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Journaling/Blogging The Creative Process

Submitted by Wednesday Burns-White on July 16, 2003 - 16:28

So, recently, various factors converged which made it necessary to employ a new weblogging system on a regular basis. Since I was going to do that anyhow, I decided to use the weblog (and an associated gallery) to document development on the comic which does not yet really exist. (There are a few draft strips, lots of character designs, and plenty of scripts; if you go along with Hard's estimation of what makes a webcomic, then this is clearly not one. There is, however, a clear body of work under the rubric of the comic's title, so that will have to do.)

Now, I've held for some time -- based on observation of self and others -- that one should never openly discuss what one has not yet finished, because that way lies never finishing it and coming across as some sort of pseudo-creative flake who can't get the ideas out of her head. However, I'm starting to embrace my identity as that pseudo-creative flake ^^; and am finding the process much more useful than sitting around and crafting it in my head. If nothing else, it's like a pretend conversation (which runs the risk of becoming a real one, as I've left comments enabled) and it puts the ideas out there in a way I can come back to, and read as though I weren't me. If that makes any sense at all.

Now, I'm not asking people to share (I know that I'm certainly not confident enough in the work to publicize the weblog outside of its current readership, so that wouldn't be fair on anyone), but I'm curious as to whether anyone else finds this an effective method of development. Or, for that matter, if anyone finds it counterproductive. I know that various established artists have varying degrees of success with process-oriented writing carried out with other readers in mind, but I've yet to see anything done as a purely developmental exercise.

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Journaling/Blogging The Creative Process

by Wednesday Burns-White - 07/16/2003 - 16:28

So, recently, various factors converged which made it necessary to employ a new weblogging system on a regular basis. Since I was going to do that anyhow, I decided to use the weblog (and an associated gallery) to document development on the comic which does not yet really exist. (There are a few draft strips, lots of character designs, and plenty of scripts; if you go along with Hard's estimation of what makes a webcomic, then this is clearly not one. There is, however, a clear body of work under the rubric of the comic's title, so that will have to do.)

Now, I've held for some time -- based on observation of self and others -- that one should never openly discuss what one has not yet finished, because that way lies never finishing it and coming across as some sort of pseudo-creative flake who can't get the ideas out of her head. However, I'm starting to embrace my identity as that pseudo-creative flake ^^; and am finding the process much more useful than sitting around and crafting it in my head. If nothing else, it's like a pretend conversation (which runs the risk of becoming a real one, as I've left comments enabled) and it puts the ideas out there in a way I can come back to, and read as though I weren't me. If that makes any sense at all.

Now, I'm not asking people to share (I know that I'm certainly not confident enough in the work to publicize the weblog outside of its current readership, so that wouldn't be fair on anyone), but I'm curious as to whether anyone else finds this an effective method of development. Or, for that matter, if anyone finds it counterproductive. I know that various established artists have varying degrees of success with process-oriented writing carried out with other readers in mind, but I've yet to see anything done as a purely developmental exercise.

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by atcooper - 11/17/2003 - 13:33

For me, talking about a project too much will guarantee it won't get finished. Even showing material before I am finished with it will cause rapid abandonment.

Storytelling, for me, has always required a certain trust in my intuition. I have a lot of weird ticks and rituals that I use to help the mind focus, and while they change from time to time, the general superstition is still there.

Part of that is if you build the character like you would a building it will be a robot, and not human. People have a lot of ideosyncracies. I liken it more to gardening.

In the end, though, if I can talk about the story easily, it means it's the kinda story I should tell at the bar over a beer, not as an artifact.

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