Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2020-07-26 10:41 am
silveradept) wrote2020-07-26 10:41 am
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Sunshine Challenge 2020 #7: The Creative Process is often Violet
The final ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sunshine_challenge prompt is on the last of the Newtonian spectrum, violet. Here's the prompt:
As a creator, my primary contribution to fandom as such is in writing. That's usually fic, although occasionally I put up things that are more meta in nature. I feel like I might be the reverse of a lot of people's fic outputs in that I tend to write almost exclusively for exchanges (there's something nice about getting a story for yourself as well as writing one for someone else), but it took a certain amount of encouraging myself that I could do the thing and produce something that would be appreciated before I did it. (And those things were appreciated, which helped boost confidence.)
You see, I don't think of myself as a particularly creative person, at least in the sense of having ideas on my own and transforming them into completed works, starting with "nothing" and creating a thing out of that nothing. I'm much more of a refiner, a person who can take the kernel of someone else's idea and produce something out of that, or to help someone develop their idea by asking questions and trying to understand things better, which might provide insight on how to get past their block, whatever it may be. Which is its own form of creativity, sure, but it's not "creativity" in a culture that lionizes the single genius rather than the team that often supports the lead and deserves as much credit for the result as the person who collects fame and accolades. (There's also all the calculations that have to happen for something to be good, because there's no single, universally-applicable metric to any work to indicate its quality. Numbers may be due more to size of fandom than skill, but in exchanges, you're writing for someone specifically, so is it good and successful if that one person enjoys the thing immensely, regardless of whether the rest of the fannish universe does?)
Despite saying I'm not creative, well, the Pern meta is into several hundreds of thousands of words, and the count of works available on AO3, well, it keeps going up, let's say. So long as someone else provides the spark, I seem to be able to do things just fine. Which is a skill in of itself, and something refined with practice. (And occasionally, those original ideas come through as well.)
So, in the spirit of offering things as gifts, I'm offering to rubber duck. (Quack.) If you've got an idea for something, and it's something you can talk about, even if I don't know the fandom or the context, I'll do my best to provide a useful suggestion for you. And who knows, it might spark a conversation and some creativity.
sunshine_challenge prompt is on the last of the Newtonian spectrum, violet. Here's the prompt: Violet is a cheerful color that is associated with a variety of things including: originality, self-esteem, insight, poetry, discernment, understanding, creativity, music, perception, inhibition, and health.Which is not what I was expecting to talk about at all today, instead having queued up thoughts about imperial purple and possibly spiraling outward from there into something that would be vaguely fannish, possibly involving Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and all of the other children and the things that tempt them from the path, including the part where even Charlie strays, but manages to keep himself alive. But instead, I get to talk a little bit more about things that I do.Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones. — Bruce GarrabrandtInsight, understanding, and creativity are some wonderful qualities to concentrate on for our final 2020 prompt. Here we ask you: what things are you able to offer others to bring a little sunshine into their lives?
If you are able, we encourage you to share the things you could offer as gifts. Maybe you can offer to make icons, fanmixes, sketches, or drabbles? Or to leave a kind word on someone’s fanwork? Maybe you are fond of gathering photos from the web or can share favorite recipes?
Don’t take on more than you can handle, but if you are able to share one nice thing for another participant, that would be great! If taking requests is not feasible, please do answer the prompt as you are inspired to. We’d love to see what you’re able to share. ♥
As a creator, my primary contribution to fandom as such is in writing. That's usually fic, although occasionally I put up things that are more meta in nature. I feel like I might be the reverse of a lot of people's fic outputs in that I tend to write almost exclusively for exchanges (there's something nice about getting a story for yourself as well as writing one for someone else), but it took a certain amount of encouraging myself that I could do the thing and produce something that would be appreciated before I did it. (And those things were appreciated, which helped boost confidence.)
You see, I don't think of myself as a particularly creative person, at least in the sense of having ideas on my own and transforming them into completed works, starting with "nothing" and creating a thing out of that nothing. I'm much more of a refiner, a person who can take the kernel of someone else's idea and produce something out of that, or to help someone develop their idea by asking questions and trying to understand things better, which might provide insight on how to get past their block, whatever it may be. Which is its own form of creativity, sure, but it's not "creativity" in a culture that lionizes the single genius rather than the team that often supports the lead and deserves as much credit for the result as the person who collects fame and accolades. (There's also all the calculations that have to happen for something to be good, because there's no single, universally-applicable metric to any work to indicate its quality. Numbers may be due more to size of fandom than skill, but in exchanges, you're writing for someone specifically, so is it good and successful if that one person enjoys the thing immensely, regardless of whether the rest of the fannish universe does?)
Despite saying I'm not creative, well, the Pern meta is into several hundreds of thousands of words, and the count of works available on AO3, well, it keeps going up, let's say. So long as someone else provides the spark, I seem to be able to do things just fine. Which is a skill in of itself, and something refined with practice. (And occasionally, those original ideas come through as well.)
So, in the spirit of offering things as gifts, I'm offering to rubber duck. (Quack.) If you've got an idea for something, and it's something you can talk about, even if I don't know the fandom or the context, I'll do my best to provide a useful suggestion for you. And who knows, it might spark a conversation and some creativity.