One of the best writing lessons I learned came to me way back when I was in my early college years:
If you don't like what you're writing, your readers will be able to tell.
It's not an absolute truth. Those of us who are skilled enough can use clever wordsmithing to fake it in stories we don't enjoy writing. But this will always have diminishing returns. You can only fake enthusiasm for so long before the cracks show and the audience starts to become wise to it, and once they do then all that work done trying to appease them becomes moot.
No matter the creative endeavor, if you're not creating something that's in part for yourself, if you're not pouring your passion and your soul into it, then you've hamstrung yourself. And really, why do that? It's a lot more fun for ourselves and our audiences if we remain genuine.
Although, I work a corporate creative job and I am never a fan of the finished product of something I had to create in great contrast to how I would have preferred doing it. Luckily, I am talented enough to evade the "non-creative" customers/bosses from detecting that. But I immediately know it will never go into my portfolio. In my real job situation, I am often just a tool to bring someone else's shoddy vision to life. But at least I gain and perfect skills to use for the things I love.
The artist I worked on my webcomic with is in a similar situation. She has a creative corporate job which she enjoys to a limited degree, but it's not fulfilling in the same way working on her own thing would be. Just like my blue collar day job, it's there to pay the bills. It's not my passion and won't be how I define myself, it just facilitates the writing that I am passionate about.
I am in the same boat. I work a bottom tier "catch all" job in a state highway planning department. It is challenging but not fulfilling. What it does do however is provide benefits for my family. I deliver pizzas on the side to fill the income gap. I don't call myself a "Highway Planner" or a "Delivery Expert". I'm an author and I'm damn proud of it. I wrote a book. I put my passion on paper. I did it for me. The fact that other people like it to is just a bonus.
To bum a quote off myself, I create for my own amusement. I decided to write music because I hated Top 40 radio. I decided to write stories because I couldn’t find any worth reading. I make movies because I’m a masochist, but that’s another story lol.
It all comes down to making work that is true to yourself and your ideas, because that is where you will naturally be the most passionate, the most intuitive, and the most engaged in bringing the work to life. You HAVE to make it for yourself first, you have to take joy in your craft. Because if you can't enjoy your own work in any capacity, even if you are an intense perfectionist, you're just not doing it right.
Also, I think that those who can't grasp that, may fail to because they aren't creative. Since I was a child, I was always creating something. While it started out as emulating things I already liked, it evolved into my own stories, characters, music, and beyond. I was creating solely for ME in a multitude of creative mediums. When people actually dug the original stuff I was doing, it meant more to me than the praise I got for the Batman comics I made at 8 years-old.
"Fighting a culture war" was never my intent, but creating stories without regard for THE MESSAGE is itself regarded as an attack. How do you fight someone with ten times as much free time, a free ride, and broken, fanatic mind? You don't. Don't engage. Don't let their world view color yours one way or the other. You just keep doing your thing and let them beat themselves against a brick wall. People will naturally figure out who they want to share their mental space with.
One of the best writing lessons I learned came to me way back when I was in my early college years:
If you don't like what you're writing, your readers will be able to tell.
It's not an absolute truth. Those of us who are skilled enough can use clever wordsmithing to fake it in stories we don't enjoy writing. But this will always have diminishing returns. You can only fake enthusiasm for so long before the cracks show and the audience starts to become wise to it, and once they do then all that work done trying to appease them becomes moot.
No matter the creative endeavor, if you're not creating something that's in part for yourself, if you're not pouring your passion and your soul into it, then you've hamstrung yourself. And really, why do that? It's a lot more fun for ourselves and our audiences if we remain genuine.
Well f'n said, and I can't really add to it.
Although, I work a corporate creative job and I am never a fan of the finished product of something I had to create in great contrast to how I would have preferred doing it. Luckily, I am talented enough to evade the "non-creative" customers/bosses from detecting that. But I immediately know it will never go into my portfolio. In my real job situation, I am often just a tool to bring someone else's shoddy vision to life. But at least I gain and perfect skills to use for the things I love.
Additionally, the stuff I know is shit, never does very well on the market and usually they get pulled or I get the job of fixing it.
The artist I worked on my webcomic with is in a similar situation. She has a creative corporate job which she enjoys to a limited degree, but it's not fulfilling in the same way working on her own thing would be. Just like my blue collar day job, it's there to pay the bills. It's not my passion and won't be how I define myself, it just facilitates the writing that I am passionate about.
I am in the same boat. I work a bottom tier "catch all" job in a state highway planning department. It is challenging but not fulfilling. What it does do however is provide benefits for my family. I deliver pizzas on the side to fill the income gap. I don't call myself a "Highway Planner" or a "Delivery Expert". I'm an author and I'm damn proud of it. I wrote a book. I put my passion on paper. I did it for me. The fact that other people like it to is just a bonus.
To bum a quote off myself, I create for my own amusement. I decided to write music because I hated Top 40 radio. I decided to write stories because I couldn’t find any worth reading. I make movies because I’m a masochist, but that’s another story lol.
It all comes down to making work that is true to yourself and your ideas, because that is where you will naturally be the most passionate, the most intuitive, and the most engaged in bringing the work to life. You HAVE to make it for yourself first, you have to take joy in your craft. Because if you can't enjoy your own work in any capacity, even if you are an intense perfectionist, you're just not doing it right.
100 percent, man.
Also, I think that those who can't grasp that, may fail to because they aren't creative. Since I was a child, I was always creating something. While it started out as emulating things I already liked, it evolved into my own stories, characters, music, and beyond. I was creating solely for ME in a multitude of creative mediums. When people actually dug the original stuff I was doing, it meant more to me than the praise I got for the Batman comics I made at 8 years-old.
That's a lot to chew on, Rob!
"Fighting a culture war" was never my intent, but creating stories without regard for THE MESSAGE is itself regarded as an attack. How do you fight someone with ten times as much free time, a free ride, and broken, fanatic mind? You don't. Don't engage. Don't let their world view color yours one way or the other. You just keep doing your thing and let them beat themselves against a brick wall. People will naturally figure out who they want to share their mental space with.
BTW Atomic Beasts is a wild ride so far.