Do you know what a ‘reacts’ video is? It even has a Wikipedia page.
I realised the other day that this is basically the way I do most of my creative work: writing journal articles, songs, poems, course materials, and even grant applications.
The recipe for a reacts-moment is this:
1. Find something to react to—e.g., a book, a song, a podcast, a report, a painting, a nearby inanimate object, a scene, an opposing team. Amongst other things, I got good mileage out of this video today.
2. Have some tools to hand that let you produce an artefact in response—e.g., a pen and paper, a laptop, a camera, a canvas, a guitar and iPhone.
3. Set a timer for some length of time.
4. Wait and see what happens—engagement with anything other than the designated tools is banned for the duration of the timer.
5. When the timer goes off, the reaction exercise is over.
It is worth noting that not making the choices above often means that they will be made for you.