This has been pondering me ever since I started to Everything.
Why are some nodes so C!ool, while others get Klaprothed out of eternity?

I think it boils down not so much to taking the patience to produce a good writeup, but mostly to Creative Thinking, or lack of thereof.

Here's what one can do to improve it (no particular order):

- Practice - find new problems that await solutions.

- Have a role model - either living or dead.

- Use your right side of the brain - draw, do mind mapping.

- Relax - for a while, do nothing, or take a long walk or a monotonous bike ride alone.

- Diversify - read different books, watch diverse TV channels.

- Write down your ideas - carry a dictaphone or a journal with you.

- Sleep well - Mendeleev supposedly dreamed of his table.

- Combine, grow and adapt ideas - there's really not many unique undiscovered ideas left.

- Learn - the more you know about your problem area the more you can avoid reinventing the wheel and inventing the good stuff.

- Use random input - open up a dictionary, pick a word and see if it can be used for a solution.

- Solve the reverse problem. Reverse the results.

- Ask questions - I keep six honest serving men / They taught me all I knew: / Their names are What and Why and When / And How and Where and Who - Rudyard Kipling

- Use all Six Thinking Hats - fact, emotion, caution, benefit, alternatives and overview.

- Trust your subconcious mind - it knows all the answers.


I'd be really interested in hearing more ideas.

On the subject of Creative Thinking and good noding, the maxim "Write for others, not for yourself" has to hold true.

Not only should you write for others, however. One of the most successful techniques for writing is to allow the reader to creatively think. In fiction, this can happen naturally by using imagery, memorable characters, etc, but in factual works (which E2 nodes typically are), you need to let the reader work stuff out for themselves. Don't say everything, don't assume the reader is stupid, leave a few questions without answers (without being annoying), and you'll be treated as you treated the reader (or something).

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