Check here for creativity musings, tips, inspiration, links to Broadway creativity articles, and a few Stephen Schwartz stories. To receive a monthly update by email, subscribe using the form on the right. You may unsubscribe at any time and your email will be kept private.
Creativity and Letting Go
For creative projects to move forward, our efforts must accumulate. But each new creation involves letting go of something that is older. A painter paints over an older layer, a writer cuts sentences that seem to drag, a creative chef drops a standard dish in favor of one with new flavorings.
Four Ways to Find Inspiration
It’s a myth that inspiration floods the brains of the most creative of us. I know plenty of writers, musicians, painters, and other creative folks whose projects stall until a new approach eventually dawns on them. We all need strategies for finding fresh ideas, especially when meeting deadlines.
How do we stir our imaginations and restore enthusiasm so that we can move forward on projects? Here are a few approaches to consider:
Defying Gravity Interview with Stephen Schwartz and Leonard Lopate
Biography, Creativity, and Stephen Schwartz: Interview Highlights By Carol de Giere On December 17, 2018, Leonard Lopate interviewed Stephen Schwartz and me about the newly released second edition of Defying Gravity and...
Creativity Note: The Benefit of Overwriting
It is generally easier to cut than invent, and therefore, for early drafts, writers often develop significantly more material than will be needed once the piece is refined.
For The Prince of Egypt stage production, bookwriter Philip LaZebnik explains, “When writing scenes that might be musicalized, I overwrite them. So there will be a ten-page scene even though it will become a page or two at most. Stephen Schwartz likes to have a lot of material that he can take and make into the songs.”
The “Blue Corn Moon” Story
In December 1999, while I was working for a CD Internet seller on a freelance writing assignment, I was assigned to research musicians whose last names began with the letters “Sch.” I wrote up something about jazz singer Diane Schur and then tried searching for another name I was assigned: Stephen Schwartz.