Creative process thoughts
My RL BFF, Cat, aka the author of Captive Prince is being interviewed at 
the_slash_pile.
It's always really interesting hearing her describe the writing process to others and seeing it viewed from the 'outside' so to speak--when I'm used to being on the 'inside' as beta and run the risk of taking the insights we mutually gain along the way for granted. I really enjoy having a close friend whose creative work is in a different medium (writing) to my own (vidding). It often allows us to compare and contrast the different creative processes necessary and has helped me think 'outside the box' in terms of not feeling trapped by the 'shoulds' of the vidding world...
Even if you're not a CP reader/fan, the interview may be of interest to you in terms of creative processes. For instance the fact that ideas don't just materialise--brainstorming takes work and various techniques for plotting.
Two things I have really learnt from Cat are:
- ideas take work, you can't just sit and wait for them to happen. For me this means getting on my timeline and clutching on to any little flickers of 'this might work' and actually trying them out to see if they do
- 'brainstorming' in whatever shape it takes can be integral to a work--for me, this means shuffling clips around randomly on the timeline and seeing what forms. I do this more and more these days. Associations form simply through juxtaposition and it's amazing how powerful these 'accidents' can be compared to my pre-planned logic-based ideas of 'oh XX totally goes with this bit in the music'.
- don't sweat the small stuff <--which I will eternally think of as Jonathan Kent's motto, but nonetheless is useful. Cat is incredibly good at knowing when to stop, when is 'enough', even when I occasionally go 'really? you don't want me to ... like... beta even harder here?!' And that is a GOOD THING. Setting and knowing one's own boundaries--even or especially where perfectionism is concerned--is really important.
I'm sure there are bazillions more things I have absorbed without realising, but those spring to mind.
And now the bad news for CP fans: I'm going to be out of the country for the next few weeks, so there won't be an update of Captive Prince until 20 April at earliest. I promise to beta as soon as my jet lag goes away on my return! But please hurl all rotten tomatoes/bricks and other objects of frustraaaation at me in the interim rather than Cat. :D TY!
This entry was originally posted at http://bop-radar.dreamwidth.org/235436.html.
comments Comment here or there, as you will.
the_slash_pile.
It's always really interesting hearing her describe the writing process to others and seeing it viewed from the 'outside' so to speak--when I'm used to being on the 'inside' as beta and run the risk of taking the insights we mutually gain along the way for granted. I really enjoy having a close friend whose creative work is in a different medium (writing) to my own (vidding). It often allows us to compare and contrast the different creative processes necessary and has helped me think 'outside the box' in terms of not feeling trapped by the 'shoulds' of the vidding world...
Even if you're not a CP reader/fan, the interview may be of interest to you in terms of creative processes. For instance the fact that ideas don't just materialise--brainstorming takes work and various techniques for plotting.
Two things I have really learnt from Cat are:
- ideas take work, you can't just sit and wait for them to happen. For me this means getting on my timeline and clutching on to any little flickers of 'this might work' and actually trying them out to see if they do
- 'brainstorming' in whatever shape it takes can be integral to a work--for me, this means shuffling clips around randomly on the timeline and seeing what forms. I do this more and more these days. Associations form simply through juxtaposition and it's amazing how powerful these 'accidents' can be compared to my pre-planned logic-based ideas of 'oh XX totally goes with this bit in the music'.
- don't sweat the small stuff <--which I will eternally think of as Jonathan Kent's motto, but nonetheless is useful. Cat is incredibly good at knowing when to stop, when is 'enough', even when I occasionally go 'really? you don't want me to ... like... beta even harder here?!' And that is a GOOD THING. Setting and knowing one's own boundaries--even or especially where perfectionism is concerned--is really important.
I'm sure there are bazillions more things I have absorbed without realising, but those spring to mind.
And now the bad news for CP fans: I'm going to be out of the country for the next few weeks, so there won't be an update of Captive Prince until 20 April at earliest. I promise to beta as soon as my jet lag goes away on my return! But please hurl all rotten tomatoes/bricks and other objects of frustraaaation at me in the interim rather than Cat. :D TY!
This entry was originally posted at http://bop-radar.dreamwidth.org/235436.html.
comments Comment here or there, as you will.