In the creative process, importing is faster.

Let me explain.

When I create an online course, I import a previous course’s outline, to use as a guide. Using the same form, I create the new course around the placeholders of the old one. Importing makes life oh-so-much easier.

When I create a beat sheet for a screenplay, I import a previous beat sheet, to use as a quick guide. Using the same form, I create the new beat sheet within the same headings. Doing so speeds it up — and even gives me ideas, based on the old ideas’ categories and form.

When I create a new book’s outline — or build a new world — the same thing applies: I import a previous outline, creating the new around the form by my handy-dandy highlight-delete-write over function.

Do you do the same? Because everything that we do has form, or format. And if we use a previously-successful format as a guide, it saves time and energy.

The same thing, for ideas. Now, I’m not advocating stealing ideas. But form for ideas is everywhere — and able to be used as a guide, too.

Think about your favorite authors. What is his or her “form,” when introducing a character? Just for fun (and learning), go to your favorite author’s most recent book and look at the first sentences each and every time a new character arrives on the page. Do you see any patterns? Oftentimes, as in character introductions or the first time we are dropped into a setting, successful authors employ form in elements of story.

What’s cool is this: Any form can be copied. Not the content — the form. (Repeat after me: Plagiarism is b.a.d.) Content — the exact words chosen — is off limits. But form is not.

You can even take a super-cool sentence and, breaking it down into its form of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, create a sentence in the same form. If the adjective is a cross-sensory word, you can create a cross-sensory word in its place (e.g., smooth melody is a combination of senses: smooth is tactile/touch and melody is sound). This kind of word form copying is a great way to learn to create your own unique style and content.

Cool fact: Importing is a technique that can be used in just about any field or endeavor. Think about it. I bet that, today, you’re going to interact with form that you can import and use, to make life smoother.

Successful form is everywhere.
Import.

* Thup