Being creative can sometimes take time. Agonising over words on a page, reaching for the next step on your journey to a finished work is probably something that everyone can relate to. But there are times where you can't nuture the creative spirit - you need to have something right away, no matter what, because there's a deadline approaching.

And here at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, there's no faster 'creative' people than the improvisers.

Thanks to the success of the older comedy show "Who's Line is it Anyway?" the principles of improv comedy are well known to the public. You have a troop of people, who'll be handed a rather scatter shot idea of a game (...Such as the first letter of each sentence must be the next letter of the alphabet... That's one of my favourites... unsurprising, really); be handed ideas for styles of singing from the audience, or asked to re-say a line of dialog, but make it mean the opposite and continue on.

It's true that improv comedy can't be rehearsed in the strictest sense, but the skills of a good improviser can be practiced. After joining the Improverts group last year for some of their rehearsals (and seeing them last night) I thought that two or three of their 'rules of thumb' could be helpful to everyone. While these are written from the point of view of improv, think about how you sit and create something. When you hit that speed bump, these could well help you as much as they help me (or Mike McShane).

Yes And...

Always drive the action forward. The word no, or denyng a train of thought, usually closes a scene. If something shows up and you think you'll stumble, or you're not sure where to go, then say "yes, and..." build from there.

Don't Cancel a Suggestion, Take Everything On Board.

Your improv partner might come out with the phrase 'my god, your leg is falling off.' You might like your leg, you might have something lined up, and be tempted to just say, "it's okay, I'll put it back on" but this is frowned on. Cancelling out makes whatever your partner worked up to a waste of time, and stops the scene flowing through a (rather twisted) logic. Accept whatever is handed to you - view these as opportunities, not threats.

Make a Strong Choice Early.

If you're going to go for a one-legged dog, do it as soon as possible so people know what you are doing it. Don't delay bringing in colourful and powerful elements to your story.

Trust Your Imagination.

Stopping to think about your lines, or your next action is going to kill the feeling of spontaneity in any scene. Trust your brain to come up with good ideas and it will invariably do the right thing without you having to figure out if its right or wrong.

Double Word Association

Stuck for ideas? Latch on to the first word you think of in a scene (eg a Courtroom), and do a word association on that. From courtroom you might get 'judge.' now do the same again, when I hear judge I suddenly thought of a judge at the Winter Olympics. Now spin this back into the scene... "Your honour it is my considered opinion that the defendant was ice skating at 3am that fateful night." It fits the scene, but appears out of nowhere.

Next time you get stuck with your own work, have a look at these rules and turn to the world of improv to help you.