If you’re interested contact me right away!

-Steve

Hello everyone, a few quick updates here!

First the Reality Show Generator is good go, thanks for the feedback!

Secondly, there’s a Books section on the site now since I’ve got some upcoming creativity books, and the Sanctum played a huge role in them.

More to come so stay tuned . . .

• Steve

 

And here you go, the Beta of the Reality Show Generator!  My friend Ewen inspired me when he created a Reality Show game, and I figured I’d see what would happen when I tried it.  Plus it gave me a chance to try out some techniques for analyzing data which I covered earlier – short form, very effective, faster, but kinda less exciting than winging it.

It doesn’t cover the huge range of crazy titles you may see as many are individualized, but I think it does a pretty good job.  be sure to leave feedback so I can tweak it!

• American Charity
• Aunt Wives
• Brazilian Teacher Trade
• Canadian Martial Artists
• Food Man
• Genuine Legends of the Secret Service
• Honest Histories of the Navy
• Iron Boy
• King Institute
• Korean Owls
• Miami Destruction
• Mountain Institute
• Northern Owls
• Shanghai Cowboys
• South American Diva
• Toronto Capture
• Treatment Boy
• Trustworthy Legends of the Army
• Wild West Wife Parents
• Wrecker

What’s next up for me? Well working on all my OTHER books I am doing a book called “The Power Of Creative Paths” which I used to call “The Creativity Book.”  It’s my first “Sanctum Branded” book – IE one about my creative theories.  I gotta put a “book” section in here at some point.

It’s now at the editor AND we have a beta cover:

So this should be out at the end of January – it’s a $2.99 ebook, a bit under 100 pages, and hardcore focused on identifying your creative path, helping you expand your options as a creator, and understand how people on different “paths” can get along – or fail to get along.  It’s the first book to really boil down my creative theories learned from Seventh Sanctum.

I’m actually sort of glad to get it out of my head – I’ve kicked these ideas around awhile, but I really wanted to write something on general creativity to help people out and leverage what I’ve seen.  It’s a pretty good creative model, and I think you’ll like it.

Also if you want to be a reviewer . . .

– Steven Savage

OK great news, Way With Worlds is going to editor this week!

Yes, I put in all the pre-reader feedback, did a run through, and will ship it off shortly.  I expect the editor to take about two months so it’ll be a welcome break.

I’ve also got the cover artist working on the draft of cover 1.  Its looking interesting so far, though the holidays slowed things down a bit.

So hang tight, Sanctumeers, it’s coming . . . and there’s more to stay tuned for . . .

– Steve

OK, so where am I with Way With Worlds?  Here, let’s break it into bullet points to make it easier.

• I am/will be putting in the prereader feedback soon.  That’s a bit behind, but that’s the way it goes.  I hope to do this by EOM.
• Then the book ships to my editor, which is easy because that’s called “asking my roommate to do it.”  My roommate is a professional tech writer and document manager, so it’s going to be some serious quality work.
• I hope for the editing to take two months with a month for followup.  It may go quicker.
• The cover artist has been engaged and I’ve seen a draft for Book 1 already.  I like this enough it may be poster-worthy.
• I want to drop book #1 in June and Book #2 in August.  That’s the plan, barring any interruptions
• There will be followup work.

At this rate I don’t know what else to say except to occasionally post updates.  It’s really in editing and making great covers – and yes, I’ll start a book section here as mentioned for Sanctum-related works.

– Steve

Link Here

A context to create randomly generated books? I’m so there – though it sounds like it’s got a way to go in some areas. Do dig the idea of a choose-your-own-adventure book.

•  Steve

So I’ve not talked about this much here, but now it deserves it’s own post – because my first Seventh Sanctum inspired book is coming up – and it’s not Way With Worlds (which is going to editor in a bit, more later).

It’s called “The Power Of Creative Paths,” and it’s a book on how people come up with Big Ideas – specifically, the five different ways that they do it.

Working on Generators, talking to people, I tried to formulate a way to understand how people created – and came up with a theory that there’s five basic creative types – Creative Paths as I call them.  Like any path, people “travel” it to get somewhere and find something – a Big Idea.  The thing is we’re often on different paths than others and don’t know it – or don’t realize they’re stuck on one path and would do well to try others or they aren’t working well with others.  Sometimes both.

So the book focuses on knowing which Path you’re usually on, practicing getting onto others, and figuring out how to work best with people based on your current or preferred path.  Of course it contains plenty of exercises and hands-on stuff to do, so you can really get to trying out the different Paths!

It’s at the editors, so it should get back to me soon!

It should be out sometime late January if all goes well, and I’ll actually start a Book section on the site – because Way With Worlds is coming up . .  .

• Steve

 

 

After quite a lot of ups and downs (and a new contract, and a cold, and more), the Reality Show Generator is being worked on.

This is the one, I’d mentioned, involved me doing more in-depth data analysis before building it.  In many cases (not all) I sort of dive into the generator and build as I analyze.  In this case I stepped back and broke the data down – something I usually only do for generators with more obvious patterns like the Magical Power Generator.

The results were:

1. The breakdown was revealing.
2. The breakdown was really boring to do after awhile.
3. The breakdown worked and let me build the generator very fast.
4. Once I started building the generator, I could make it “richer” in data, patterns, etc. very quickly.

Short form – doing an early, organized analysis of data for a generator pays off, but it’s not as exciting as doing it by the seat of my pants.  On the other hand, this was less frustrating than the Plot Twist Generator.

So, anyway, if you want a preview of what this generator will do, here’s some results:

• Best Women Of Vancouver
• Bizarre Stories of the South American Navy
• Brazilian Cop
• Brazilian Teacher
• British Film
• Confirmed Records of London
• Confirmed Women Of New York
• Fish Killer
• France’s Next Top Boy
• Husband Grandparents of France
• I married a Millionaire: Britain
• I married a Star
• Japanese Computer Man
• Miami Scalpers
• North American Sister Change
• Rescue Person
• Sibling Academy
• The Next Best Grandfather
• The Queen of Lawyers
• True Hunters Of France

 

– Steve