chevron_left Random

How do you force yourself to create stuff?

  • forum 5 replies
  • last reply by xXBigDawgXx Oct. 19, 2019
  • link
    Certified Good Poster™
    Oct. 15, 2019, 8:33 a.m.
    link

    I'm in a total creative lull, but I'm on the cusp of gaining inspiration that makes me want to take action. A recent retreat into the woods kind of helped clear my mind, which was nice. It's still kind of a 50/50 on whether I get depressed or inspired when I see, hear, experience something that excites or moves me. I feel like I'm never prepared to create because I need to take in more media, but I know that's a fallacy - my perfectionism always gets in the way of making. I can't stand doing NaNoWriMos or Inktobers, but I dunno, I may come around on stuff like that.

    What inspires you? I've been reading Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin and listening to Julian Lage and Chon, I guess.

  • link
    Swamp Thot Leader
    Oct. 15, 2019, 10:06 a.m.
    link

    My brain convinces me that creativity is a fleeting impulse worth ignoring. More often than not, my own impulse to actually create things is marred by my situational inability to do so, so I let it slide. This is why theater was a great outlet for me- I had a schedule that I could follow, carved out time to work with people more passionate than myself. I've never really seen any solo project to fruition.

    This is not advice, sorry.

  • link
    Swampette
    Oct. 15, 2019, 10:17 a.m.
    link

    As a DM of more than a decade, I can tell you first-hand that writer's block and creative slumps are not foreign to me.

    When I get into a thicket like this, generally I have found its because I am concerned with other things that are taking away my energy to create. Setting aside time to meditate, whatever that may mean for you personally, clear your mind, relax your soul, what have you, is the best advice I can give.

    It's important to "unplug" from real life for a while, especially when you are trying to flex the creative part of your mind.

  • link
    Swamp Thot Leader
    Oct. 15, 2019, 10:40 a.m.
    link

    Most of my "creative" energies actually go into baking, or open source dev work. The former gives me "quick" gratification in that it usually turns out good and if not then I learn something from it. The latter takes more effort because it's definitely a "leave bad screen at work to come home and do the same stuff on good screen". I was most energized and motivated to do that work when I had a strong collaborator on it. Once that collaborator left, the motivation to continue contributing went away too :/

    Also this is a very good book, and I would also strongly recommend "The Word For World Is Forest" by her (it's quite short). Lathe of Heaven is also good, but it's not of the same canon.

  • link
    Certified Good Poster™
    Oct. 15, 2019, 11 a.m.
    link

    Good reactions, y'all, thanks. A palpable if predictable loneliness in Portland has been bumming the missus and I out, so the need to be near other similarly motivated people sticks out as something I/we currently lack. And, as noted, work extremely does not count as this lol.

    Definitely eager to do more unplugging. When I did my one man camping trip, I brought the sketchpad, but ended up realizing that it was more important for me to do absolutely nothing that weekend. It went very well.

  • link
    Members 27 posts
    Oct. 19, 2019, 6:22 p.m.
    link

    Start building a world in your mind worth spending time in. Spend time in it. Spend time in it when on the toilet at work, on the bus, in the shower, whenever you can. Start manifesting small pieces of it in your medium: an object, then a place, then a person, then a scene. Then feel disappointed when it doesn't perfectly mirror the vision in your mind.

    Rinse and repeat until you kinda like what you are producing, or at least feel driven enough to make the world in your mind as tangible as possible to accept imperfection.