I’m coming to think that, in a lot of ways, the internet has broken you.
I don’t mean social media, YouTube, likes, staring at people’s photos – whatever.
Maybe I mean instant gratification.
But what I’m sure I mean is this – your creativity isn’t as creative as you think.
A Definition
Dictionary.com defines creativity as follows:
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patters, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
I’ve run up against this quite a bit recently, because I’m in a number of situations where there is no exact rule book.
I can’t go online and search for the perfect business model.
The perfect job.
The right way to raise money for a special project.
How to design this certain specific sound I need for a game that I can hear in my head.
How to program a feature in a custom tool that it seems nobody has really done before.
…and you know what my tendency is to do about this?
I get frustrated.
You probably hear other people you look up to (including me) tell you you can’t expect everything to be handed to you. Some of you get frustrated by that because you’re tired, lazy, whatever.
But to be honest – when it comes to some things – I’m not different.
I’d rather just be handed the correct direction, a lot.
I’m not even going to argue that life doesn’t work that way (though, I believe it doesn’t) to you today. I think you’ve heard it – I think you probably know.
The first point is, though, that creativity doesn’t work that way.
Despite that truth – I’ve got some encouragement.
Inspired by…
I get frustrated by other “creatives” online frequent enough to not be involved with most traditional creative channels, podcasts, videos, etc.
Why?
I revisited Mick Gordon’s excellent DOOM 2016 music talk this week and the answer hit me pretty clearly. (The link is set to start at the part I’m talking about below)
Mick discusses how he received the DOOM music feature brief, and how incredibly ambitious it was –
“We want you to make music that no one has ever heard before.
It needs to fit the game perfectly,
and be instantly loved by millions of fans.”
Stop for a second and think – if you were given this brief, what would you do?
It’s important to think about, because I can nearly guarantee all of you think you would love to get a brief like this. Or, at least, you would love to have your work received like this – and that doesn’t happen on accident, usually.
Mick makes a hell of a point – one that I hadn’t picked up on so deeply in his talk before listening back again. I paraphrase –
“Let’s say we hand a brief like this to a piano player…
The piano player is going to channel in all the most important parts of DOOM…
But what you’re going to end up with, is a solo piano piece.
It’s inspired by the brief – sure. But it’s not an execution of the brief.”
He makes the exact same point two more times – three in total, because repetition is effective – using a dubstep artist and a composer as an example.
His point being, your most likely starting point if given a brief like that is your exact same starting point for everything else. If not exact same, then really close to it.
It’s… your sound… after all, right? You’re pretty concerned about finding and knowing your voice… right?
But creativity – I’d argue, and as Mick alludes to – begins when the path is unclear, and usually when you have limited tools at your disposal.
When you can’t afford to do the same thing, or nothing at all.
When nobody’s going to save you, or do it for you, or explain it to you.
When you’re most inclined to complain, get frustrated, and give up.
When it’s up to you to think and come up with a solution that might fit, and try it out.
And there are no guarantees.
How You See Yourself
Chances are – you think of yourself as a creative person, an artist of some sort.
There’s also a good chance that you’re not actually very creative.
You know some processes pretty well – perhaps you’re even an expert at them. Perhaps people employ you to execute those processes over and over with slight modifications. Or you just sit in your room, dream up ideas, and call yourself a “creative dreamer”.
Here’s good news – your self-image has nothing to do with it. Your “identity” need not be destroyed, at least for long.
Creativity begins with an idea – most likely a thought or a dream you’re not quite sure how to pull off.
Do yourself a favor the next time you’re in that position, or place yourself in that position.
Don’t pick up your phone.
Don’t go search online.
Don’t look up tutorials to give you a map.
Don’t look for a map.
Just take the tools you have, and what little you know, and start blazing a trail. Cut through weeds, carve out a new road in your mind, and see where you end up.
Maybe you’ll fail – likely you won’t.
But strive to create something new, not just rehash another idea in your image.
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