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Hey guys! I know. The bead, right?
I've been thinking a lot lately about the creative process and how people come to make
various works a reality.
We all have different ways of making things. Very rarely do two people share the exact
same creative process. Some people thrive on the spontaneous... they're able to sit
down at a blank page or slate and they just let their imagination run wild, and they come
up with the story as they go, completely impromptu, shooting from the hip. Other people like myself,
have to take a more planned approach: we design outlines and a synopsis - make a road map
of the whole story before we ever sit down to write a single page.
Neither of those two ways is wrong, per say - they're both methods capable of producing
a great story, although some have a much easier time with one way than the other.
And that's not to say that all methods are mutually exclusive. I mean, over time, I'VE
changed and altered my own creative process, and I'm sure you have, as well.
I mean, if you're a musician, you probably write songs differently today than you did
five years ago. Maybe you started out with a limited understanding of your craft, your
instrument, or vocal range, or your vocabulary, and you just wrote songs to convey various
emotions that you might be feeling or experiences that you could have been going through.
But now you've matured as an artist. Maybe you understand the more technical side of
things, like proper chord progression so you can create a specific tonality with your instrument
that you couldn't before. Maybe you've studied more about things like Iambic Pentameter and
you use that to space your words and lyrics out to make them more appealing or catchy
to your audience .
I know when it comes to me as a filmmaker, my creative process has changed dramatically
over the years. I don't write in the same way I did as a teenager. I don't produce videos
the same way, either. I've learned to streamline things and make things easier, and improve
the quality of the overall product.
When it comes to public speaking, I'm miles ahead of where I used to be. I used to write
down speeches word for word, and left absolutely no room for impromptu or extemporaneous speaking
whatsoever. Because of that I had a very hard and difficult time connecting with my audience.
Now it's different. I'm more versed on various topics and so I'm able to speak off-the-cuff.
I'm able to establish a connection with the audience that I wasn't able to in years gone
by, They listen closer now, and they get more out of it because of it.
there are plenty of strategies and methods people use to make the creative process simpler,
and by all means, Different Strokes for Different Folks,
but while there are certainly some ways that work better for someone, I'm becoming more
and more convinced that there are DEFINITELY certain ways that work for no one.
I have a good friend of mine who finds himself constantly in a creative rut. He can't come
up with any original ideas, and even when he has something he'd like to make, he can't
muster up enough effort to actually get started on whatever project it might happen to be.
I'm reminded a few years ago he made a resolution and a goal to make a 3D render and post it
on social media for people to see every day for the next year. For the first week, he
got through it, but pretty soon he dropped the idea all together. He got distracted by
other things, or just bored with the task at hand.
I've been guilty of this, too. I mean, how many times do you guys know of me making videos
on this channel talking about how I'm going to start posting videos more often... and
I do for a while, but then I don't.
Admittedly having a job and responsibilities gets in the way a lot, but the truth is for
a lot of us, even if we had all the time and the money in the world, we STILL would have
trouble getting started.
And a BIG REASON this is the case is because, whether some of us want to admit it or not,
we'd much rather read a book than write one. We'd much rather watch a movie than make one.
We'd much rather listen to music than try to learn an instrument.
In fact, some of the most successful pieces of software in our day and age are those things
than make us believe we've become meaningful content creators with minimal effort.
Think about it - Why learn to take photos when Instagram convinces you that you're already
a professional photographer? Why learn to sing properly when AutoTune has
convinced you that you're a professional musician? Why learn to make a a truly classic comedy
film when Vine convinces you you're already relevant?
Our society has tried to make talent ubiquitous and as a result we've become arguably the
most vapid, talent-less, non-contributing generation, ever.
We no longer judge success by actual achievement. We define success nowadays by pointless barometers
like number of followers or how many people hit the 'like' button on that thing you just
posted.
Could it be that in our effort to all feel like people are watching us and we are important
and we are all successful, we've removed one of the main driving forces of actually putting
forth a real effort to create things worth creating?
OR maybe it's simpler than that. maybe it all comes down to a simple question.
AM I A PRODUCER OR A CONSUMER?
Am I content to sit back and experience things other people create for me, or do I get true
fulfillment out of actually creating things myself?
Is the best life on the receiving end of creativity, or the giving end?
And how do I even know the answer to that question if I do nothing but consume all day?
Could it be that the reason we never get around to writing that book, or learning that instrument,
or shooting that movie, or creating that thing is because our enjoyment isn't in the hard
work of putting things together, but the easy path of letting someone put it together for
us?
And make no mistake: to create, to TRULY create, is hard. It is not easy. It cannot be done
in a weekend, or a snow day, or even an entire summer. To create is work. To push yourself
to make. To produce.
One of my favorite passages on artists comes from Mark Z. Danielewski's The House of Leaves.
"There are seven incarnations (and six correlates) necessary to becoming an Artist: 1. Explorer
(Courage) 2. Surveyor (Vision) 3. Miner (Strength) 4. Refiner (Patience) 5. Designer (Intelligence)
6. Maker (Experience) 7. Artist. First, you must leave the safety of your home and go
into the dangers of the world, whether to an actual territory or some unexamined aspect
of the psyche. This is what is meant by 'Explorer.' Next, you must have the vision to recognize
your destination once you arrive there. Note that a destination may sometimes also be the
journey. This is what is meant by 'Surveyor.' Third, you must be strong enough to dig up
the facts, follow veins of history, unearth telling details. This is what is meant by
'Miner.' Fourth, you must have the patience to winnow and process your material into something
rare. This may take months or even years. And this is what is meant by 'Refiner.' Fifth,
you must use your intellect to conceive of your material as something meaning more than
its origins. This is what is meant by 'Designer.' Six, you must fashion a work independent of
everything that has gone before it including yourself. This is accomplished though experience
and is what is meant by 'Maker.' At this stage, the work is acceptable. You will be fortunate
to have progressed so far. It is unlikely, however, that you will go any farther. Most
do not. But let us assume you are exceptional. Let us assume you are rare. What then does
it mean to reach the final incarnation? Only this: at every stage, from 1 thru 6, you will
risk more, see more, gather more, process more, fashion more, consider more, love more,
suffer more, imagine more and in the end know why less means more and leave what doesn't
and keep what implies and create what matters. This is what is meant by 'Artist."
And what if, friends, he's right? What if the only way to create something that is truly
worth while is to strip away all of the television, movies, video games, Twitters, Facebooks,
Instagrams of the world? All of those things that distract us and pull us away, and instead
be left alone with the one thing that we're all seemingly too afraid to face: ourselves.
See ya.