What I’ve learned about creative work in recent months
I love sharing creative lessons. So much so, that I recently launched an entire series on my channel applying creative lessons I’ve learned from writing, improv, filmmaking, and being a huge nerd about storytelling to the work of creating a just and sustainable world.
What I usually share are insights that have proven themselves valuable over and over again in my creative journey, but I also think there’s some value in sharing some lessons that are a little less cooked… the learning in progress.
Over the past year or so, I’ve found myself more aware of certain habits I’d like to let go of and things I’d like to develop more in my work.
Here are a few of the realizations that have really shaped my most recent work.
If you want to make your message clearer, try getting to it quicker.
Some creative teachers are very insistent on keeping a word count to an absolute minimum, trimming out every adverb, and sacrificing detailed descriptions for stating things plainly. I’m not exactly a believer in being this rigid about your efficiency. There can be value to the things that come up when you give them the space.
That said, aiming to “tighten and brighten” a piece will typically make it a lot better.
My hypothesis is that the practice of distilling a message into fewer words, frames, or bars typically forces you to take a second thought about which parts are most important. It makes you consider if every part of your work is serving its bigger purpose. Sometimes the value isn’t so much that brevity. It’s the fact that you more vividly understand what purpose each part of your work serves and which parts are the most important.
This has never been an easy thing for me. I used to try and pack in every detail possible, thinking that the more details I included, the less likely it was for my audience to misunderstand me. Quite often this had the opposite effect. It gave them more rabbit trails and side quests to potentially get lost in.
Lately, my first draft is the lengthy one. I’ll write things out stream of consciousness, lay out all my video clips, etc. On the next draft, I’ll start challenging myself to cut the word count by a noteworthy amount, or to trim several minutes off the final video.
A clearer message creates a bigger impact. One of the easiest ways to make something clear is to free up the space around it.
I’m learning that I don’t always need to present a “finished” product to start inviting others in.
Someone pointed out to me how much I’ve loved the “ta-da” effect. I’ve had this habit of moving creative work forward in stealth mode before revealing what I’ve done to the rest of my teammates once it’s been about 90% of the way there.
When I’ve tried to think about where that habit came from, I’ve discovered that I have a strong aversion to being misunderstood. It’s probably why I’ve put so much effort towards studying communication and messaging in my life.
I worry that showing somebody an early version of a creative work in progress is akin to serving somebody a dish raw and asking for feedback. They lack the context to critically evaluate it. And to be fair, there have been times I’ve submitted things for feedback only to discover that the other person was trying to take the piece in a totally different direction than intended.
However, I’ve learned that it’s still good to include a lot more people earlier in the process than I’m used to. The fear of being misunderstood is just something to get used to. Part of creating art is setting up a regular invitation to be misunderstood. And if somebody gives feedback that doesn’t match the vision, it’s totally fair game to just say thanks and leave it.
But, inviting other people earlier increases the odds that you’ll share with somebody who understands what you’re going for. And that person likely has some fresh perspective on what can get you there more easily.
I’m learning to create with greater emotional honesty
There’s a popular notion that most people favor either their head (logic), heart (emotions), or body (senses) to process the world. Of the three, I find being logically oriented to be the least romantic… and that’s probably because it’s my default.
This year, I’ve received a lot of invitations to be more sensitive to my body and to the spectrum of emotions I encounter throughout the day. I’m realizing that How do you feel right now? and Why do you suppose you feel like that? are as good of a prompt as any for drumming up some creative work.
My longstanding habit was to create as a way to explain things. And it often still is. But I’m realizing that this work is always stronger when I think about how to incorporate a stronger palate of emotions into the work. Often this looks like loosening up my need to move something forward, and to simply practice being more present and responsive.
Put these things together and it’s been quite a year of creative growth.
How about you? What habits or assumptions about your own creative work have gotten a good challenge lately?