One of the single most restraining barriers to creative, original writing is mature, logical thought.

Why, you ask?

All our lives we've been taught to think hard and rule out bad possibilites in planning, organizing, English papers, etc. Naturally, it's a very good, practical skill to have, but I believe it can severely inhibit creativity.

Look at your own life: how many times have you had a spark of an idea for a story, and then thought, "No, that's ridiculous" or "That's a terrible idea?" Let me tell you something right now - there is no such thing as a bad idea in writing. The weirder, the better.

Look at any famed authors such as Ray Bradbury or Shel Silverstein, who thought outside the box with unique and interesting places, characters, and premises. Chances are, their ideas had probably been thought of before, but were cast off as "dumb" or "strange." Don't let this happen to you; it can be a snare to your work.

So what's the solution? I believe it's a simple one: think like a child.

Have you ever listened to young children? They always have the most ingenious, creative, outside-the-box ideas because they themselves encourage that kind of thinking. Their mind constantly churns them out because they are open to anything.

My best ideas always come to me when I am not really "trying" to come up with them. That's because it's always when my mind is relaxed and not judgemental to my ideas.

If you're having a hard time grasping that your ideas all are good ones, think about it this way: even if your idea ends up unused, it will most likely fuel other, better ideas that come into fruition. Ideas tend to snowball on top of each other; once you have one, it'll lead to another, and another, and another until you have a huge heap of them. So don't get discouraged - no ideas are wasted in the writer's world.

One of the most important things you can do to produce good writing is to think like a child, for it is then and only then that you start to write like a pro.