what is novel problem solving

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What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?

• 01 Feb 2022

One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.

There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.

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What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.

In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.

Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:

• Finding creative solutions to complex problems : User research can insufficiently illustrate a situation’s complexity. While other innovation processes rely on this information, creative problem-solving can yield solutions without it.
• Adapting to change : Business is constantly changing, and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem-solving helps overcome unforeseen challenges and find solutions to unconventional problems.
• Fueling innovation and growth : In addition to solutions, creative problem-solving can spark innovative ideas that drive company growth. These ideas can lead to new product lines, services, or a modified operations structure that improves efficiency.

Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.

4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"

Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.

Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.

The four stages are:

• Clarify: The clarification stage allows you to empathize with the user and identify problems. Observations and insights are informed by thorough research. Findings are then reframed as problem statements or questions.
• Ideate: Ideation is the process of coming up with innovative ideas. The divergence of ideas involved with creative problem-solving is a major focus.
• Develop: In the development stage, ideas evolve into experiments and tests. Ideas converge and are explored through prototyping and open critique.
• Implement: Implementation involves continuing to test and experiment to refine the solution and encourage its adoption.

Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving Tools

While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:

Creating a Problem Story

One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.

1. Identify a UDP

Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."

2. Move Forward in Time

To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.

Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:

• The printer is overused.
• The printer overheats.
• The printer breaks down.

You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.

4. Break the Chains

By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.

• Inversion: Inversion changes the relationship between two UDPs so the cause is the same but the effect is the opposite. For example, if the UDP is "the more X happens, the more likely Y is to happen," inversion changes the equation to "the more X happens, the less likely Y is to happen." Using the printer example, inversion would consider: "What if the more a printer is used, the less likely it’s going to overheat?" Innovation requires an open mind. Just because a solution initially seems unlikely doesn't mean it can't be pursued further or spark additional ideas.
• Neutralization: Neutralization completely eliminates the cause-and-effect relationship between X and Y. This changes the above equation to "the more or less X happens has no effect on Y." In the case of the printers, neutralization would rephrase the relationship to "the more or less a printer is used has no effect on whether it overheats."

Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.

Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :

• Have each group member come up with as many ideas as possible and write them down to ensure the brainstorming session is productive.
• Continue the divergence of ideas by collectively sharing and exploring each idea as a group. The goal is to create a setting where new ideas are inspired by open discussion.
• Begin the convergence of ideas by narrowing them down to a few explorable options. There’s no "right number of ideas." Don't be afraid to consider exploring all of them, as long as you have the resources to do so.

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.

For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?

Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.

Continue Developing Your Skills

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.

If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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New Model for Solving Novel Problems Uses Mental Map

Summary: The cognitive map allows people to compute on the fly with limited information to solve abstract problems.

Source: UC Davis

How do we make decisions about a situation we have not encountered before? New work from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, shows that we can solve abstract problems in the same way that we can find a novel route between two known locations — by using an internal cognitive map.

The work is published Aug. 31 in the journal  Nature Neuroscience .

Humans and animals have a great ability to solve novel problems by generalizing from existing knowledge and inferring new solutions from limited data. This is much harder to achieve with artificial intelligence.

Animals (including humans) navigate by creating a representative map of the outside world in their head as they move around. Once we know two locations are close to each other, we can infer that there is a shortcut between them even if we haven’t been there. These maps make use of a network of “grid cells” and “place cells” in parts of the brain.

In earlier work, Professor Erie Boorman, postdoctoral researcher Seongmin (Alex) Park, Douglas Miller and colleagues showed that human volunteers could construct a similar cognitive map for abstract information. The volunteers were given limited information about people in a two-dimensional social network, ranked by relative competence and popularity. The researchers found that the volunteers could mentally reconstruct this network, represented as a grid, without seeing the original.

The new work takes the research further by testing if people can actually use such a map to find the answers to novel problems.

Matchmaking entrepreneurs

As before, volunteers learned about 16 people they were told were entrepreneurs, ranked on axes of competence and popularity. They never saw the complete grid, only comparisons between pairs.

They were then asked to select business partners for individual entrepreneurs that would maximize growth potential for a business they started together. The assumption was that an entrepreneur scoring high in competence but low on popularity would be complemented by one with a higher popularity score. 

“For example, would Mark Zuckerberg be better off collaborating with Bill Gates or Richard Branson?” Boorman said. (The actual experiment did not use real people.)

While the volunteers were performing the decision task, the researchers scanned their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. 

If the volunteers were using the grid cells inside their head to infer the answer, that should be measurable with a tailored analysis approach applied to the fMRI signal, Boorman said.

“It turns out the system in the brain does show the signature of these trajectories being computed on the fly,” he said. “It looks like they are leveraging the cognitive map.”

Computing solutions on the fly

In other words, we can take in loosely connected or fragmentary information, assemble it into a mental map, and use it to infer solutions to new problems.  

Scientists have considered that the brain makes decisions by computing the value of each choice into a common currency, which allows them to be compared in a single dimension, Park said. For example, people might typically choose wine A over wine B based on price, but we know that our preference can be changed by the food you will pair with the wine.

“Our study suggests that the human brain does not have a wine list with fixed values, but locates wines in an abstract multidimensional space, which allows for computing new decision values flexibly according to the current demand,” he said.

The cognitive map allows for computation on the fly with limited information, Boorman said.

“It’s useful when the decisions are novel,” he said. “It’s a totally new framework for understanding decision making.”

The navigational map in rodents is located in the entorhinal cortex, an “early” part of the brain. The cognitive map in humans expands into other parts of the brain including the prefrontal cortex and posterior medial cortex. These brain areas are part of the default mode network, a large “always on” brain network involved in autobiographical memory, imagination, planning and the theory of mind.

Funding: The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. 

About this cognition research news

Author: Andy Fell Source: UC Davis Contact: Andy Fell – UC Davis Image: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Closed access. “ Inferences on a multidimensional social hierarchy use a grid-like code ” by Seongmin A. Park, Douglas S. Miller & Erie D. Boorman. Nature Neuroscience

Inferences on a multidimensional social hierarchy use a grid-like code

Generalizing experiences to guide decision-making in novel situations is a hallmark of flexible behavior. Cognitive maps of an environment or task can theoretically afford such flexibility, but direct evidence has proven elusive.

In this study, we found that discretely sampled abstract relationships between entities in an unseen two-dimensional social hierarchy are reconstructed into a unitary two-dimensional cognitive map in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex.

We further show that humans use a grid-like code in entorhinal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex for inferred direct trajectories between entities in the reconstructed abstract space during discrete decisions. These grid-like representations in the entorhinal cortex are associated with decision value computations in the medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction.

Collectively, these findings show that grid-like representations are used by the human brain to infer novel solutions, even in abstract and discrete problems, and suggest a general mechanism underpinning flexible decision-making and generalization.

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12 Best Problem Solving Books to Read

By: Angela Robinson | Updated: June 30, 2023

You found our list of top problem solving books .

Problem solving books are guides that improve critical thinking capability and the ability to resolve issues in the workplace. These works cover topics like bias and logical fallacies, problem prevention, and prioritizing. The purpose of these books is to help workers remain calm under pressure and come up with solutions more quickly.

These guides are similar to decision making books , negotiation books , and conflict resolution books . To improve competency in this area, one can also play problem solving games .

This list includes:

• problem solving books for adults
• creative problem solving books
• business problem solving books
• problem solving books for programmers

Here we go!

List of problem solving books

Here is a list of books to improve problem solving skills in the workplace.

1. Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving by Amy E Herman

Fixed is one of the most useful new books on problem solving. The book calls for problem solvers to look beyond instinctual and obvious answers and provides a framework for more creative thinking. While most folks think about problem solving in terms of logic, reason, and disciplines like math and science, this book shows the role that art and imagination play in the process. Amy Herman consulted on leadership training with Silicon Valley companies and military organizations and brings this expertise into the text to train readers on how to adopt a more innovative critical thinking approach.

Notable Quote: “Working through problems is critical for productivity, profit, and peace. Our problem-solving skills, however, have been short-circuited by our complicated, technology-reliant world.”

Read Fixed .

2. Cracked it!: How to solve big problems and sell solutions like top strategy consultants by Bernard Garrette, Corey Phelps, and Olivier Sibony

Cracked it! is one of the best creative problem solving books. Drawing inspiration from the tactics of consultants, this guide is a practical playbook for approaching business problems. The authors outline a “4S” method– State – Structure – Solve – Sell– to tackle obstacles and get support from stakeholders. While many problem solving books simply focus on how to think through issues, this guide also demonstrates how to gain approval for ideas and get others onboard with the solution. The book explains how to best use these techniques, and presents case studies that show the theories in action. Cracked it! is a handy reference for any professional that faces tough challenges on the regular.

Notable Quote: “If you want to know how a lion hunts, don’t go to a zoo. Go to the jungle.”

Read Cracked it!

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3. Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

Upstream takes a proactive approach to problem solving. The book urges readers to not only be responsive to issues, but also try to prevent obstacles from occurring. The guide opens with an exploration of “problem blindness,” and the psychological factors that cause folks to be oblivious to issues, along with a reminder that many problems are more controllable and avoidable than first assumed. The pages that follow outline a series of questions leaders can ask to fine-tune the system and steer clear of major headaches, for instance, “How Will You Unite the Right People?” and “How Will You Avoid Doing Harm?” Upstream is full of real world examples of how minor tweaks achieved major results and allowed organizations to sidestep serious holdups.

Notable Quote: “The postmortem for a problem can be the preamble to a solution.”

Read Upstream .

4. Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe

Problem Solving 101 is one of the most fun problem solving books for adults. Written by Ken Watanabe, the guide draws on Japanese philosophy as well as the author’s experience as a consultant at McKinsey to help readers understand and approach problems in productive ways. The pages provide blueprints for problem-solving methods such as logic trees and matrixes, and include scenarios and illustrations that help readers visualize the process more clearly. Problem Solving 101 breaks down the problem solving procedure into the most basic parts and lays out step-by-step instructions for choosing the best action in any situation.

Notable Quote: “When you do take action, every result is an opportunity to reflect and learn valuable lessons. Even if what you take away from your assessment seems to be of small consequence, all of these small improvements taken together make a huge difference in the long term.”

Read Problem Solving 101 .

5. What’s Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg

What’s Your Problem? insists that the most important step in the problem solving process is to start by honing in on the correct problem. The root of much frustration and wasted efforts is that professionals often pick the wrong points to focus on. This book teaches readers how to reframe and approach issues from a different perspective. The guide outlines a repeatable three step process “Frame, Reframe, and Move Forward” to ensure that workers prioritize effectively and stay on track to achieve desired results. What’s Your Problem? teaches professionals of all levels how to be less rigid and more results-focused and adopt a more agile approach to fixing issues.

Notable Quote: “The problems we’re trained on in school are often quite different from the ones we encounter in real life.”

Read What’s Your Problem?

6. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, et al

Sprint is one of the best problem solving books for programmers. The authors are the creators of the five-day-process at Google. This guide describes best practices for conducting sprints and solving problems in limited timeframes. The book provides a day-by-day breakdown of tasks for each day of the workweek, with the final steps being designing a prototype and a plan for implementation. Though this idea originated in the tech world and is most widely used in the software industry, this problem-solving and product design approach can be useful for any position that needs to find fixes in a time crunch.

Notable Quote: “We’ve found that magic happens when we use big whiteboards to solve problems. As humans, our short-term memory is not all that good, but our spatial memory is awesome. A sprint room, plastered with notes, diagrams, printouts, and more, takes advantage of that spatial memory. The room itself becomes a sort of shared brain for the team.”

Read Sprint , and check out this guide to virtual hackathons and this list of product design books .

7. Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life by Ozan Varol

Think Like a Rocket Scientist lays out formulas and instructions for thinking more strategically. The guide reveals common problem solving approaches used by rocket scientists when exploring the unknown and testing new technology. The book is split into three sections– launch, accelerate, and achieve– with deep dives into concepts such as moonshot thinking and overcoming failure. The anecdotes revolve around space exploration and rocket science yet the methods can be applied to more commonplace and less complex problems as well. Think Like a Rocket Scientist proves that one does not need to be a genius to be a genius problem solver and lets readers learn tricks from one of the most complex professions on the planet.

Notable Quote: “Critical thinking and creativity don’t come naturally to us. We’re hesitant to think big, reluctant to dance with uncertainty, and afraid of failure. These were necessary during the Paleolithic Period, keeping us safe from poisonous foods and predators. But here in the information age, they’re bugs.”

Read Think Like a Rocket Scientist .

8. Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything by Charles Conn and Robert McLean

Bulletproof Problem Solving is one of the best business problem solving books. This workbook-style-guide breaks down a “bulletproof” method of problem solving favored by consultants at McKinsey. The authors distill the process into seven simple steps–define the problem, disaggregate, prioritize, workplan, analyze, synthesize, and communicate– and give numerous examples of how to follow this cycle with different dilemmas. The chapters explore each stage in depth and outline the importance and finer points of each phase. The book also provides practical tools for readers to build skills, including an appendix with exercise worksheets.

Notable Quote: “Problem solving doesn’t stop at the point of reaching conclusions from individual analyses. Findings have to be assembled into a logical structure to test validity and then synthesized in a way that convinces others that you have a good solution. Great team processes are also important at this stage.”

Read Bulletproof Problem Solving .

9. Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving by by V. Anton Spraul

Think Like a Programmer is one of the top problem solving books for programmers. The guide lays out methods for finding and fixing bugs and creating clean, workable code. The text emphasizes that programming is not merely a matter of being competent in the language, but also knowing how to troubleshoot and respond to unexpected occurrences. The chapters present examples of problems and puzzles and work through the answers to help strengthen professional competencies. The book provides an introductory crash course and practical toolkit for beginning coders, with a focus on C++. Yet since the text outlines general theory and approach, the book is also helpful for dealing with other programming languages, or for solving problems in non-tech industries as well. The point of the text is to provide a proper mindset and attitude for reacting to these developments, and the book can be a benefit for folks in any field.

Notable Quote: “Don’t Get Frustrated The final technique isn’t so much a technique, but a maxim: Don’t get frustrated. When you are frustrated, you won’t think as clearly, you won’t work as efficiently, and everything will take longer and seem harder. Even worse, frustration tends to feed on itself, so that what begins as mild irritation ends as outright anger.”

Read Think Like a Programmer .

10. The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by by Noam Wasserman

The Founder’s Dilemmas lays out the most common problems entrepreneurs face and gives advice on how to avoid or solve these issues. The book tackles topics such as managing relationships, hiring, and rewarding or correcting employees. The chapters outline the mistakes inexperienced leaders often make and offer strategies for handling these tough situations with more smarts and skill. By reading this book, founders can learn from predecessors and avoid making obvious and avoidable errors in judgment. The Founder’s Dilemmas is a problem-solving resource for startup leaders and team members who lack more traditional guidance.

Notable Quote: “Ideas are cheap; execution is dear.”

Read The Founder’s Dilemmas , and check out more entrepreneurial books .

11. The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t by Julia Galef

The Scout Mindset challenges readers to move beyond gut reactions and preconceptions and rethink problems. The book offers instructions for overcoming bias and central beliefs to gather more objective data. Julia Galef encourages readers to act more like scouts than soldiers and gather information without judging to make more informed decisions. The text outlines the common reasons folks jump to conclusions and offers advice on how to avoid incorrect assumptions and conduct level-headed analyses. The Scout Mindset is a call to action for objectivity and an instruction manual for breaking away from unhelpful mental patterns that can lead to poor choices.

Notable Quote: “Discovering you were wrong is an update, not a failure, and your worldview is a living document meant to be revised.”

Read The Scout Mindset .

12. Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann

Super Thinking is a comprehensive resource that explains various mental models for problem solving. The book identifies logical fallacies and shows readers how to avoid these pitfalls. The pages also lay out appropriate strategies, tools, techniques to use in different situations, such as matrices, pointed questions, and philosophies. The point of the guide is to teach readers how to evaluate information and make quick yet accurate judgements. The guide helps readers decide the best approach to use for each circumstance. Though packed with information, the pages also contain images and humor that prevent the material from getting too dry. Super Thinking is the ultimate cheat sheet for thinking rationally and acting with intention.

Notable Quote: “Unfortunately, people often make the mistake of doing way too much work before testing assumptions in the real world.”

Read Super Thinking .

Final Thoughts

Problem solving is one of the most essential skills for modern industry. With the breakneck pace at which the current business world changes, there is no shortage of new developments that professionals must contend with on a daily basis. Operating the same way for years at a time is impossible, and it is almost guaranteed that workers at every level will have issues to unravel at some point in their careers.

Books about problem solving help professionals predict, prevent, and overcome issues and find more viable and sustainable solutions. These guides not only provide skills, but also methods for survival in a highly competitive business landscape. These texts show workers that they are more capable than may first appear and that sometimes, seemingly insurmountable obstacles are beatable with a combination of creativity, teamwork, and proper process.

For more ways to beat the odds, check out this list of books on innovation and this list of books on business strategy .

We also have a list of the best communication books .

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FAQ: Problem solving books

Here are answers to common questions about problem solving books.

What are problem solving books?

Problem solving books are guides that teach critical thinking skills and strategies for resolving issues. The purpose of these works is to help professionals be more creative and strategic in problem solving approaches.

What are some good problem solving books for work?

Some good problem solving books for work include Sprint by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, et al, Upstream by Dan Heath, and Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com.

Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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What is creative problem-solving?

Table of Contents

An introduction to creative problem-solving.

Creative problem-solving is an essential skill that goes beyond basic brainstorming . It entails a holistic approach to challenges, melding logical processes with imaginative techniques to conceive innovative solutions. As our world becomes increasingly complex and interconnected, the ability to think creatively and solve problems with fresh perspectives becomes invaluable for individuals, businesses, and communities alike.

Importance of divergent and convergent thinking

At the heart of creative problem-solving lies the balance between divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking encourages free-flowing, unrestricted ideation, leading to a plethora of potential solutions. Convergent thinking, on the other hand, is about narrowing down those options to find the most viable solution. This dual approach ensures both breadth and depth in the problem-solving process.

Emphasis on collaboration and diverse perspectives

No single perspective has a monopoly on insight. Collaborating with individuals from different backgrounds, experiences, and areas of expertise offers a richer tapestry of ideas. Embracing diverse perspectives not only broadens the pool of solutions but also ensures more holistic and well-rounded outcomes.

Nurturing a risk-taking and experimental mindset

The fear of failure can be the most significant barrier to any undertaking. It's essential to foster an environment where risk-taking and experimentation are celebrated. This involves viewing failures not as setbacks but as invaluable learning experiences that pave the way for eventual success.

The role of intuition and lateral thinking

Sometimes, the path to a solution is not linear. Lateral thinking and intuition allow for making connections between seemingly unrelated elements. These 'eureka' moments often lead to breakthrough solutions that conventional methods might overlook.

Stages of the creative problem-solving process

The creative problem-solving process is typically broken down into several stages. Each stage plays a crucial role in understanding, addressing, and resolving challenges in innovative ways.

Clarifying: Understanding the real problem or challenge

Before diving into solutions, one must first understand the problem at its core. This involves asking probing questions, gathering data, and viewing the challenge from various angles. A clear comprehension of the problem ensures that effort and resources are channeled correctly.

Ideating: Generating diverse and multiple solutions

Once the problem is clarified, the focus shifts to generating as many solutions as possible. This stage champions quantity over quality, as the aim is to explore the breadth of possibilities without immediately passing judgment.

Developing: Refining and honing promising solutions

With a list of potential solutions in hand, it's time to refine and develop the most promising ones. This involves evaluating each idea's feasibility, potential impact, and any associated risks, then enhancing or combining solutions to maximize effectiveness.

Implementing: Acting on the best solutions

Once a solution has been honed, it's time to put it into action. This involves planning, allocating resources, and monitoring the results to ensure the solution is effectively addressing the problem.

Techniques for creative problem-solving

Solving complex problems in a fresh way can be a daunting task to start on. Here are a few techniques that can help kickstart the process:

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a widely-used technique that involves generating as many ideas as possible within a set timeframe. Variants like brainwriting (where ideas are written down rather than spoken) and reverse brainstorming (thinking of ways to cause the problem) can offer fresh perspectives and ensure broader participation.

Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a visual tool that helps structure information, making connections between disparate pieces of data. It is particularly useful in organizing thoughts, visualizing relationships, and ensuring a comprehensive approach to a problem.

SCAMPER technique

SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse. This technique prompts individuals to look at existing products, services, or processes in new ways, leading to innovative solutions.

Benefits of creative problem-solving

Creative problem-solving offers numerous benefits, both at the individual and organizational levels. Some of the most prominent advantages include:

Finding novel solutions to old problems

Traditional problems that have resisted conventional solutions often succumb to creative approaches. By looking at challenges from fresh angles and blending different techniques, we can unlock novel solutions previously deemed impossible.

Enhanced adaptability in changing environments

In our rapidly evolving world, the ability to adapt is critical. Creative problem-solving equips individuals and organizations with the agility to pivot and adapt to changing circumstances, ensuring resilience and longevity.

Building collaborative and innovative teams

Teams that embrace creative problem-solving tend to be more collaborative and innovative. They value diversity of thought, are open to experimentation, and are more likely to challenge the status quo, leading to groundbreaking results.

Fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement

Creative problem-solving is not just about finding solutions; it's also about continuous learning and improvement. By encouraging an environment of curiosity and exploration, organizations can ensure that they are always at the cutting edge, ready to tackle future challenges head-on.

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• Chicago Cafe: California’s Oldest Chinese Restaurant
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New Model for Solving Novel Problems Uses Mental Map

• by Andy Fell
• September 02, 2021

How do we make decisions about a situation we have not encountered before? New work from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, shows that we can solve abstract problems in the same way that we can find a novel route between two known locations — by using an internal cognitive map. The work is published Aug. 31 in the journal Nature Neuroscience .

Humans and animals have a great ability to solve novel problems by generalizing from existing knowledge and inferring new solutions from limited data. This is much harder to achieve with artificial intelligence.

Animals (including humans) navigate by creating a representative map of the outside world in their head as they move around. Once we know two locations are close to each other, we can infer that there is a shortcut between them even if we haven’t been there. These maps make use of a network of “grid cells” and “place cells” in parts of the brain.

In earlier work , Professor Erie Boorman, postdoctoral researcher Seongmin (Alex) Park, Douglas Miller and colleagues showed that human volunteers could construct a similar cognitive map for abstract information. The volunteers were given limited information about people in a two-dimensional social network, ranked by relative competence and popularity. The researchers found that the volunteers could mentally reconstruct this network, represented as a grid, without seeing the original.

The new work takes the research further by testing if people can actually use such a map to find the answers to novel problems.

Matchmaking entrepreneurs

As before, volunteers learned about 16 people they were told were entrepreneurs, ranked on axes of competence and popularity. They never saw the complete grid, only comparisons between pairs.

They were then asked to select business partners for individual entrepreneurs that would maximize growth potential for a business they started together. The assumption was that an entrepreneur scoring high in competence but low on popularity would be complemented by one with a higher popularity score. 

“For example, would Mark Zuckerberg be better off collaborating with Bill Gates or Richard Branson?” Boorman said. (The actual experiment did not use real people.)

While the volunteers were performing the decision task, the researchers scanned their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. 

If the volunteers were using the grid cells inside their head to infer the answer, that should be measurable with a tailored analysis approach applied to the fMRI signal, Boorman said.

“It turns out the system in the brain does show the signature of these trajectories being computed on the fly,” he said. “It looks like they are leveraging the cognitive map.”

Computing solutions on the fly

In other words, we can take in loosely connected or fragmentary information, assemble it into a mental map, and use it to infer solutions to new problems.  

Scientists have considered that the brain makes decisions by computing the value of each choice into a common currency, which allows them to be compared in a single dimension, Park said. For example, people might typically choose wine A over wine B based on price, but we know that our preference can be changed by the food you will pair with the wine.

“Our study suggests that the human brain does not have a wine list with fixed values, but locates wines in an abstract multidimensional space, which allows for computing new decision values flexibly according to the current demand,” he said.

The cognitive map allows for computation on the fly with limited information, Boorman said.

“It’s useful when the decisions are novel,” he said. “It’s a totally new framework for understanding decision making.”

The navigational map in rodents is located in the entorhinal cortex, an “early” part of the brain. The cognitive map in humans expands into other parts of the brain including the prefrontal cortex and posterior medial cortex. These brain areas are part of the default mode network, a large “always on” brain network involved in autobiographical memory, imagination, planning and the theory of mind.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. 

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Media Contacts:

• Seongmin Park, Center for Mind and Brain, [email protected]
• Erie Boorman, Center for Mind and Brain and Department of Psychology, [email protected]
• Andy Fell, News and Media Relations, 530-304-8888, [email protected]

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How humans use objects in novel ways to solve problems

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Human beings are naturally creative tool users. When we need to drive in a nail but don’t have a hammer, we easily realize that we can use a heavy, flat object like a rock in its place. When our table is shaky, we quickly find that we can put a stack of paper under the table leg to stabilize it. But while these actions seem so natural to us, they are believed to be a hallmark of great intelligence — only a few other species use objects in novel ways to solve their problems, and none can do so as flexibly as people. What provides us with these powerful capabilities for using objects in this way?

In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describing work conducted at MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds and Machines , researchers Kelsey Allen, Kevin Smith, and Joshua Tenenbaum study the cognitive components that underlie this sort of improvised tool use. They designed a novel task, the Virtual Tools game , that taps into tool-use abilities: People must select one object from a set of “tools” that they can place in a two-dimensional, computerized scene to accomplish a goal, such as getting a ball into a certain container. Solving the puzzles in this game requires reasoning about a number of physical principles, including launching, blocking, or supporting objects.

The team hypothesized that there are three capabilities that people rely on to solve these puzzles: a prior belief that guides people’s actions toward those that will make a difference in the scene, the ability to imagine the effect of their actions, and a mechanism to quickly update their beliefs about what actions are likely to provide a solution. They built a model that instantiated these principles, called the “Sample, Simulate, Update,” or “SSUP,” model, and had it play the same game as people. They found that SSUP solved each puzzle at similar rates and in similar ways as people did. On the other hand, a popular deep learning model that could play Atari games well but did not have the same object and physical structures was unable to generalize its knowledge to puzzles it was not directly trained on.

This research provides a new framework for studying and formalizing the cognition that supports human tool use. The team hopes to extend this framework to not just study tool use, but also how people can create innovative new tools for new problems, and how humans transmit this information to build from simple physical tools to complex objects like computers or airplanes that are now part of our daily lives.

Kelsey Allen, a PhD student in the Computational Cognitive Science Lab at MIT, is excited about how the Virtual Tools game might support other cognitive scientists interested in tool use: “There is just so much more to explore in this domain. We have already started collaborating with researchers across multiple different institutions on projects ranging from studying what it means for games to be fun, to studying how embodiment affects disembodied physical reasoning. I hope that others in the cognitive science community will use the game as a tool to better understand how physical models interact with decision-making and planning.”

Joshua Tenenbaum, professor of computational cognitive science at MIT, sees this work as a step toward understanding not only an important aspect of human cognition and culture, but also how to build more human-like forms of intelligence in machines. “Artificial Intelligence researchers have been very excited about the potential for reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms to learn from trial-and-error experience, as humans do, but the real trial-and-error learning that humans benefit from unfolds over just a handful of trials — not millions or billions of experiences, as in today’s RL systems,” Tenenbaum says. “The Virtual Tools game allows us to study this very rapid and much more natural form of trial-and-error learning in humans, and the fact that the SSUP model is able to capture the fast learning dynamics we see in humans suggests it may also point the way towards new AI approaches to RL that can learn from their successes, their failures, and their near misses as quickly and as flexibly as people do.” 

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EDITORIAL article

Editorial: novel approaches for studying creativity in problem-solving and artistic performance.

• 1 School of Psychology and Wellbeing, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, United Kingdom
• 2 Department of Psychology, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
• 3 School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology, Christchurch Canterbury University, Canterbury, United Kingdom
• 4 Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Editorial on the Research Topic Novel Approaches for Studying Creativity in Problem-Solving and Artistic Performance

Introduction

Creativity can be observed across multiple domains of human behavior including problem solving, artistic and athletic engagement, scientific reasoning, decision making, business and marketing, leadership styles, and social interactions. It has a long history of research in many disciplines, and involves a variety of conceptual and methodological approaches. However, given its multi-faceted character, and the multidisciplinary (though not necessarily interdisciplinary) nature of creativity research, it is perhaps unsurprising that such research has tended to examine discrete areas of study, thereby adopting a focused approach that lacks opportunity for cross-fertilization. It is therefore important to encourage interdisciplinary discourse and novel methodological approaches to investigating all aspects of creativity. This can best be achieved by sharing and integrating research ideas, methods, and findings across multiple domains and disciplines, including but not restricted to psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, medicine, education, and performance science.

The aim of this Research Topic is to showcase recent creativity research involving new methodological approaches across a range of creativity domains and academic disciplines. Broadly speaking, we see three ways by which such novel methodological approaches can develop. Firstly, adopting technologies such as brain stimulation and EEG allow researchers to investigate creativity in new ways, and new digital research platforms allow researchers to more easily access domain-specific online populations. Secondly, traditional methodologies, already shown to be effective in one field of creativity research, can be employed to investigate hitherto neglected creativity domains. Thirdly, taking advantage of the interdisciplinary nature of creativity research, we can interrogate one domain of creative performance using research perspectives from another, such as viewing medicine as a performance science akin to music ( Kneebone, 2016 ) or investigating insight moments with magic tricks ( Danek et al., 2014 ). This novel juxtaposition of methods from multiple domains and disciplines allows new research questions to be addressed. These three ways of developing novel methodological approaches thus involve: the development of novel methods; the novel application of tried-and-tested methods; and the novel combination of previously separate methodologies.

The Research Topic contains 27 articles (20 Original Research articles, one Case Report, one Review, and five methodological or theoretical contributions). Twelve address questions of creative cognition, covering insight, divergent thinking, and problem solving. Eleven articles investigate creative arts and artistic performance, with a further four addressing other aspects of creativity. Given the focus of the Research Topic, we have decided to address the articles in terms of their methodological approaches, rather than the type of creativity under investigation. Indeed, we hope to encourage the development and ultimately the wider application of those methodological approaches described herein to any aspect or domain of creativity.

Tracking the Process: Physiological Approaches

In line with the increasing pace of technological advancement, several articles utilize physiological techniques to measure and manipulate the creative process, including the electroencephalogram (EEG), and transcranial current stimulation, both direct (tDCS) and alternating (tACS). Dolan et al. employ EEG in both music performers and selected audience members during prepared and improvised renditions of the same piece of classical music, demonstrating what they call an “improvisatory state of mind.” Truelove-Hill et al. measure resting-state EEG in their investigation of the effects of near-future and far-future priming on insight and analytical problem-solving. Di Bernardi Luft et al. use both EEG and tACS in their case study of a professional visual artist with exceptionally vivid spontaneous visual imagery during meditation sessions. They demonstrate increased occipital gamma oscillations during visual imagery, and an effect of alpha tACS on the contents of the artist's images. In another study of musical creativity, Anic et al. investigate the effects of both excitatory and inhibitory tDCS over the left hemisphere primary motor cortex (M1) of pianists who were improvising with their right hands: improvisations under excitatory tDCS were rated as significantly more creative, demonstrating the role of M1 in musical creativity.

Various other articles employ process-tracing methods to probe the creative process. Carey et al. investigate dance in a novel way, using pupillometry (a metric of mental effort) to demonstrate greater pupil dilation in novice, rather than intermediate, dancers as they performed or imagined dance movements. Jankowska et al. use both eye-tracking and think-aloud (verbal protocol) analyses whilst adults completed a creative drawing task, demonstrating methodological synergy between both types of process-tracing and various psychometric measures of drawing creativity. Spiridonov et al. , Loesche et al. , and Dolan et al. all track physical movement during various creative acts. Spiridonov et al. examine the classic 9-dot problem by tracking the position and movement of the solver's index finger on a tablet, and demonstrate specific patterns of motor behavior characterizing the differences between unsuccessful and successful solvers. Similarly, Loesche et al. investigate the chronology of insight moments in a novel insight eliciting task, “Dira,” by tracking the position of the mouse cursor, allowing them to better pinpoint the moment when solutions emerge. Finally, Dolan et al. investigate musical creativity in ensemble playing in various ways, including continuous 3D tracking of the musicians' movement. This enables them to explore movement pattern differences between improvised and prepared renditions, as well as demonstrate, for instance, that the flutist and pianist correlated their fast movements significantly more in an improvised rendition than a classically prepared one.

The Time-Course of Creativity

One common theme, found in 10 articles, is the study of temporal or chronometric aspects of the creative and associated processes. Three articles involving process-tracing, focusing particularly on moment-to-moment aspects of the creative process, have already been mentioned ( Loesche et al. , Spiridonov et al. , and Dolan et al. ). Hass and Beatty directly compare performance on the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and Consequences Task, showing that both approximate well to an exponential cumulative response time model; they also provide an explanation for why later responses are generally rated as more creative than earlier ones, known as the serial order effect. Kizilirmak et al. measure feelings of warmth (FoW) ratings for Compound Remote Associate Tasks as a function of task difficulty, whether it was successfully solved, and whether the solution (if it occurred) was an example of insight; they demonstrate that FoW ratings increase more abruptly for trials solved with compared to without an insight experience. Kupers et al. measure moment-to-moment ratings of novelty and appropriateness in their study of children's creativity using a novel coding framework. Botella et al. explore the stages of the creative artistic process, which they propose differs from both the creative process and the artistic process, by interviewing visual graphic arts students, integrating their findings into Creative process Report Diaries.

Rather than focusing on the creative process itself, three articles measure the time-course of associated processes. Wang et al. explore the temporal structure of semantic associations in an association chain task and its relationship to divergent thinking. Korovkin et al. use a dual-task procedure to track the temporal dynamics of working memory involvement throughout both insight and non-insight problem-solving experiences. Truelove-Hill et al. investigate the effects of a priming procedure on creative problem-solving by asking problem-solvers to think about the near vs. distant future in order to differentially impact their cognitive style, in accordance with construal level theory. They then apply growth-curve analysis in a novel way to uncover the time-course of these transient priming effects.

Promoting and Measuring Creativity: Psychometric Approaches

Several articles describe novel approaches to promote, track or measure creativity. Three articles propose novel methods for inducing insight. Friedlander and Fine posit a new protocol for eliciting insight moments, that of cryptic crossword solving, drawing parallels between certain cryptic clue mechanisms and problem types already found in the insight literature, such as rebus puzzles, remote associate problems, anagrams, and jokes. Such an approach could be instrumental in exploring individual differences in insight ability, and identifying insight experts. In order to investigate multiple instances of both positive (Aha!) and negative (Uh-oh!) insight experiences, Hill and Kemp use the well-known adversarial game of Connect 4, asking participants to label each move as insight or search (either positive or negative) and collecting concomitant phenomenological ratings. Loesche et al. have developed a new game, “Dira,” based on the existing game “Dixit,” in which participants must find a connection between a short sentence and one of six visual images. However, only the image (or text) over which the mouse is hovering is clearly visible: this allows real-time process-tracing via mouse movements, and provides information about relevant metacognitive and behavioral mechanisms, such as the intensity of the insight moment.

Other cognitive methods applied to creativity research in the current articles include: the use of verbal protocol analysis to probe metacognitive and self-regulation mechanisms together with eye-movement measures during a creative drawing task ( Jankovska et al. ); the measurement of feelings of warmth during insight and non-insight puzzle solving ( Kizilirmak et al. ); and the application of the classic dual-task paradigm to investigate the effect of working memory load on solving insight and non-insight problems ( Korovkin et al. ). Camic et al. also describe the potential utility, for those with dementia, of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), an arts-based facilitated learning methodology involving moderated group discussions, permitting individuals to create meaning through viewing visual art.

Two articles probe novel and interesting causal relationships between creativity and other cognitive activities or processes. Having a broad attentional scope has previously been shown to enhance creativity, but Wronska et al. demonstrate the reverse relationship, that divergent thinking can broaden visual attention on a subsequent visual scanning task and enhance peripheral target recognition. Osowiecka and Kolanczyk show that silently reading poetry can both increase and decrease divergent thinking performance, depending on the type of poetic metaphors, the poetic narration style, and individual differences in long-term exposure to poetry.

Several articles explore novel psychometric methods for measuring and otherwise quantifying aspects of creativity. Threadgold et al. present a newly validated normative pool of 84 rebus puzzles freely available for future use in problem-solving and insight studies. Kupers et al. propose a micro-level domain-general systematic coding framework for measuring novelty and appropriateness of creative products on a continual basis. Kershaw et al. apply a novel originality scoring method, the Decision Tree for Originality Assessment in Design (DTOAD), to creative ideation within engineering design. Clements et al. adapt Amabile's Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT; Amabile, 1982 ; Cseh and Jeffries, 2019 ) for online use so as to have a broader reach, by which they investigate the effects of varying levels of dance expertise and experience on ratings of choreographic creativity. Loesche et al. 's exploration of the chronometry of insight moments and Threadgold et al. 's construction of a normative database of rebus puzzles both treat the strength of the Eureka experience as a continuum rather than a dichotomous all-or-none phenomenon, which has generally been a more common approach; similarly, some articles, including Hill and Kemp , and Loesche et al. , consider phenomenological correlates of the insight moment as continua.

Technological and Methodological Advances

In addition to the studies using tDCS, tACS, and EEG already mentioned, two articles in particular employ methods novel to creativity research to increase the reach of their studies. For their direct comparison of the AUT and the Consequences Task, Hass and Beatty's participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) using psiTurk, an open-access web-app which interfaces with MTurk, allowing online experimental control and response collection. In their study of choreographic creativity, Clements et al. use an online version of the CAT together with a snowball sampling technique in which participants could rate as few or as many as they wished out of 23 randomly ordered short videos: this yielded 2153 individual ratings from 850 raters.

Camic et al. advocate the use of wearable technology for measuring psychophysiological changes on a continuous basis during creative behaviors, particularly where it is important that such data collection is unobtrusive, for instance in persons with dementia. Wearable technology such as wristbands can record 3D position using accelerometers, as well as physiological indices of arousal and stress including heart rate, heart rate variability, skin conductance, and skin temperature. Finally, in their Perspective article, Gobet and Sala advocate the use of methods in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which they argue are less susceptible to mental set issues, in both the design of new experiments and the generation of new theory in relation to the study of creativity.

Investigating Creative People and Populations

Several articles focus more on the creative person, by studying either specific (and sometimes less-studied) populations, or interpersonal aspects of teamwork, ensemble, and co-creativity. Hogan et al. investigate budding fashion designers on a reality television programme in which they are tasked with designing garments. The authors analyze the designers' thinking dispositions using qualitative analysis of the programme transcripts in terms of the 8 Studio Habits of Mind. In a multi-institutional wide-ranging Conceptual Analysis article, Camic et al. explore how we can conceptualize and understand artistic creativity in the dementias, a population easily and undeservedly overlooked in creativity studies. An interesting aspect of the article is their discussion of co-creativity, which focuses on shared processes. Hocking , too, addresses co-creativity, in his dyadic case study of the subjective experience of a professional artist as seen through the eyes of a psychological researcher and thus artistic collaborator, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Another case study of an artist ( Di Bernardi Luft et al. ) employs neuroimaging to investigate spontaneous vivid visual imagery, central to this artist's creativity. Though still focusing on the creative process, Kupers et al. present two case studies specifically investigating children's creativity, exemplified by two empirical examples, a music composition task and the solving of a physics problem: their coding framework will no doubt also be applicable to adults (and to other domains of creativity).

Other articles addressed questions of interpersonal interaction with reference to teamwork and ensemble. Reiter-Palmon and Murugavel demonstrate the utility of problem construction in teams by studying the social and cognitive processes involved. Both Bishop and Dolan et al. investigate aspects of ensemble playing and collaborative processes in music performance. Bishop reviews recent literature on collaborative musical creativity, in terms of how ensembles achieve creative spontaneity, through the lenses of embodied music cognition, emergence, and group flow. Dolan et al. explore synchrony of movement in ensemble music performers as a function of the level of improvisation.

Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, and Blended Methodological Approaches

As noted in the introduction to this editorial, one of the main drivers of this Research Topic is that of fostering interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. Two articles explicitly use such a multidisciplinary approach. Wang et al. combine approaches from computational linguistics, complex systems, and creativity research in their investigation of the relationship between semantic association and divergent thinking tasks. Camic et al. 's article about artistic creativity in the dementias is the culmination of a 2-year interdisciplinary study involving research psychologists and neurologists, artists, and media professionals.

Certain articles, although focusing more on a single discipline (often psychology), use a blended approach of multiple methods, some comparing different methodologies directly, such as Hass and Beatty's comparison of the AUT and the Consequences Task. Dolan et al. , in their study of an improvisatory approach to performing classical music, measure various performance-related parameters, post-performance ratings from both performers and audience members, EEG signals again from both performers and selected audience, and 3D motion tracking of the performers' movements. This broad range of measures enables them to demonstrate convergent evidence for differences between improvised and prepared musical performances. Jankowska et al. integrate psychometric, eye-tracking, and verbal protocol analysis in their study of creative drawing. Finally, Carey et al. combine measures of motor imagery, dance performance, and pupillometry to investigate dancers' learning of dance moves.

The Future of Creativity Research

Given the breadth of creativity research, investigating as it does at least the creator, the creative process, the creative product, and environmental influences on creativity ( Rhodes, 1961 ; Abdulla and Cramond, 2017 ), it is important to integrate research ideas, methods, and findings across diverse disciplines. The 27 articles in this Research Topic present a broad picture of contemporary creativity research across multiple disciplines and domains. Separately and together they present a range of novel approaches for studying all aspects of creativity which we hope will encourage further interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. Creativity research is clearly thriving, and through the methodological creativity of developing innovative research methods and approaches, we are in a strong position to advance our understanding of creativity in all its forms.

Author Contributions

PF wrote the first draft of this editorial, and all authors equally contributed to the revisions.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Abdulla, A. M., and Cramond, B. (2017). After six decades of systematic study of creativity: what do teachers need to know about what it is and how it is measured? Roeper. Rev. 39, 9–23. doi: 10.1080/02783193.2016.1247398

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Cseh, G. M., and Jeffries, K. K. (2019). A scattered CAT: a critical evaluation of the consensual assessment technique for creativity research. Psychol. Aesthet. Creat. Arts 13, 159–166. doi: 10.1037/aca0000220

Danek, A. H., Fraps, T., Von Mueller, A., Grothe, B., and Öllinger, M. (2014). Working wonders? Investigating insight with magic tricks. Cognition 130, 174–185. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.003

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Kneebone, R. L. (2016). Performing surgery: commonalities with performers outside medicine. Front. Psychol. 7:1233. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01233

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Keywords: creativity, problem solving, artistic performance, methodology, novel approach

Citation: Fine PA, Danek AH, Friedlander KJ, Hocking I and Thompson WF (2019) Editorial: Novel Approaches for Studying Creativity in Problem-Solving and Artistic Performance. Front. Psychol. 10:2059. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02059

Received: 01 August 2019; Accepted: 23 August 2019; Published: 18 September 2019.

Edited and reviewed by: Aaron Williamon , Royal College of Music, United Kingdom

Copyright © 2019 Fine, Danek, Friedlander, Hocking and Thompson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Philip A. Fine, philip.fine@buckingham.ac.uk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Home / Book Writing / How to Plot a Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers

How to Plot a Novel: A Step-by-Step Guide for Writers

Plotting a novel can feel like an overwhelming task, especially for new writers. When I first decided to write a book, I had no idea where to begin with structuring a full-length narrative. Like most authors, I had plenty of ideas swimming around in my head, but no clue how to organize them into a cohesive story.

In this guide, I will help you plan your novel from start to finish, including coming up with ideas and outlining plot points . By the end, you'll feel equipped and excited to plot your own novel in a way that sets you up for success.

• The essential building blocks of a good plot
• How to brainstorm compelling story ideas
• Techniques for developing a strong premise
• Methods for structuring your plot using templates
• Tips for creating effective scenes

Table of contents

• Key Elements of Story Structure
• What Makes a Good Novel Plot?
• Supercharge Your Novel Writing with Atticus
• Step 1: Assemble Your Puzzle Pieces
• Step 2: Use a Story Structure
• Step 3: Layer in a Subplot
• Step 4: Develop Strong Character Arcs
• Step 5: Ensure Every Scene Has Conflict
• Alternative: The Snowflake Method
• How Long Does it Take to Plot a Novel?
• Additional Tips for Effective Novel Plotting

Understanding the Basics of Plot

To plot a novel effectively, it's important to first grasp the basic elements that form a story's structure . Think of your narrative as a house – the plot structure is the framework and foundation that holds everything together.

Most stories follow a similar basic blueprint, typically containing these key parts:

• Exposition : Introduce important background information, setting, protagonist, and other main characters.
• Inciting Incident : The event that hooks readers and disrupts the status quo, propelling your protagonist into the main action.
• Rising Action : Events that build tension, complicate the conflict, and raise stakes as the story progresses.
• Climax : The most intense moment in a story when the main character confronts their greatest challenge.
• Falling Action : Events showing the aftermath of the climax and its effects on the characters.
• Resolution : The conclusion addresses the remaining conflicts and reveals the protagonist's new status quo.

Having a solid grasp of these story structure elements will make plotting your novel much easier.

At its core, a good plot is one that engages readers and keeps them turning pages. Here are some hallmarks of an effective, well-constructed narrative plot:

• A compelling premise or hook
• Forward momentum
• Meaningful conflict
• Unpredictability
• Strong pacing
• Clear stakes
• A satisfying payoff

How to Plot a Novel: The Best Techniques

Ready to turn your plot into a polished manuscript? Atticus is our #1 recommended book writing and formatting software for authors. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, Atticus helps you:

• Organize your plot points and chapters effortlessly
• Track character arcs and subplots
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Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, Atticus streamlines your writing process from first draft to final publication. Try Atticus today and experience the difference in your novel writing journey!

Learn More About Atticus

Now let's dive into how to actually plot a novel from start to finish. I'll walk you through my 5-step process that I've developed over years of writing and teaching other authors.

Before structuring your plot, gather the key elements you'll be working with:

• Protagonist
• Main supporting characters
• Thematic elements
• Core conflict
• Possible plot events

Don't worry about how these pieces fit together yet – just get clear on what you have to work with.

Now it's time to start arranging your elements into a coherent plot structure. I recommend starting with a basic three-act narrative arc:

Act 1 – Setup : Establish your protagonist, other central characters, setting, and status quo. Build toward the inciting incident.

Act 2 – Confrontation : Develop your rising action with increasingly difficult obstacles for your protagonist to overcome.

Act 3 – Resolution : Decide how your main character will face the climax and think of events that lead to a satisfying ending.

Once you have your main plot arc mapped out, weave in one or more subplots to add richness and complexity to the story. Some tips:

• Tie subplots thematically into your main arc
• Ensure they complement rather than complicate the main plot
• Use subplots to reveal additional aspects of your characters
• Interweave subplot events throughout your main plot arc for variety

As you plot out events, always keep one eye on how your protagonist and other key characters are evolving. Some tips for developing character arcs:

• Identify your protagonist's core flaw or wound they need to overcome
• Align external plot events with internal shifts
• Choose turning points that force your protagonist to grow
• Have side characters undergo change as well

Within each act of your plot, break the story down into individual scenes. Ensure every scene has some kind of conflict, tension, or obstacle driving it forward. Ask yourself:

• What is the purpose of this scene?
• What conflict are the characters facing?
• Is the conflict external, internal, or both?
• Does this advance the plot or character arcs?
• How does this set up the next scene or moment in the story?

If outlining your entire novel from the start feels too rigid, try the “snowflake method” popularized by Randy Ingermanson:

• Start with a one-sentence summary of your novel.
• Expand that into a full paragraph summarizing the story arc.
• Write character and setting descriptions for each main element.
• Outline each act in a paragraph.
• Write a 1-2 sentence summary of each planned scene .
• Continually expand on each sentence with more details.

This method allows you to gradually build out your plot, adding layers of depth as you go.

No one-size-fits-all answer exists because individual writers and story complexities influence plotting timelines. However, for most authors, especially indie authors, it usually ranges from a few days to about a month .

Be careful not to spend too long in the plotting phase. It's easy to say you want the perfect plot, but you might be wasting time because you're afraid to start writing. Sometimes, it's just time to begin.

With the rise of AI tools, brainstorming and other tasks can become easier. I once spent a day plotting my novel with AI as a brainstorming partner. It took me just one day, so these tools can be powerful time-savers.

Formatting Has Never Been Easier

Write and format professional books with ease.  Never before has creating formatted books been easier.

Here are some extra tips to help you improve your plotting skills:

• Use visual aids like index cards, whiteboards, or plot diagram worksheets to map out your story events.
• Read books and watch movies in your genre to study effective plot structures.
• Enlist beta readers to provide feedback on your plot outline before drafting.
• Be open to changing your outline if new ideas arise while writing.
• Keep track of any plot holes you notice in an editing file for easy reference later.
• Resist over-complicating – strive for the simplest version of your plot that still engages readers.
• Ensure cause-and-effect logic flows clearly from event to event.

Plotting a novel doesn't have to be an overwhelming task. You can write an interesting story by following simple steps. Use effective methods to keep readers engaged from beginning to end. Remember, there's no one “right” way to plot a novel – experiment with different methods to find what works best for you.

Now that you have the tools and knowledge to plot your novel effectively, it's time to put them into action. Start brainstorming your story ideas, outlining your plot points, and bringing your characters to life. Happy writing!

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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Improving examples to improve transfer to novel problems

• Published: September 1994
• Volume 22 , pages 606–615, ( 1994 )

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• Richard Catrambone 1  

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People often memorize a set of steps for solving problems when they study worked-out examples in domains such as math and physics without learning what domain-relevant subgoals or subtasks these steps achieve. As a result, they have trouble solving novel problems that contain the same structural elements but require different, lower-level steps. In three experiments, subjects who studied example solutions that emphasized a needed subgoal were more likely to solve novel problems that required a new approach for achieving this subgoal than were subjects who did not learn this subgoal. This result suggests that research aimed at determining the factors that influence subgoal learning may be valuable in improving transfer from examples to novel problems.

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School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 30332, Atlanta, GA

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This research was supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1137.

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Catrambone, R. Improving examples to improve transfer to novel problems. Memory & Cognition 22 , 606–615 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198399

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Received : 07 July 1993

Accepted : 29 October 1993

Issue Date : September 1994

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198399

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