Creativity

We can define creativity as innovation, particularly in artistic endeavours. Much praised in principle, much derided in fact, creativity serves as a refuge for the outsider with imagination. Some of the ambivalent attitude to creativity may stem from seeing the creative process as parallelling or suggesting the ingesting of drugs.

The word "creativity" bears an implication of constructing a novelty without constituent components ex nihilo, as opposed to (say) alternative theories of artistic inspiration[?] which posit the generation of visions from divine sources such as the Muses.

Compare invention.