Adventures in Ideaspace
The poet and musician Leonard Cohen was once asked where he found inspiration. He paused for a moment. And then, in that rich, deep, whisky and tobacco stained voice of his replied, “Well, if I knew where the great songs come from I’d go there more often.” It’s one of the curious things about the creative process that our best ideas can arrive unbidden, when we’re least expecting them, seemingly out of nowhere. And there’s something magical about this. How dreary it would be if having an idea were as mundane as making a cup of tea. Yet it can make the whole business of being creative a frustrating one. Never knowing from one moment to the next when the muses will choose to smile on you. Or — sometimes, when things are bad — if they ever will again.
But instead of waiting for the ideas to come to you, what if you could go to them?
A little while ago I was reading a book by John Higgs in which he sets out to uncover the reason why the band the KLF burned a million pounds on a small Scottish island. Spoiler — he fails. But along the way he explores Dadaism, magical thinking and chaos theory. And there’s one chapter dedicated to the comic book writer and creator of Watchmen, Alan Moore. If you don’t know Alan Moore or his work, well, let’s just say he has a brilliant and unique mind, a sometimes impenetrable Northamptonshire accent and a very fine beard. The chapter mentions a…
