Creativity
Jan. 29th, 2004 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aThe last couple of years have been pretty much a wash for creativity. Sure, I've written a couple of Gloranthan articles for Tradetalk. I've also continued writing my series of game design articles, Trials, Triumphs & Triviliaties. But, to be honest, both have felt uninspired for a while now.
Looking back, the start of 2002 is the last time I really did any inspired creativity. That's when I wrote my issue of the Castle Marrach comic. It's also when I wrote a bunch of new Lovecraftian monster bios for Chaosium (since pulled since I've decided I don't want them publishing any more of my stuff, and instead offered to Tradetalk).
Anyway, what got me thinking today was lunch with SM. We were talking about Gloranthan things and he mentioned that GS was a bit annoyed over people writing high-quality articles for Tradetalk using information he gave them when they could be writing full books instead. As SM said, it didn't really apply to me, because the items I've been contributing to Tradetalk are borne of my own imagination, not talks with GS, but I still took something out of what he said.
Why the hell am I fiddling around with these small pieces on deadline when I could be doing major creative works?
I don't know, there's probably any number of reasons. The start of 2002 is about when my workload (and responsibility) began to pick up at work. It's also when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kimberly_a started to have more issues again after a fall of 2001 which had been pretty symptom free. I suspect we each got a bit of a bounce over getting back together and after that revved down health and work issues came back to the fore.
I also wonder how long exactly I'd been sick with this infection that I'm still not sure I'm over. The NP had me off chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol because she said those could make my condition worse, and I can remember noting that chocolate was making me ill back to at least early May, 2003. If I'd been suffering from chronic fatigue and a hidden infection a year ago, I'm sure that would have explained some of the lassitude of 2003.
Right now there's three creative places that I really would like to move into:
Writing prose fiction isn't on that list. I don't know why. I hope it doesn't just mean I'm a dilettante, and that now that I've sold one story, I've moved on. I think part of it may be that Castle Marrach comic. I found an enjoyment in crafting it that I haven't in the purely prose medium (or at least not that I can remember; it's been even a year longer since I wrote my last story).
Looking back, the start of 2002 is the last time I really did any inspired creativity. That's when I wrote my issue of the Castle Marrach comic. It's also when I wrote a bunch of new Lovecraftian monster bios for Chaosium (since pulled since I've decided I don't want them publishing any more of my stuff, and instead offered to Tradetalk).
Anyway, what got me thinking today was lunch with SM. We were talking about Gloranthan things and he mentioned that GS was a bit annoyed over people writing high-quality articles for Tradetalk using information he gave them when they could be writing full books instead. As SM said, it didn't really apply to me, because the items I've been contributing to Tradetalk are borne of my own imagination, not talks with GS, but I still took something out of what he said.
Why the hell am I fiddling around with these small pieces on deadline when I could be doing major creative works?
I don't know, there's probably any number of reasons. The start of 2002 is about when my workload (and responsibility) began to pick up at work. It's also when
kimberly_a started to have more issues again after a fall of 2001 which had been pretty symptom free. I suspect we each got a bit of a bounce over getting back together and after that revved down health and work issues came back to the fore.I also wonder how long exactly I'd been sick with this infection that I'm still not sure I'm over. The NP had me off chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol because she said those could make my condition worse, and I can remember noting that chocolate was making me ill back to at least early May, 2003. If I'd been suffering from chronic fatigue and a hidden infection a year ago, I'm sure that would have explained some of the lassitude of 2003.
Right now there's three creative places that I really would like to move into:
- Write 1 or 3 elf books for HeroQuest to lay the groundwork for the culture. I just want to do the background and the myths. If Issaries wants adventures or other gamey stuff, they're welcome to commission them.
- Revise ER's and my's game design for The Doom of the Old Ones. Look into other tabletop game design afterward.
- Seriously consider ways to break into the comic field.
Writing prose fiction isn't on that list. I don't know why. I hope it doesn't just mean I'm a dilettante, and that now that I've sold one story, I've moved on. I think part of it may be that Castle Marrach comic. I found an enjoyment in crafting it that I haven't in the purely prose medium (or at least not that I can remember; it's been even a year longer since I wrote my last story).
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-29 08:49 pm (UTC)May I ask why?
I have to agree that doing small stuff distracts you from the big stuff. I realized after a bit that rewriting the LPC textbook (which I did in just a few big chunks) was more gratifying for the effort than almost any other LPC/DGD work I was doing...
I decided to compromise, wrote a bunch of Perl scripts to do some of the bookkeeping, and set off to write a more complete LPC textbook for which I am the sole author and sole holder of copyright. It feels good. It really does. It's not done yet, but it's good to be on the right path. Plus the old book's organization sucked and I'm liking the new one better :-)
Re:
Date: 2004-01-29 10:32 pm (UTC)Somewhat abstractly: I don't agree with how they're running their business, and decided that I wasn't willing to support it through volunteerism anymore.