21 Dragons » Creativity

Unleashing Your Creative Monster: First, Care

Alvin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:26 +0000

First, care. Care intensely. Care about doing a good job. Care about not doing a bad job. Care about going the extra mile. Care even when nobody else seems to care. Care even when nobody else will notice. Care even when you don’t feel like caring. Care because you want to. Care because you need to. Care because you can’t not care. Care about making a dent in the universe. Care about making something new and exciting. Care about making something fun. Care about making something that scares you. Care about saying something. Care about making a difference. Care about seeing something no one else can see unless you show them. Care about making someone else care.

How to make something you can be proud of? Just care.

Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Be Proud

Alvin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:42:28 +0000

Unless you’re extremely lucky, talented or rich, along the path of doing creative work you’ll find yourself doing stuff you won’t be proud of, just for the money. These are works you won’t be dying to show the world, they’re simply projects you do to pay the bills.

Nothing wrong with that. We’ve all been there, done that.

But.

You still need to do work you can be proud of, even if it doesn’t pay, even if it nobody else sees it. You need to do them because if you don’t, your creative monster will die.

Before I started 21 Dragons, I ran a blog called Life Coaches Blog. These two blogs couldn’t be more different. Life Coaches Blog was my attempt at running a pro-blog (professional blog), and the idea was the more traffic I could attract, the more money I could hopefully make off clicks on ads. That led me to focus not on writing the best that I could, but on writing the most attention grabbing posts that I could. A lot of cheesy writing exists in that blog because of that, cheese I remain embarrassed about to this day.

When I got tired of that, I started 21 Dragons. I don’t care much about getting traffic at 21 Dragons, or making money off ads (there aren’t any). Instead, I do my best to craft the best posts I can each time I write. They may not all be gems, but I try to make something I can be proud of each time. It encourages me to keep upping my game when I try to make something good. A difference in perspective, but it makes all the difference.

There is nothing that kills your creative monster more than not giving a fuck about the art you create. Nothing. And you go down that road by not having pride in your work. If you can’t make stuff you can be proud of at work, do it at home. Do it somewhere, because your creative monster needs somewhere to unleash itself. And it’ll thank you for it.

Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Be Afraid

Alvin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:00:05 +0000

Whenever I thought of writing this post, this scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back always came to mind:

You think you won’t be afraid on your way to unleashing your creative monster (is that title getting old or what)? Oh you will be, you will be.

There’s a perception going around that when a creative person achieves Epic Genius rank in the dark arts of creativity, she will no longer be afraid of new projects, and all creative tasks will cower before her in fear and the lowest submission, ready to roll over and give up their gifts if she only but wishes.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that fear is a good thing. Not the gut-wrenching fear that tells you (wisely) not to step into a dark alley at night, but fear of doing things that are good for you. Things that are new. Things that will help you grow. Things that will stretch you. The fear of hitting up against the edges of your comfort zone and stepping beyond them.

In his essential book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield calls this fear the Resistance:

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

Between you and your best creative work stands the Resistance. And how will you know the Resistance? By your fear.

Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

You know those fears you feel when you’re challenged with a new creative work? Those fears that tell you that you’re not good enough, that you’re just a hack, that you couldn’t possibly do a good job, that you’ll fail, that you don’t deserve any success. Those fears are never going away. No matter how much better you become, you’ll never stop feeling afraid. No matter how much more experience you get, you’ll never stop feeling afraid. No matter how many accolades and awards and best-selling hits you accumulate, you’ll never stop feeling afraid. Not if you’re doing a good job and constantly challenging yourself to do better.

I’ve been doing this for nearly 15 years and I still get afraid every time I have to do something new. Which is what all creative work is really, the new and the different.

And you know what that means as well? It means you can no longer use your fear as an excuse not to do creative work anymore. There is no fearless black belt level. There is only now.

The only consolation I can give you is that while the fear never goes away, the more you work through it the easier it becomes to handle. Lifting successively heavy weights – like constantly pushing the limits of your comfort zone – never becomes easier, but it doesn’t have to become harder. You know you’ve been through this way before, you know how the fear feels and you know you’ve made it in the past, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always surviving.

What’s one more time but another chance for you to make something that puts a goddamn dent in the universe?

P.S. I lied, by the way. There is one way for you to feel absolutely unafraid when tackling any creative project: keep doing the same thing you’ve always done, again and again. I don’t have to tell you that you’re absolutely fucked if this even sounds good to you. For the person who wants to unleash her creative monster, there simply is no choice but to do what scares her but will help her grow, to feel the fear but do it anyway.

Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Say One Thing Strong

Alvin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:00:33 +0000

My friend Donald was kind enough to leave a comment on my previous foul-mouthed post, clarifying that I’m really a much nicer person in real life.

I’d like to think so too.

So why did I swear like a sailor in writing Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Know Who’s Your Bitch?

I struggled with writing that post for the longest time. I wrote drafts and drafts of my thoughts on creativity, things I’d learned through more than 10 years of studying and working in the creative fields. The drafts hemmed and hawed, went this way and that, and turned out bloated and boring. None of them worked. Creativity is a paradoxical subject and I was trying to cover all the different points of view possible.

As a result, the drafts didn’t have one single strong point of view.

When I finally decided to heck with it, I was going to write with my foot down and dammit if I missed anything, that the draft that became Know Who’s Your Bitch came into being, easily and quickly.

You see, the secret is very simple. In real life, I can be mild-mannered, fair and non-judgmental. In a conversation, I have the time to listen, to try to understand and see all points of view. Unless I turn out extremely boring, chances are you won’t bolt (chances are too that you’ll be more interested in talking about yourself than hearing me go on about me).

But on the written word, there’s no guarantee that you’ll stay with me beyond my first sentence. One sentence too long, one paragraph too winding, one passage too flabby, and it’s off you go.

On the written word I have to grab you by the throat, slap you silly with my point of view and still leave you panting for more. I have to say what I bloody well mean or shut up, because otherwise I’m just wasting your time.

Sometimes when I do that, it turns out flippant and sarcastic. Sometimes it doesn’t. But that’s the other thing about the muse and the creative process: you can’t always decide in advance how you’re going to end up. You can only follow your inspiration for the ride and hope you end up somewhere good.

I was nervous when I finished writing Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Know Who’s Your Bitch. I even wondered if I should publish it, if I would end up pushing it too far with the swearing. But as an artist – that fear of pushing the boundaries comes often.

You’ll always have to take that leap into the unknown, sometimes you’ll fall and sometimes you’ll fly. You have no say in the matter. All you can do is make what you need to make, do the damn bestest you can of it, and decide you’re either going to grow by taking a chance or stagnant by doing what you’ve always been doing.

Unleashing Your Creative Monster: Know Who’s Your Bitch

Alvin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:30:37 +0000

Creativity is a motherfucking bitch.

There are no two ways about. Anyone who’s ever messed about the creative process, ever tried to define it, explain it, ever tried to teach it, ever tried to wrestle it to the ground and produce heartbreaking works of staggering genius on a constant basis, is sooner or later dashed upon the rocks of paradox.

For creativity is a, but also b, is sometimes x, but other times definitely not x, and even though you can certainly nurture it with steps and best practices, because of how much creativity likes to break the rules, sometimes doing the exact opposite of those steps and best practices yields the creative results.

Creativity is a motherfucking capricious bitch.

And yet, like any other fool who’s tried to make creativity his bitch and ended up going slightly deranged with the effort of it, I too am making the attempt to teach you, oh enraptured reader, how to unleash the creative monster in you. Unleash I say, a creative monster, so you too, can go out into the world and inflict your creative gifts upon it, not unlike spreading a sheen of sheer silk onto soft yearning skin.

You’ll also be happier, less prone to hair-tearing and ear-slicing, bring more beauty into the world, and be an irresistible magnet to the sex of your choice.

Who’s Your Bitch?

This, my dear reader, is your first lesson: know who’s your bitch. For creativity is not like a linear, repeatable formula; a job at the assembly line that joins part A with part B and always produces part C (for Creativity). Creativity asks you to take separate elements, mix them up in ways we’ve never seen before, and produce unique results – (hopefully) every time, on budget and under deadline (deadlines; you were planning to ship, right?).

And the unfortunate truth of the matter is that with such a chaotic work-flow, you simply can’t guarantee that you’ll succeed on each creative endeavor.

I’m sorry I have to hang up my motivational speaker hat so early on and start bursting bubbles. But remember what I said about creativity? That’s right.

Creativity is a motherfucking capricious bitch.

You can work your hardest, sweat your wettest, stay up all night in your insomniac-est, worrying about how much of a hack you are and how you’ve always managed to get by, but not this time, and how humiliated you’re going to be in front of all your peers, never being able to get a job in this town again and ending up starving, unloved and full of fleas – oh, sorry. You get what I mean. You can do your utmost best, but you’ll still make some turds along the way. Because of the utter capriciousness of the creative act, you’ll win some, you’ll lose some, never batting home runs all the way. The earlier you accept that, the easier it’ll go.

And that my friend, means you are creativity’s bitch. You can seduce her, persuade her, attract her, encourage her, but you cannot force her.

But.

And this is a very powerful word in the realm of creativity: But.

If you work hard, do your best and keep on learning; the better the chances of you doing great creative work. Creativity is not (always) a matter of sheer dumb luck or creative genius. Effort is not to be discredited. Do the work, and the chances that creativity will bestow upon you her favors increase.

You cannot guarantee that you will be astoundingly creative each and every time. But you can bet that the harder you work, the more likely creativity will smile on you and help you produce those heartbreaking works of staggering genius.

You may be creativity’s bitch, but you can make her love you. A lot. Ravish, even.

How exactly, you ask?

Stay tuned, earnest reader.

P.S. In the meantime, this helps.

The Muse & The Work

Alvin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:24:32 +0000

I write for a living, I take photographs as a hobby, I studied design in school and even worked as a 3D artist. And I think I’ve done some decent work in these areas, if I may say so myself.

At the same time, if anyone were to ask me about what makes a person creative, my truthful answer would make them think I’m nuts.

Creativity in 2 Parts

I believe that creativity lies in 2 parts: the muse and the work. The muse is the source of inspiration for all creative work, and the work is the getting-your-hands-dirty act of making things.

Making anything good requires both inspiration and work. Inspiration without work is daydreaming, work without inspiration is dreary. The tricky part is when people use the lack of either as an excuse not to do anything.

But Where Does Inspiration Come From?

I have no idea.

I work my ass off and suddenly a divine idea springs into my head from out of nowhere, just begging for me to help bring it to life. And when it’s done, all I can do is look at it and go “I did that?”

In her TED talk, Elizabeth Gilbert describes this as a ‘genius’, an age-old idea that creative genius doesn’t lie inside the person, but from an external, divine source. Sounds kinda kooky, but I think every creative person will tell you how much it rings true. In any great creative work, there are strange moments where you happen upon an idea that doesn’t feel so much thought up, but given to you from somewhere.

That’s all well and good, but practically speaking then, is there a way to get more inspiration?

More Work Gets You More Inspiration

Here’s my theory: more work begets more inspiration, which is the opposite of what most people believe about the creative process. Most people think that crazy creative people get regular bolts of inspiration from the divine and then do the work.

But what really happens is that some normal person tries very hard to do something well, and while sweating it a freakish jolt of inspiration comes to add an extra dash of specialness to the work.

Why was Mozart so Creative?

Here’s a second theory: the better you are at your work, the better the quality of inspiration that will flow through you.

This is where most people think the opposite too; that some people are touched by God more regularly than others and that’s why they’re more creative. But if you look at these people, you’ll notice that besides having great ideas, they also have the ability to execute those ideas really well.

I have a feeling that these invisible creativity muses don’t hand off their precious ideas to people whom they know don’t have the ability to handle it. There’s no way any self-respecting muse would give a beginner a Mozart-level sonata, he wouldn’t have any idea what to do with it and the idea would die a silent death.

Instead, the muse searches for the person who has a corresponding level of ability to the level of creative idea. (To make it interesting, muses seem to like finding people who have levels of ability slightly lower than the level of idea, just to stretch them and see them in torment for a while. Nobody said giving birth was easy.)

This translates into a really simple principle: if you want to have better ideas, get better at using the tools of your creative work, whether it’s a camera, a pencil or your own body.

One Man. One Hill. Six Cameras. One Discovery.

Alvin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:16:06 +0000

One of the perks of being a tech reviewer is getting the newest toys and trying them out for free. One of the non-perks is doing a ‘shootout’, getting a bunch of said toys together and trying them all out at the same time.

So there I was, trudging up Bukit Timah Hill at an unprecedentedly early hour on a weekend (yes, working weekends, woot), trying to get decent photos for publishing with six cameras. A couple of them were excellent; easy to use, fast and responsive, like extensions of my eyes. A couple were average. A couple were bricks; using them to take photos was like using a rock to write.

(At some point, I wanted to hurl said bricks down the hillside, just to see them go crunch against the rocks.)

About halfway up the hill and over a hundred pictures later, I discovered something interesting: I was actually taking better pictures with the cameras I enjoyed using. Big duh right – would you do better using a big granite slab to write or a pencil – but you know what? It brought home closer to me that using the tools you love not only help you love what you do so it makes you do more, it also helps you do it better.

Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod

Alvin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:14:39 +0000

See those cartoons to the right of this column (if you’re reading via an RSS reader, click to go to 21 Dragons)? They’re all drawn by Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes wise, Hugh’s work is always original. And if you haven’t already guessed, I’m a fan.

So I was really excited when Hugh announced that the most popular series on his blog, Ignore Everybody – on how to be creative – was going to be published as a book. So excited that I pre-ordered two copies, one for me, and the other as a birthday gift for a friend who works in the creative industry.

Having read my copy of Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity twice over already, I love the book. (My aforementioned friend who works in the creative industry as a 3D artist called me to tell me how he loves the book, and called it ‘life-changing’. Real story.) Here’s why.

5 Reasons Why I Love Ignore Everybody

1. Ignore Everybody is Real

Ignore Everybody isn’t full of politically correct quotes. In fact, some of the cartoons are down-right cynical. But they’re honest. And honesty connects.

You’ll never see a cartoon like the one below in any motivational book. But it is oh so true. Hugh isn’t a motivational speaker, he’s an artist. There is a difference.

2. Ignore Everybody is Useful

But Ignore Everybody isn’t just full of snark. Like how only a war veteran can write about the experience of war credibly, Hugh’s 40 keys to creativity in Ignore Everybody have been won and paid for through the process of doing creative work. If you want to be more creative, you’ll find useful advice in here.

3. Ignore Everybody is Original

I’m sick of experts whose only real expertise is to paraphrase other experts, which is why it’s a real treat to read something like Ignore Everybody, a book that doesn’t read like everything else. Good ideas have lonely childhoods? The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it? Meaning scales, people don’t? Hell yes.

4. Ignore Everybody is Funny

Real, useful, original and funny all at the same time? Now that’s a bargain.

5. Ignore Everybody is Inspirational

I don’t remember when exactly I started following Hugh’s blog, but I think it was circa 2005. Back then, he was just this dude who drew these gnarly cartoons, had some weird ideas about marketing like the personal microbrand and inspirational posts like The Hughtrain. (“We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.” Hell yes!) It’s been a real pleasure to follow Hugh’s journey from drawing his cartoons for pleasure to finding a way to draw them for profit.

And you know what? It’s highly inspirational too. It makes me think and secretly hope, if Hugh can do it – making something he loves and doing it for a living – maybe I can too. Like he puts it in Ignore Everybody; “the sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will.”

In short, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity is highly recommended for anyone who wants to do kick-ass creative work. Buy the book and subscribe to Hugh’s blog already. Rock on.