I originally thought, and stated as much to people around me, that I was having a massive, full-on creative block. Now, I’m realizing it’s so much worse. I’m eyeballs deep in a flood of random ideas and I can’t seem to grab one before it’s slipping out of my grasp and another is there to take its place – for all of about 30 seconds before SQUIRREL!! And then it’s something else.
It is exhausting.
Worse still? It makes me so completely un-fucking-productive when I can’t focus on one idea at a time that I sit and play video games instead. Yep. That’s helping… ugh.
And I say, fuck this. I will beat this… this… whatever it is, and move some of these projects to conclusion. I also need to come up with a way to capture new ideas and random bullshit to explore later without taking me out of the bigger projects.
So, essentially what I’m going to attempt to do is:
- Come up with a way to focus – hahaha… this is starting out hilariously unrealistic.
- Next, shit… where was I. Oh yeah. See above. Focus!
- Dedicate time to write.
- Pick a project, maybe two, and work faithfully on those.
- Only taking breaks from above directive to jot down random ideas that might be worth exploring later.
- Still gotta take the occasional time to look at all the new stuff and see if anything is still worth exploring or if we can trash it and move on.
- And, and…
Fuck…
This is going to suck.
Let’s start with the basics. Where do the ideas come from? What typically inspires or sparks an idea for me?
- Pictures. This is a huge one for me as a photographer. I love looking through photos on apps like Unsplash and seeing that one photo that pops out at me and says, “Psst… Hey you! Let me tell ya a little story.” I save the picture. Sometimes the words flow and I know I was right. The picture really did have a story to tell me. The fact that the picture can tell someone else a completely different story that is unique to them is what fascinates me the most about this process (in truth, I would love to put together an entire site dedicated to this where we take one photo a week, month, whatever, and tell the story. No word limit. Micro-short to novella or anything between. Whatever story your muse tells you – I think my internal muse is sorta, well, maybe more than a little masochistic and sadistic than most. I see the darkness in the light. I seek out the shadows. That is where I live. Deep in the shadows of the photos I that call to me. And I thank the all of the photographers that inspire me to dig into the story, even if it’s not the one they intended to tell.
- Music. Also a big inspiration. The feelings and images that certain songs can invoke can easily weave into a story. Usually, music inspires more visual than written ideas, though. Of course, there are times where music has inspired a story, but again, more on the visual side manifesting in the beginnings of a script. A violent, gory, offensive – of course! – with just enough of the “yeah I’m a bad guy but I’m trying to redeem myself and get revenge on the men who killed my childhood sweetheart because she’s a nun and a hooker and she knew too much” thing to make it work. Or, the “this is a great driving song, make me think of a desolate road and something jumping out or someone needing help” thing – again, mostly a visual thing but occasionally a written story evolves. So, sometimes music inspires me to write, but mostly to translate to a visual medium. Scripts!
- Oh, and everything else around me. Conversations overheard, news stories, a smell, a sound, a note, sign, scribble, a look, a dream, a feeling of a coming storm and the sound of traffic. The list could go on and on and on. You get it.
See?? This is what I’m talking about it. I never know when or where or what but it happens. Usually, I’m not in the right place at the right time, and that super sucks. But occasionally I can stop what I’m doing and at least jot down the basic idea, whether it ever goes anywhere is a whole OTHER story. Ugh…
Anywho… back on track down the yellow brick road.
I am going to try to, and I mean really do mean this when I say it, write daily, no matter what and stop making excuses.
My new mantra:
WHY LATER?
WHY NOT WRITE NOW!
With that said, see you on the next post…
Oooo…. what’s that? Is that a.. rabbit hole?
I wonder where it leads…
Cre8ive Junkiez 