This was one my fav interviews! Love Greg's insights on discovering emergent themes in writing fiction. I think this applies to all creative, visionary work. I was thinking about figure drawing, and that this revelatory experience is the most valuable experience for an artist. If you let your controlling-mind dominate, you're not letting stuff happen on the page (or paper.) When you use the strictly analytical, skillful part of your mind in order to execute something reliably "good," you are missing the opportunity to open yourself to generative ideas that are... oh, where do they exist? Are they humming in the ether? Hiding in your blood? Whispering in your ears? You can draw a figure, and go on a journey, and discover along the way what's more meaningful to you. Maybe it's more about these lines, not those lines. This shading, not that shading. This texture, not that texture. Grok the whole thing. What's in the face, what's in the posture. What calls to you. I loved Greg's realization that he was writing about his father, and about death, and that you can't approach these subjects by saying to yourself, with your quintessential analytical mind, "I am going to write about XYZ using characters ABC in setting 123." Nooooo. The creative spirit is going to mope and cry while you trot your ego around the ring, seeking accolades! The creative spirit is about opening yourself to play. Making stuff up as you go along. I bet you have LARPing experiences where there was something mapped out, but all hell broke loose because of whatever, and when it did, it made it all so much deeper, even if wasn't totally "fun," it was probably the best kind of fun there is. Things can get monumental. Because I believe there is more to us than meets the (casual) eye.
Greg is generous with his craft, and I love that you loved this talk.
I'm fascinated by writers who know what they're writing about, in advance. But that's the beauty of the human mind, we all tackle the same problem in a different fashion. I like to remain open with the process, and tinker. Try something on and see if it fits. If not. Ditch it.
This was one my fav interviews! Love Greg's insights on discovering emergent themes in writing fiction. I think this applies to all creative, visionary work. I was thinking about figure drawing, and that this revelatory experience is the most valuable experience for an artist. If you let your controlling-mind dominate, you're not letting stuff happen on the page (or paper.) When you use the strictly analytical, skillful part of your mind in order to execute something reliably "good," you are missing the opportunity to open yourself to generative ideas that are... oh, where do they exist? Are they humming in the ether? Hiding in your blood? Whispering in your ears? You can draw a figure, and go on a journey, and discover along the way what's more meaningful to you. Maybe it's more about these lines, not those lines. This shading, not that shading. This texture, not that texture. Grok the whole thing. What's in the face, what's in the posture. What calls to you. I loved Greg's realization that he was writing about his father, and about death, and that you can't approach these subjects by saying to yourself, with your quintessential analytical mind, "I am going to write about XYZ using characters ABC in setting 123." Nooooo. The creative spirit is going to mope and cry while you trot your ego around the ring, seeking accolades! The creative spirit is about opening yourself to play. Making stuff up as you go along. I bet you have LARPing experiences where there was something mapped out, but all hell broke loose because of whatever, and when it did, it made it all so much deeper, even if wasn't totally "fun," it was probably the best kind of fun there is. Things can get monumental. Because I believe there is more to us than meets the (casual) eye.
Greg is generous with his craft, and I love that you loved this talk.
I'm fascinated by writers who know what they're writing about, in advance. But that's the beauty of the human mind, we all tackle the same problem in a different fashion. I like to remain open with the process, and tinker. Try something on and see if it fits. If not. Ditch it.