Single Entity Seeks Creative Consultation

October 31, 2006 9:10 PM

I'm looking for suggestions which will help me develop a more disciplined attitude toward my creative endeavors.

Most people, or at least the ones I've come across, believe if a person posses any sort of creative tendencies whatsoever these talents inherently contain the will and ability to make these impulses manifest into a product. It's simple right? If you possess the raw materials for creative expression you must also possess the means to consistently manufacture effective and meaningful expression. The magnificent obsession of artistic endeavor is a self sustaining construct in a state of constant execution.

In my experience, this is so not the case.

I'm wondering how other Mefites have structured their creative activities for greater productivity. What is the methodology by which you have tooled your creative time for maximum efficiency? What system have you implemented to reduce creative down time? Do you have any proactive solutions for limiting the impact of organic existence on your processes?

The particular medium in which you toil is unimportant. I'm much more interested in stopgap measures.

posted by SinisterPurpose to media & arts (12 answers total)

No matter what I say here, you will not understand how powerful a book The Clockwork Muse is until you actually read it for yourself.

Based on interviews and surveys of hundreds of the most creatively prolific people in the world, documenting everything from preparing yourself mentally to what watt lightbulbs to buy to what color pens to use.
posted by ChasFile at 9:21 PM on October 31, 2006

1) Never allow a lack of tools be an excuse not to engage in creative work. If you're a photographer, make sure you always have a camera with you. If you write or draw, make sure pen and paper are always at hand.

2) Break a project up into component pieces, as small as is practical.
posted by juv3nal at 9:28 PM on October 31, 2006

Having a dedicated workspace is hugely helpful to me--it used to simply be a corner of a room because having an entire room to myself was not a practical possibility, but recently I bought a small trailer (the canned-ham style travel trailer), parked it in the back of my house, hooked up an extension cord, and furnished it with all the tools I need for my work.

There's a real psychological shift when I step inside: I am there to get things done. As an added bonus, I don't have to move things or put them away when I stop working.
posted by padraigin at 9:41 PM on October 31, 2006

"You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work. Now (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you - no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must," then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your while life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse."

- Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet
posted by JulianDay at 10:26 PM on October 31, 2006 [1 favorite]

Decide that you have to create on a daily basis. Refuse to do something you must do on a daily basis until you have created. For example, you won't sleep until you write a thousand words. Or you won't have that first cup of coffee until you've edited a photograph. Or you won't have dinner until you've put paint on canvas.
posted by solid-one-love at 11:16 PM on October 31, 2006

I treat it as a part time job with specific hours. I.e. from 8 to 11 on Sunday morning I write or something like that. This way there's specific times that I've set aside for doing it and I'm not waiting for that goddamn muse. The pressure is off to be "creative" whatever that means and I'm down with the nitty gritty, in the trenches, mechanics of writing.

Later on I look back and see if it's anything good.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:04 AM on November 1, 2006

What solid-one-love said. When I'm working on a novel, I must write 1000 words a day. I can procrastinate all I want, but I'm not going to bed until I have 1000 words on the page. This has occasionally put me to bed at 5 am with a 7am wake-up call, but it works. The first week is hell, the second week is a struggle, then weeks three and four zoom by in a fit of pure creativity. Every novel I've written, I've scheduled 3 months to finish- with this method, every one, I've finished in 5 weeks or fewer.
posted by headspace at 4:51 AM on November 1, 2006

Don't let the best be the enemy of good enough. This may not quite apply to all creative pursuits (like, say, writing), but with a lot of craft projects, I know that I have a tendency to get hung up trying to get everything lined up just so before I even start; what that can mean is that if I have trouble locating a key part or tool, I simply never get started. Better to do without and make something, learn from that process, and keep trying to locate that key part, or discover that it wasn't really necessary after all.

Another great line I've heard is "every artist has 1000 bad drawings in him."
posted by adamrice at 7:04 AM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

I've talked to a ton of writers about their work habits. They differ on just about everything -- work at home, work in public, write by hand, type, have music on, have silence. The one thing I've found nearly universal agreement on, that everyone with any body of work of appreciable size agrees: write every day. Set a time or word count quota. Don't worry about whether you think it sucks on a given day -- you can revise it later, or maybe you'll throw it out.

I don't know what "most people" you've encountered, but the writers I know generally find it a continuing challenge to sit down to write day after day.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:02 AM on November 1, 2006

I find that the enemy of creativity is the blank page. If you stare at it long enough it becomes this huge looming object. My way of dealing with it is to try to fill it as soon as possible. It doesn't really matter what you put down as long as you put something down. I've had pieces that I've worked on (I'm a composer) for 6 months before writing any material that's made it to the final finished product, but that's what you need to do sometimes. Speaking of which...
posted by ob at 9:19 AM on November 1, 2006

Shitty first drafts is Anne Lamott's advice to writers. Write, rewrite, edit. The whole drill. I love that woman.

The point is to just get started. I write for a living and it's quite useful advice. I also dabble in a number of other creative endeavors, and the getting started part is always the biggest hurdle. That is the discipline involved.

Working leads to inspiration much more often then inspiration leads to work. One thing is for sure, the more willing you are to go where you're taken, without censoring yourself, or judging the process one way or the other, the more likely you are to wind up with something wiz-bang-wow. And isn't that the point anyway?

Good luck.
posted by wordswinker at 1:36 PM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

I haven't yet made it through this book, but so far Artist's Way has been truly beneficial. You do exercises like keeping a journal and not reading what you write. It does talk a bit a "higher power" and can be 12-steppy in places, but if that doesn't deter you it's a great book.
posted by frecklefaerie at 10:16 AM on November 2, 2006