In a scene from the 1984 Ghostbusters movie, the three Ghostbusters are trying to capture a ghost flying around a hotel ballroom. Their proton packs emit powerful energy streams that can catch the ghost and pull it down to a small box where it will stay trapped.

However, Egon Spengler, played by Harold Ramis, warns them not to cross the streams or it will have dire consequences. Ironically, crossing these streams of energy is the very thing that allows them to defeat the villains, Gozer and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, later in the movie.

Many writers avoid crossing the streams of their curiosity. They keep their reservoirs of knowledge separate from one another. History, religion, arts, psychology, politics, technology… they keep them in their nice little boxes.

The best creative thinking comes from the cross-pollination of interesting ideas. The only way to create new ideas is to cross your streams of knowledge and experience.

This is why you must read in different genres and categories. You must talk to people who are different than you. You must take ideas from one realm of knowledge and blend them with ideas from other realms.

Michael Crichton, the author of Jurassic Park and many other famous novels, said, “If you’re a writer, the assimilation of important experiences almost obliges you to write about them. Writing is how you make the experience your own, how you explore what it means to you, how you come to possess it, and ultimately release it.”

The truth is that you can’t produce new ideas from the same base of knowledge and experience. Don’t be afraid to cross the streams if you want to reach higher levels of creativity.

Today’s Challenge: What are two areas of knowledge you can cross-pollinate in your writing today?