Snap. Crackle. Pop.

Often, we expect a creative idea to burst into our heads instantly. Creativity doesn’t work that way. Sure, sometimes when we are deep in a story, and our words just pour out onto the paper, a wonderful idea emerges. But often, most of what we write is pedantic and cliché. Then during the revision process we must work to raise the level of writing and make our stories more original. It is by incubating our ideas that true magic happens.

Incubation is letting our brains work on a problem in the background while we relax.

Why We Need to “Sleep on It”

You can’t force a creative idea. Any more than you can force a butterfly to emerge from its cocoon. Incubation is allowing our minds time to mull and ponder until a brilliant idea emerges. In science, this is called the Aha or Eureka Moment

Building Your Cocoon

Like a butterfly transforming inside its cocoon, we need to create the best setting for our creative ideas to take wing. The best way to do this is to “sleep” on it, “Sleep” being a metaphor for clearing your mind of everyday issues and stresses. While we are in this mentally quiet mode, our brains will keep working and playing with the creative problems we need to solve.

This “sleep” can take many forms.

1. Sleeping overnight in a comfortable bed or place
2. Taking a short nap
3. Meditating
4. Doing some pleasurable or rhythmic activity that requires minimal engagement in thinking, for example: jogging, walking, listening to instrumental music, vacuuming, or even mopping the floor.

Getting Ready to Incubate

But just going to “sleep” isn’t enough. Before starting the “sleep period,” we need to become familiar with the problem or idea we want to solve creatively. We must prime our brains to mull on the specific problem. There are several ways to do this:

1. Reread the section of your manuscript that is giving you trouble or needs a fantastic idea or fix.
2. Write out the question or issue you want your brain to play with.
3. Look at a series of images that relate to the idea or issue you will mull over.

One of the best times to “sleep on it” is during the actual process of writing. Any time writer’s block hits or you writing sounds dull, take a moment to meditate, stare into space listening to music, or sit in a rocker and let your mind roam free.

Summary: Why Practice Incubation?

Will incubation always work? Not always. Sometimes it is very difficult to stop struggling to solve a problem and trust our brains to work in the background without our direction. But if you are stuck and you can’t come up with a creative solution, it will not hurt to step back, clear your mind, and INCUBATE.

Successful incubation leads to that wonderful Aha when everything clicks.

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Have you ever had an Aha Moment?

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