Measuring Creative Improvement
In my experiences in the creatosphere, there seem to be two types of creative people; Those that enjoy tools, new processes, structure, planning, challenges, and those that like to work purely free-form without any constraints whatsoever, leaving their creativity purely to the muse.
I’m one of those pesky sort that love learning how to use new tools. I love new ways of organizing my work, or constraining it in the spirit of creative challenge. The reason why I enjoy such creative challenges is that they force me to learn and do new things, and to consider new ideas, new ways of doing things. The idea is that through this constant evolution of process I will find the ‘optimal’ way(s) that I create, and become more efficient over time.
“Well I learned X, and found a way to use that for story Y.” That’s a simple, discreet measurement of progress.
It raises an obvious question about the more free-form folks which baffles me; Without tools or the use of new structures and challenges, how do you measure your own creative development? How do you measure your progress? Do you measure at all? Do you even care?
Do you think a creative person’s awareness of their own development and progress is important? If you have no interest in storytelling techniques, principles, or tools, how can you measure? Or is measurement simply not an issue? If not, why not?
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May 31st, 2007 at 2:18 am
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October 20th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
I write children’s fiction, and my measuring standard comes from the joy I experience when I re-read. I look for storytelling, fun, and things that keep children turning pages. I look for adventure, and the unexpected.
If I re-read and the story is bland, I try to find out why. What am I missing?
I do “learn x and apply it to story y”. There are certain creative elements that, if missing, yield a dull adventure.
October 21st, 2006 at 5:55 am
Forgive the long comment… just so much rattling in my brain on this topic…
The final product can certainly be an indication of improvement, given that the creator is aware of the values they would like the work to have, are capable of implementing them, and are also capable of recognizing those values once they have been implemented so they know when to stop.
What I find hard to understand is how some creative types can shun all tools and still be fully aware of what they are doing. How can you be sure what you have created is what you want, if you have no standards to judge by or tools to gauge those standards? Where do the objectives come from when all your criterion are subjective?
Is it like banning hammers out of love for pounding nails with your bare hands? Or is it more a case where the person hates hammers because they once pounded their thumb with one? Do people hate tools because they are bad at using them? Is it like a person who hates football because they are bad at playing it?
The choice of tools may be a creative choice. But sometimes a tool exists simply to save time and energy. In that case it is not a matter of creativity, but one of efficiency. Ignoring tools strikes me as the fast ticket to work harder, not smarter.
It is hard for me to see value or purpose in being a luddite. But maybe I am missing something.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:52 pm
I’m not a luddite, I think, so I can’t speak for them. I can, however, try and answer your questions.
First of, you worry too much Eric :)
You’re too concerned about process.
Despite shunning most writers tools, I can definitely see progress. I don’t measure it quantitatively, but I can see how my character development evolved, how my storytelling evolved, how my plotting has evolved over time.
With each new work, it’s interesting to see.
I’m actually not sure how you would measure your writing progress quantitatively (other the word count, of course ;)
So, don’t worry so much about all this, you know. Take ten different established/published authors and you’ll get ten differen ways of writing and a million tools used or not. It’s so personal that each writer has to adopt their own way.
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:40 am
Mel,
I have a funny feeling if I told you I had a quantifiable ingredient list to create a hit product you’d tell me I was worried too much about product, and should enjoy process more instead. Yet here you are telling me I worry too much about process… ;)
It’s not worry, by the way. I get a certain thrill out of the evolution of the creative process.
I like to keep a little mental checklist on writer’s likes/dislikes. In most the time I’ve read your blog, I’ve picked up on the fact you don’t like quotes, don’t like outlines, don’t like planning, aren’t crazy about plot, don’t really care for tools, don’t give much thought to whether you’d use a metaphor or a simile, etc.
Then I have to ask, what DO you care about? Just curious. Work with me here. ;)
Lots of statements of “I don’t like…” or “I don’t use…” — it’s vaguely nihilistic in a way. So ok, what DO you use? What DO you like? What is it about the creative process that you truly get excited about? Is there anything quantifiable, or qualifiable about either the process or the product that you can name, at all, whatsoever?
We’re shipwrecked vague-land here. Please throw me a line. :)
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:54 am
To be clear, not singling you out Mel. I just seem to be hearing a lot of “I don’t like…” or “I don’t use…” lately. Ok, great. So something doesn’t work for you. Tell me what DOES! That’s what I’m really interested in.
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Eric, first, no worries. We’ve been friends for too long that I’d feel singled out or something :)
Second, you force to me think and that’s dangerous! ;)
I’ll probably have a hard time explaining.
I guess one obvious measure would be publishability, but to date I still haven’t figured out why some of my stories were published and some weren’t so that doesn’t help much.
But you know what, maybe that would help. Let me explain:
Most of my published stories were written early on. However, since I got more involved with writers and since I’ve joined a writers group, I haven’t published a story. Weird, no?
You’d think that criticism would help, that learning tools would help etc., etc. All it did was make me self-concsious about my work that I probably can’t put two (fictional) sentences together now in a way that is interesting.
So how do I measure my own improvement?
I think I’m at a point now where I’m pretty confident about my writing technique. What’s left is the actual storytelling then. How I tell the story.
I’ll explain one more thing. I think that you and I are actually very similar in terms of how logical our thought process is, right? We’re not the flowery type, if you know what I mean. So, from this point of view, I submit that most tools and measures are obvious. You don’t need to be told that dialogue should advance the plot - it’s obvious. You don’t need to be told that characterization gets better with motives and dimensions and what not - that’s obvious. You don’t need to be told that a plot has to have a beginning, middle and end, and it gets better with subplots and intricacies - that’s obvious.
Just like with many social sciences that simply state the obvious, but smartly put them in pyramids, point form (usually 3 or 5 points :) and so on. Same here. And for me, sometimes obvious detracts from the rest. Let’s go beyond the obvious.
ooops, that was really long. Sorry ;)
I hope I answered the question. When something works, I just know it. I know when a story I’ve written sucks and luckily for me, I also have a writer buddy who doesn’t spare me and tells it like it is, either way. I’m usually right about it :)
October 22nd, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Melly,
Thanks, that makes sense. I guess a good way to put is that you’ve internalized a lot of the advice, or some of the ‘tools’ to the degree that you don’t feel they warrant discussion as often?
But doesn’t that leave less to talk about then? Especially for writers with blogs? :)
For me half the fun is ‘talking shop’ - but if I grasp what you’re saying about things being obvious, then a good degree of talking shop is pointless?
If anything, that’s the part I don’t buy. ;)
October 24th, 2006 at 3:03 am
ooooh, don’t get me wrong. I love talking shop. I’m not sure how much it helps, but I still love it.
Well, duh, as evident from my blog :)