Right now, I have a deadline for a video game and they are asking me an idea for a storyline. Back in college, I used to breeze through this tasks and for me this is very very easy. Now that I'm been programming for many years now, I would like to return to that state.
How do programmers like you go to into a creative state? Thanks.
If you can, don't program that day. Programming stimulates your brain and does not allow you to be creative (except in solving problems). If you have to program that day, take 15 minutes and meditate. Don't let yourself think about programming. Think about funny cartoons and other video games that you've played.
Caffeine solves everything! ;)
But if it doesn't, read books that aren't programming-related. Get your mind going down different paths it's not used to. Active all those seemingly ancillary neurons. Reading a fiction may seem like a distraction when you could be coding, but it can get your creative juices going.
Get away from programming. Learn to play music. Read. Visit local museums. Sit on a park bench and talk to people. There's stories all around you, but you're going to miss them if you're glued to your computer all day, every day.
If I may make a reference to Star Trek (and if I can't, then this is one weird programming community ;) ), there's an episode of TNG where Data argues that his violin playing is not really a creative act because he is simply blending the styles of two classical violinists. The captain tells him that it was still he who chose which violinists to borrow from and how to combine their styles.
Moral of the story: Inspiration is absolutely essential for creativity. No one can be creative in a vacuum. Play the games, read the blogs, do whatever it was that made you want to program in the first place.
Don't take caffeine, it will keep you up but won't promote creativity. If you can't come up with your own idea steal someone elses idea and slightly alter it to suite your purposes. Or take a few great ideas and mash them together ala xcom\wing commander\halflife. I know its great to have your own ideas but an idea is not something you can just force, and there are no drugs out there that can make you MORE creative.
Lay down, but don't go to sleep. All my best ideas come while I am relaxed and half asleep. I always keep a computer by my bed with a todo list there and then jot down whatever comes to my mind before I fall asleep. I've ended up being up until 5AM because I had to get up and jot down ideas every 30 minutes.
Get some sleep. Lots of sleep. Creativity is the first thing to go when you are short on sleep, and the last thing to recover. Also, exercise.
If you really have to be firing on all cylinders creatively, do this:
A musician gets to be creative by flowing above the technique - by practising so much they forget the mechanics of playing, and just pick notes like ripe fruit off a tree.
A programmer gets to be creative by flowing above the technique - by practising so much they forget the mechanics of playing, and just pick patterns and structures like ripe fruit off a tree. Unlike a live musician, programmers can go back and edit.
Likewise a story teller - you want to be practised in telling stories, aware of the main forms (such as by studying literature or folk tales), and able to steer the flow of the story while creating texture and rhythm.
Quite why a programmer is being asked to come up with stories is beyond me. Next they'll be asking you to tap-dance.
Meditation, if that doesn't work a good sci-fi book, if that doesn't work sitting in a park watching people and writing the story of their lives, if that doesn't work cheat and copy something from the web, and if that doesn't work try stay up with no sleep for 3 days - the stories will scare you, but at least you're creating.