Tag Archives: creativity

May 24, 2011 · 1:22 pm

Necessary Excess

Stephen King recommended that after writing the first draft of your story, you should then cut out at least 10% during the initial editing process. This is to deal with the word bloat issues that most writers have. Usually, folks have a tendency to write way more than is necessary; too much dialog, too much description, just too many words.

Luckily for me, I don’t have this problem. No matter what my problems are as a writer, you’ll never hear someone say my stories are too long. Instead, everything I write reads like its been stricken with anemia. If I describe a character to you, you’ll know his or her gender and that’s about it. Want to know if he’s tall or ugly or robust or misshapen and horrible? Too bad! Use your imagination and fill in the blanks yourself, I’m busy moving onto the next thing.

Interested in the backstory behind that shadowy mysterious figure? Suck it. Backstory is for pansies. We’ve got frontstory to deal with and I don’t have time for explaining the whys and hows of things. The story needs to get told and it needs to get told in under 3,000 words. Anything else and I’m asleep.

Unfortunately, not everyone shares my beliefs with regard to how a story should be told (as quickly as humanly possible). I need to learn how to embellish and elaborate on my tales of horror and do so without just vomiting up superlative, excessive, redundant and purple prose.

This is long enough.

Dylan Charles

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April 26, 2011 · 5:17 pm

Feeding the Flame

I’ll go through long periods of time where my creativity wans completely, leaving me unable to scratch together even a basic plot. When that happens, it’s usually necessary for me to recharge. The best way to do that is to surround myself with what I write. Since I mainly write horror, that means I bury myself in horror movies, books and TV shows in the hopes that the sheer amount of unadulterated blood and gore will put me in the mood to write.

This has a couple of unintended side effects. For example, I begin to look at everything like it’s a potential horror story. I’ll start picking through my nightmares in the hopes that there’s a usable story idea (No, there isn’t. Talking pony dreams scare only me. Apparently.). I’ll try and turn people I see on the street into horrifying characters (Like the Flower Man).  It gets to the point where I can’t see anything without that filter; a filter of bad dreams and blood and despair. This makes me a joy to be around.

At the end of all of that, I usually find that I can’t force a good idea to save my life. Meanwhile, while watching some random science show, I fall onto an idea. I have no idea if it’s any good or not, but the damn thing was almost fully formed and ready to be written. It’s maddening when that happens. It reinforces the idea that I have little control over the ideas and that I need to grab them the moment I get them. Otherwise, I might miss a golden opportunity.

Dylan Charles

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July 20, 2010 · 1:14 pm

Turning

I work over at a machine shop that allows people to use the machines for the price of a monthly membership. I’ve worked there off and on since last October, but I’ve not had much interest in actually using the shop, though employees can use it for free.

While I consider myself a creative person, I don’t need the shop to create anything I’m interested in. While there are a lot of truly awesome things going on there, my immediate response is not, “Ooo, I want to do that too” but “Ooo, that’s awesome” and then going back to doing whatever it is I’m doing.

The things I make require only a limited set of tools: something to write, something to record. Bam, done.

While I have occasional notions, actual constructs instead of just words, the design process doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t think well spatially. If I’m reading the description of a room or spaceship or building in a book, I end up skipping it. If someone gives me directions, I end up spacing out. For whatever reason, my brain does not lock onto that kind of thing well.

And the idea of measuring and calculating and plotting is even less appealing. Having the finished product would be nice, but it’s not enough of a draw to get me through the whole process. I’m not someone who likes details, precision or extensive planning while being creative. I just want to go and worry about the little details later. So metal working is right out.

But…the wood shop on the other hand. That’s a part of the shop that’s always appealed to me. It’s more flexible, less precise and looks, well, more fun.

So yesterday I decided to take a class on how to use the wood lathe. The thing I ended up liking the most about it was how little it depended on being exact. It was about feeling out the wood, seeing what was right, seeing what FELT right. Testing the angle of the tool and seeing what was working. It was very visceral. While the metal shop requires a lot of hands-off work (set the distance, place the metal, press the button and make sure nothing goes wrong during the process), most of the tools in the woodshop demands that you stay in contact. There’s less distance.

While I doubt I’ll ever become a woodworker, I definitely plan to make use of the lathe. I like doing something that requires working in the world, a welcome change from sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time.

Dylan Charles

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June 30, 2010 · 2:18 pm

Creative Momentum

One thing that I’ve noticed, especially recently, is a need to keep writing, no matter what. If I’m having a bad day or if I just don’t feel like writing; that’s irrelevant. I can’t just stop because I don’t feel like doing it or if I don’t really feel “the spark”. I have got to keep going, keep putting one word in front of the other and not let myself get bogged down in little, inconsequential things like, “Oh, I’ve written about this topic a dozen times already” or “This really sucks”.

That doesn’t mean the shit I’m shoveling needs to go up on the blog necessarily. It can stay hidden in some dark trunk somewhere, never allowed to see the light of day.

But it does need to be written. Every time I write something, it’s putting my brain to work, thinking in the particular way that’s necessary for the writing process. And the more I do it, the easier it is.

Meanwhile, if I stumble and let a day go by for any reason (writer’s block, bad day, the cat exploded, whatever), then it becomes that much easier for me to just stay away from the computer when I just don’t feel up to it. And that’s truly inexcusable, especially for someone who wants to make this their living.

I haven’t always had the discipline to make writing my job and I still don’t really. But I’m getting more and more to the point where I think I could actually pull this off.

Now I just need to get published. And that’s the easy part.

You know, comparatively speaking.

Dylan Charles

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June 28, 2010 · 4:49 pm

Portrait of a Writer’s Block

It is not without trepidition that I start this post. Not because I’m concerned that I’ll reveal some deep dark secret, one that will shock the world and cause my friends to abandon me in droves. Nor am I concerned that I’ll dissolve in a misty, murky jumble of emotionally driven platitudes and cliches, vomiting out angst onto the screen for everyone to see.

Both would actually be preferable to the reality: which is that I am devoid of idea, absent of thought and bereft of creative jots.

At the most, my brain holds an iota (but no more) of concept, lurking somewhere in the back; a thing, frail Phantom, waiting in the wings to deliver The Idea. I can hear him, just a murmur, a whisper of notion.

But so far, he’s not saying anything that I can hear.

So I keep writing, in the hopes that he’ll speak up before I hit the end. But it’s becoming more and more unlikely that he’ll make an appearance. Deus ex machinas are so rare in real life. No shadowy figures standing in doorways who step into the light to reveal it’s the hero that everyone thought was dead. No cavalry, who conveniently remained hidden behind a hill until they were most needed, and then burst onto the scene to the joy of the buxom woman and the desperate gunslinger, their backs to canyon wall while fearsome injuns prepare to pepper them with arrows.

I’m getting closer to the end now and still nothing. I fear my Phantom idea has exited, in hopes of finding greener passages in which to burgeon. Which leaves me to dig deeper, trying to find the words to end this entry, releasing both you AND me from this shapeless purgatory.

In cases such as these, it’s always best to just go with the cliche. That’s why they exist after all, to provide refuge for those who cannot find the words to describe something.

So let’s cap this off with two little words and you can be on your way. Leaving me here, still looking, still hoping, that I’ll come up with something to write about.

THE END

Dylan Charles

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June 23, 2010 · 12:59 pm

Secure in my Insecurity

I am no different from any other writer or creative type person in that I’m on the insecure side. Strangely, not so much about my writing. I think I’m fairly levelheaded with regard to how I view my stories and blog entries. I think I know what level they’re on, where I need to improve and where I succeed.

When I get criticism, usually through the comments section, I think I take it well, if it’s legitimate criticism. I don’t get bummed out for several days based on rejections or a negative comment. I think that’s one aspect of my life where my ego is very sturdy and not in a way that’s grotesque. I don’t bumble around all day thinking my awesomeness on the page is undisputed, for example. For the most part, I think my writer’s ego is fairly grounded.

I think a big part of artist insecurity comes from the fact that pretty much everyone who is creative and who puts their art out there for the world to see, becomes intrinsically tied to that work. That art, whether it’s writing or painting or sculpting, is an extension of that person and thus, an extension of how they’re viewed by the world and, oftentimes, the only way that they’re viewed by the world.

Any judgement of that work, good or bad, becomes a judgement of that person, right or wrong. And oftentimes it seems that, if a creative person asks, “Do you like (painting/poem/story)?” they’re asking “Do you like ME?”

It’s something that I’m glad I’ve avoided, for the most part. That I can still put some distance between what I make and who I am, partly because I still have trouble considering myself a writer at all. I’m a guy who writes, in my head, not a REAL writer.

Granted, this doesn’t address every other area of my life where I’m insecure, but uh…we’ll just move on now.

Dylan Charles

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June 21, 2010 · 11:08 am

Switching Gears

Writing has always been my main way of expressing myself. If I’m feeling creative, I go and burn out that feeling by sitting at the computer and getting to writing.

But sometimes that’s not the best way to scratch the itch. I’ll stare at the screen and nothing happens. I just end up hitting a couple of keys and then hitting backspace. And then growling and thumping off.

Then it’s time for me to dig through my limited supply of back-up creative activities: things that are usually not as satisfying, but their novelty is usually enough to make up for it.

It’s all about letting that part of my brain stretch and do something new for a change. It can be tedious to do the same thing over and over again, even if it’s something I normally enjoy.

Lately, I’ve been futzing with Inkscape and its pen tool. And it’s not as stressful as writing. Not that writing is really stressful, but…I feel more pressure to do well with anything I write. Anything that’s not up to standards was a waste of time and I never should have attempted it. If it turns out well, then it meets expectations. While this is starting to sound arrogant, it’s still true.

With drawing, I never feel that pressure. I’ve never claimed to be good at drawing, I don’t promise you quality, so I don’t care if it looks like complete crap. If something happens to be the tiniest bit good, I can be inordinately pleased with myself.

This is my way of saying that there’s going to be truly atrocious little doodles accompanying my blog posts in the future. For example, here’s one of my cats:

Dylan Charles

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