There is no single way to make.

144 exercises for exploring ideas and developing your own work. Each Way gives you an approach to try, an example and a question to help you decide what to keep.

Try a Way

Use the book on its own. AI is optional.

Interior Way page from the Ideas edition

Try a Way on the work in front of you.

A Way is an exercise you can apply to your own work. It explains when it may help, what to try and what to notice afterwards.

A Way from the collection

Read the Way, try its exercise on your work, then deal another card when you need a different approach.

Ideas editionWay 011

Try the bad idea

An intentionally wrong direction can reveal what sensible thinking keeps hidden.

When: Everything you produce feels predictable, correct and strangely lifeless.
The way: A deliberately bad, strange or dangerous idea can move the work outside the route your judgment already knows how to approve. The aim is not to make something bad. It is to gather information from somewhere less familiar.
Try: Make the version you would normally reject first. Exaggerate what feels wrong about it. Then identify one quality worth carrying back into the work.
Notice: What appeared when being sensible was no longer the objective?

Reference quote · Rick Rubin

We never know until we try things what works, and what doesn’t. I often think of a bad idea and on purpose, try that bad idea, just to see where it leads. Sometimes it turns out not to be bad, sometimes it’s worse than I thought, but, the spark of seeing this bad idea through, you start recognising where it can go. It’s a bad idea, but if this part of it got amplified, and this part went away, maybe it’s be more interesting, and that’s the next iteration. It’s a series of iterations and looking for clues. Look for bad ideas, strange ideas, dangerous ideas, and see what happens.
— Rick Rubin ·Source

Ideas editionWay 004

Follow the fragment

You do not need the whole answer before you begin.

When: You are waiting for a complete idea to arrive before making a start.
The way: Ideas often arrive as fragments. One fragment attracts another; gradually, the larger thing begins to disclose itself. A partial idea is not evidence that nothing is there. It may be the first visible part of something you cannot see yet.
Try: Write down five incomplete images, phrases, sounds or questions connected to what you are making. Do not force them to cohere. Follow the one that produces another fragment.
Notice: Which fragment seems to have energy before it has an explanation?

Reference quote · David Lynch

I always use this analogy of fishing: so if you catch one idea, even if it’s a tiny little fish of an idea, but it’s a beautiful little fish, and it indicates something, and you fall in love with it, but it’s a fragment, and then if you focus on that, and think about that, and desire more, they’ll swim in. Over time, they’ll swim in. You can’t necessarily count on it, but it’s our experience that they do come in. And so, one thing will start it, and more will come, and more will come, and the ideas can come at any time after that.
— David Lynch ·Source

1 of 12

Start with twelve Ways.

Four Ways from each edition, with twelve printable cards and optional files for your own AI chat.

Three editions. Different parts of the work.

Ideas

Find a starting point.

48 Ways to find a starting point in what interests you and begin exploring it.

See Ideas — $19

Practice

Learn from an attempt.

48 Ways to develop your work by making an attempt and learning from what happens.

See Practice — $19

Change

Try a different approach.

48 Ways to reconsider a piece of work and try a different approach.

See Change — $19

All 144 Ways, together.

All 144 Ways from Ideas, Practice and Change in one book, with 144 printable cards, the Working with Ways companion and optional AI files. These are the same Ways as the individual editions, brought together.

$49.99

See Complete — $49.99 Try 12 Ways free

What comes with the download

Use the Ways beside your work.

Read the book, print the cards and follow a worked example in Working with Ways. Optional AI files let you bring an exercise into the AI chat you already use.

01 / ReadThe book

Read one complete Way per page.

One Way per page, with guidance on when to use it, an exercise, an example and a question for reflecting on the result. The reference passage and source link show where the idea began.

What is included

One complete Way per page
Designed for screen or print

1 / 4

A designed Way page from the Ideas book — Ideas · Way 001A complete Way, set as a page for reading or print

Questions, answered.

What is a Way?

A Way is an exercise for approaching your own work. It explains when it may help, what to try and what to notice afterwards. An example shows how someone might apply it.

Do I need to work in a creative profession?

No. Bring something you want to explore or make. The examples help you understand the exercise, and you can adapt it to your own situation.

Which edition should I choose?

Choose Ideas to find a starting point, Practice to develop your work through an attempt, or Change to try a different approach. Complete contains the same 144 Ways in one book.

Do I need AI?

No. Every Way can be used from the book. The optional files let you bring an exercise into your own AI chat if you want help exploring or revising something.

What is included in the free download?

The Twelve Ways book, twelve printable cards and optional AI and Markdown files. The separate Working with Ways companion comes with paid editions.

When will the paid editions be available?

They are in preparation. Join the release list for the launch notice; checkout will open when the final files and digital delivery are ready.

# Ways of Making

144 exercises for exploring ideas and developing your own work.

## The collection

- Ideas — 48 Ways to find a starting point
- Practice — 48 Ways to develop work through an attempt
- Change — 48 Ways to reconsider work and try a different approach
- Complete — the same 144 Ways in one book

## Each Way contains

- When it may help
- The Way
- A Try exercise
- A question about what to notice
- An example
- A reference passage and source link

## What comes with a paid edition

- The book
- Printable cards
- Working with Ways
- Optional AI files

## Free download

The Twelve Ways book, twelve printable cards and optional AI and Markdown files.

## Availability

In preparation. Planned launch prices are $19 for each edition and $49.99 for Complete. Checkout remains closed until delivery is ready.