Creativity...And The Toilet Paper Roll Cardboard Tube

What does a toilet paper cardboard tube have to do with writing and creativity?

That's a good question. 

I was working on my script yesterday. It's a science fiction story and it was time for me to understand what the spaceship looks like. In the first draft, I skipped over the details of the ship--I didn't want to take the time to explain it all when I wrote the story during NaNoWriMo. But now, as I go through it again, I need to explain things to the readers and just because I see it in my mind, I need to make it sound believable.

The spaceship has a spinning section to create the artificial gravity the astronauts needed to survive the multi-year mission to a distant planet. Everyone's now onboard and the mission is about to begin. I need to describe the inside of that spinning tube, the rooms, hallways, storage compartments. I need to see it in my mind so I can let everyone else see it too.

I started jotting down some ideas of how big the spinning part of the spaceship needed to be. My artistic abilities just didn't cut it. I needed something else. That's where the cardboard tube helped. It gave me a visual aid I needed. The tube on the ship will be about as long as an American football field, 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, except the ends of the field will connect.

I should probably blog more about my writing. Truth is, I should probably write more in general. It's amazing the feeling that comes when the ideas flow. It's difficult to describe. Working on that little problem, designing the layout of the kitchen, living quarters, hospitals, and laboratories, it's one of the cool parts of writing, one of the things that makes it worth the time and effort, even if the book never sells. 

This writing thing--full of surprises!