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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

— Michelangelo

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The good news is that I’m writing. The less good news is that I am not writing as much as I might want, but hey, that’s pretty much a requirement for the position of “Writer.”

In 1974, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis published a paper titled “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block.'” It contained a total of zero words.

— Mental Floss

I remain optimistic. Time to spend more time in the writing chair!

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Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

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“The whole point is to live life and be—to use all the colors in the crayon box.”

— RuPaul

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Photo by James McDonald on Unsplash

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Have convictions. Be friendly. Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs. Work as hard as they do.

— Eleanor Roosevelt

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“Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence.”

— Tennessee Williams

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Photo by Micah Tindell on Unsplash

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Storytelling is good for so many things: entertainment, shared cultural touchstones, lessons from elders, or other instruction manuals for living. Even so, speculative fiction has always been burdened by accusations that it is less able to comment on reality than, say, literary fiction.

I disagree.

In fiction or nonfiction, no matter the genre or approach, storytelling is always, always, grounded in the cultural currents from which it springs. It’s how we pass on what’s important, even if it isn’t always “real.” Whether it shows us futures to avoid, goals to achieve, values of importance or daily ways to survive, the work’s foundation always reflects its context.

On a related note, here’s a short document on surviving difficult times, written in the form of an RPG-style guide. It wouldn’t surprise me to see an actual game follow soon.

Because life and art are two facets of the same die. And we’re all just players, trying to level up.

“The idea that any of us can do everything is instant failure. We all have our own skill sets and our own passions and we will accomplish the most if each of us works within those arenas to do what we’re already good at, what we already care about. You don’t have to do it all. Just a little.”

— Bree Bridges

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“To care about climate change, you only have to be one thing, a human living on Planet Earth.”

— Katharine Hayhoe

(I submit that other animals and any Earth-bound aliens also qualify, but “humans” is a good place to start.)

If you are a creator concerned with the livability of the planet, this guide from This Is Planet Ed may be useful. It’s designed for works aimed largely at younger audiences, but the ideas apply across the board.

A Toolkit For Climate Storytelling

Whether you want to develop a whole show, a story line, or embed climate solutions in your character’s world, this guide offers ideas, strategies, and tips to help.

Because as my landing page reminds us:

“Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

— G.K. Chesterton

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Photo by Klim Sergeev on Unsplash

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“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change. It can not only move us, it makes us move.”

— Ossie Davis

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Photo by Varun Gaba on Unsplash

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“If l’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative,’ well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are. You’re ready. Start making stuff.”

— Austin Kleon

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Photo by Steph Wilson on Unsplash

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This one’s for my father, who introduced us to Saturday Night Live and to music.

Questlove’s Fantastic Video Mix of 50 Years of SNL Music

Oh this is just delightful: for the opening of his documentary film on the history of music on SNL he co-directed with Oz Rodriguez, Questlove produced what the NY Times calls “a high-speed, six-minute DJ mix of SNL music highlights”. So. Good.

There’s a link to the video in the article. It’s mostly blurred but the audio is still playable (you can watch the full video on Peacock if you have it; I don’t but the audio was still fun).

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Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

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