I actually have Thoughts that pick up where ckret2 left off! The above essay already covers 'there is no right way to be creative' and 'wanting to want something is different from wanting it,' so I'll answer the other question:
I'm sure there are ways to become creative aside from "unintentionally wire your own brain from near-infancy to use 100% of any idle CPU space to imagine Characters in Situations all day every day," but I didn't become creative any of those other ways, so I don't know how to do them.
I also learned to 'be creative' by being a hyperactive near-infant who maintained optimal arousal by constantly thinking about characters. Plenty of people didn't, though.
I don't know your background, but the below assumes that you're a neurotypical adult who doesn't particularly struggle with anxiety and had an average school experience. You probably aren't all of those things and might be none of them. Therefore, you can read the below and think "Oh, I can see how this is useful to someone else but not me" instead of "For some mysterious reason this isn't making sense to me! :'("
Developing creativity from scratch
1: "Yes and"ing, extrapolations, and writing prompts are actually a pretty good place to start.
To people whose brain is permanently set on "come up with ideas" mode, it feels silly to say "just find something you think is interesting and then think about it." To us, that's, like... Duh! Obviously! I struggle not to do that!
However, if you're trying to 'be creative' and your head is empty, then that's exactly what you do. Find a thing that you like. Think, "Why is it this way and not a different way?" Think, "What are a few things that could make this happen?" You might not even have an answer to those questions at first, but if you get in the habit of thinking them, you'll start to tune your brain into the right frequency.
Sometimes in fandom there will be a character who, like, was once seen on camera eating a bagel, and now everyone acts like they are obsessed with bagels and have a deep childhood attachment to bagels. That's because it's fun to think of these insignificant things and attach more meaning to them!
What happened off-screen to make them eat that bagel? That's literally all a headcanon is - the answer to the question, "what's happening off-screen?"
2: When you start being creative, you get better over time without trying.
It literally just happens. The cognitive habit of "let's think about this" is just the nucleation point, as it were. Now that your brain knows that it's supposed to be thinking about it, it will keep doing it in the background without you actively trying. It's kind of like how if something big is happening in your life, like school or a move, you'll start having dreams about it.
Any type of creative work counts. Here are some examples of creative work that you can do even if you aren't creative:
Describe things. For example, write down what happened in an episode of a TV show, or verbally describe a cool costume.
Draw things. The process of drawing something requires you to think about details even if you don't feel like you're thinking at all. Your brain can't just know a character has a sash; it has to decide that the sash is approximately rectangle-y.
Have a conversation with someone about your favorite parts of something.
Think of two random things you can shove together: What if we stuck Bill Cipher and Aku together in the Theraprism? What if Sir Lancelot was in a shopping mall? How would Ganondorf look in a ball gown?
3: More things count as count as participation than you think.
Redrawing something someone else already drew (with appropriate attribution) is creative. Drawing an illustration from a fic is creative. Writing a paragraph about your favorite thing in a show is creative. Writing a fic describing what's happening in a picture is creative.
If you really really don't have unique new ideas, then that's fine. Just use the ideas you do have. Most people are thrilled to discover that their one-off shitpost idea turned into a whole fic. Attribute, because it's polite, but you're good.
The process of "putting something in your own words" requires you to use your own words. That's what creating something is.
Even besides creativity, participation extends beyond just your work. For example, some of the most treasured members of any fandom are those people who make lists of fic recommendations and give short synopses of what happened in them.
Some resource recommendations:
Books of creative writing prompts are pretty easy to get ahold of. So are prompt blogs. These are a good starting place. If you want to draw, nothing is stopping you from picking up a "how to draw..." book. If you feel like you literally can't draw a stick figure – because I know adults like this, it's not uncommon – find an Ed Emberly book. He made books that break everything down into a tiny handful of shapes. You can use it to teach small children observation skills, or you can use it to teach adults how to feel more confident expressing an idea visually.
John Cleese's book "Creativity: a short and cheerful guide" ia a really good book if this stuff doesn't come naturally to you. John Cleese was a decidedly uncreative kid who only joined a comedy club in school because it was a social activity. If you don't know who John Cleese is, he cofounded Monty Python.
(It isn't on Archive.org, unfortunately, but if you web search the appropriate terms you can probably find a copy. Requesting books at your local library is also great and increases their funding if you're in the US!)
Books about teaching middle school writing have some really good suggestions for how to coax surly pubescents into expressing themselves. They work well! Libraries often have books like this, and if you're lucky enough to know a teacher, they often have a huge pile of books that they used to learn how to teach and which they now don't want anymore.
Don't look at us hyperfixators and special-interest havers and think you have to be like us. If you are creating something, even if it's really short or small, you're participating. It doesn't matter if it's a paragraph once a month or a conversation in a private chat, that's something.
(Yeah, we produce a lot of content, but for some of us that's less of a fun hobby and more of a major disorder that makes it hard to fill out job applications and do homework.)
Try making things. It doesn't have to be your favorite thing in the world. You're allowed to just do it so you can participate, that's fine. You might get bored and stop, and that's also fine. You might discover that you enjoy it more than you thought, though, and then you might cofound Monty Python.
turnnoffyourmind
pixelskylines
gamechangershow
izzy806
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
