Creativity cannot be defined

“Sweet Child O’ Mine,” the iconic song from Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 album Appetite for Destruction, has a fascinating creative story.

The opening guitar riff—possibly one of rock and roll’s most famous guitar rights—was not planned or even written. The band’s guitarist, Slash, used that opening riff to tune and warm up. One day, the lead singer, Axl Rose, heard it and suggested they use it to open the song they were writing, which eventually became “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

The song is 5:02 long, and the last minute and a half consists of lyrics centered on the phrase, “Where do we go now?”

Those lines, also iconic, were born from Axl Rose’s uncertainty about how to end the song. As Slash’s guitar solo finished, Axl began singing, “Where do we go now?” meaning, “How do we end this song?” or “What the hell do we do now?”

It turned out that he had inadvertently found the lyrics to end the song in the very question he asked.

A guitar riff born from a bit of music originally designed to tune and warm up a guitar.

Lyrics born from the inability to find lyrics to end a song.

The result:

In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine placed “Sweet Child O’ Mine” #88 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. For anyone growing up in the 1980s, it was an anthem of our youth.

The lesson here:

Creativity cannot be defined. It cannot be understood.

When someone asks me how to write a novel, craft a story for the stage, compose a speech, and write a joke, I offer advice, describe my process, warn them about potential obstacles and pitfalls, and sometimes teach endless amounts of strategy and technique, but I almost always want to say:

“Just start. Do the job. If you work hard, remain open to possibility, listen to what your mind is trying to tell you, and stay the hell out of the way, you’ll often find your way to the end.”

It’s a frustrating answer for someone who wants to know how to make something that does not yet exist, but it’s probably the most accurate answer, too.