Sometimes getting to ideas can be a challenge. Similar to writer's block, the inability to creatively develop or even find the right mindset to be creative is halting when trying to write something or paint or really anything. This is why I think thought experiments are important, because they can pull one out of that creative rut.
Thought experiments, as defined by the New Oxford Dictionary, are "experiments carried out only in the imagination". Think of Schrödinger's cat and how one is asked to work through the experiment in their head in order to exemplify the uncertainty principle. The term experiment is exceedingly important to understand in the scientific sense before the creative, simply because that is what is intended. The point of a thought experiment is to work through a problem, an experiment, that may or may not be possible to physically act out so that a conclusion can be reached simply through logic. If you've ever imagined two of your favorite superheroes duking it out and held true to their powers and abilities to see which would come out on top, you've gone through a thought experiment.
So, why do I think they're so important? As I stated above, they can surely help with the flow of ideas and creativity, but their true power lies in the use of logic. Say you are writing a story and you aren't sure where to go with a scene or the plot in general. As long as you have fleshed out characters, meaning characters that are realistic and can be expected to react in a certain way just like real people, then you simply put the pieces in place and think the experiment through. What characters react where? How? And how does this advance your story? It is this objective and scientific approach that can help writers with content while taking some of the creative strain off of them, since they're just recording the results of a logical course of action. This method can as well make writing more realistic (in the sense of whatever world is being written in) since everything follows a logical course of action. It can also lead to content that even the creator wouldn't have come up with from just brainstorming.
I am focusing on creative writers in this topic because those are the kind of writers who tend not to utilize this method. Instead of having to come up with everything out of thin air like many are expected to do or expect to do themselves, thought experiments add a reason to the rhyme and can become a reliable source of content. I as well focus on creative writers here because there tends to be a shying away from structure in order to be creative, which is counterproductive to say the least. Our minds work in logic, it's what we do naturally, and finding a method that utilizes said logic in a creative and constructive manner is incredibly helpful.
What I suggest doing is recording yourself or writing out a flow-chart of sorts (or both, both is better). This way, you work through the problem and have a representation of it other than just your thoughts. Give it a go, you'll like the results.
Keep thinking, my friends.
