Chapter 9: SCAMPER

I am doing this exercise about my problem: "Creating a children's book for my nephew"

1. Substitute: What can be substituted for a children's book in this problem? I could substitute an animated cartoon or a children's comic book for a traditional children's book.
2. Combine: What ideas can be combined? Instead of a children's book or a cartoon, I could make a children's book that still interacts, like a popup book.
3. Adapt: Whom could I emulate? I can emulate classic children's writers like Dr Seuss or Shel Silverstien.
4. Magnify: Can it be made enormous? I can make this book really big, the size of my nephew.
5. Modify: Can there be a new twist? Instead of a single book, I can make it a series of books with continuing storylines.
6. Put it to good use: What else can it be used for? I can re-create this for other children or sell it as a children's book.
7. Eliminate: What should I omit? I can make the style of the art and storytelling very minimalistic.
8. Rearrange: What components can be interchanged? I can change the order in which I create the story and create characters, I can write the story with no characters in mind and just create them as I go along.
   
9. Reverse: Can I do this backwards? Instead of writing it linearly, I can write it ending-beginning.

This exercise was very helpful. It helped me find different solutions to individual parts of my problem instead of finding a solution as a whole. I did this exercise in my kitchen. The lighting was very good, fluorescent and natural light from the window. My seat was a metal folding chair, cold and hard. I'd say this environment isn't very conducive to creativity.