100 Things Number 2: Why Do I Create?

[dreamflower]

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

Why Do I Create?

Nearly everything I have learned to do in the way of art and craft has been for one of two reasons: because I wanted to have something that I could not have unless I made it myself or because I thought it would be fun to try.

There is, of course, that third category: things I learned because almost everyone does learn them whether they want to or not, but which served me well later on as I began to enjoy them. Writing, cooking -- those are things I learned to enjoy right from the start. Other things I did not like so much, but grew into them, such as sewing.

Often I simply want something—the desire to have a wearable art LotR jacket got me to bring out the sewing machine. I decided that I wanted it to be a very organic experience, so the only part I planned out in advance was the structure of the garment itself. It was fun to randomly add my embellishments— scenes from the movie done on fabric which I made with my printer; lace; embroidery, both hand and machine; purchased embellishments like little pewter mushrooms or an eagle appliqué—all of this was immensely fun to work on.

But sometimes I just want to experiment with a new and intriguing technique. Most often that's what I'm doing when I play with polymer clay. Knitting is another craft with which I like to experiment: dishcloths are the ideal way to play with new patterns and stitches!

Fandom contributes a lot to what I enjoy creating of course. Fanfiction satisfies a particular need in me that my other crafts do not come close to fulfilling. Writing is a much different process for me mentally than something like painting and cooking. Most of my other projects are challenging in the planning and learning stage—they are less work for me as I near the end, and I rarely get stuck from finishing for anything but practical reasons. But writing is something that I must give my whole mind to from start to finish—and sometimes gets harder as I go, especially with longer stories. Yet when I complete a story, the vindication I feel is far more visceral than that which I feel when I finish other sorts of projects. Fanfiction is also a more social sort of creativity, as I share my stories online, and receive feedback and con-crit, often while a story is still a work-in-progress.

For me, to create is to fill an itch that buying something will not scratch. There is a sense of joy in the process, and a sense of vindication when I finish, as well as pride in the new knowledge I gain every time I work on a project, whether it is as complicated as a multi-chapter epic fic, or as simple as making up and cooking a new recipe.

How about you? Why do you create things? And what sorts of things do you create?

Comments

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Writing is a much different process for me mentally than something like painting and cooking.

So agree with this. I think writing has so much more depth, and it forces us to reach deep down into a near dream-like state. That's awfully powerful.

[dreamflower]

I think possibly the difference is that a story is only inside your head as you imagine and visualize it. And then you describe it. The words you write (or tell) are not your thoughts, they are your description of your thoughts. The story is still inside your head, and what you describe may not match the story that you put into another person's head-- it's still your story in a unique way.

A picture is something you can look at, it is a physical representation of your thoughts. Whoever looks at the picture sees the same thing you do, so it's shared in a different way than a story.

IMHO, anyhow.

I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I think it's a factor.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

A picture is something you can look at, it is a physical representation of your thoughts. Whoever looks at the picture sees the same thing you do, so it's shared in a different way than a story.


But whoever looks at the story you wrote, reads the same words as well.

An image is as open to interpretation as a story, and just as no two people will read the same story, no two people will see the same image.

[shirebound]

I really enjoyed reading this.

I create/write for several reasons... to tell a story that would never exist unless I let it pour out of me, the fun of adding new dimensions to the Professor's amazing Tale, and the give-and-take between author and reviewers. Knowing that somewhere out there folks in different parts of the world are reading and enjoying something *I* wrote... wow, I'm still amazed by it and so very grateful.

[dreamflower]

*nods* Yes, that is the unique thing about fanfic, compared to other things I do!

I'm glad you liked it!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading this too and I get similar satisfaction from my writing and taking photographs.

[dreamflower]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

I've always made up stories in my head, but I didn't start writing them down until I got into fandom about 8 years ago. The urge to write them down came in small part from the fact that I was now involved in a community of writers and I wanted to be a part of that as more than a reader and commenter. The larger part came from this newly awakened place in myself that I had never realized was there, and it was telling me 'write!' It was weird and wonderful and difficult and rewarding, and it still is.

[dreamflower]

*nods* I very much agree with that.

When I was much younger, I did want to be a writer of fiction, but that faded as I realized the stories I tried to write did not satisfy me. It was not until I discovered fanfiction that I truly realized what I really wanted more than anything was to have more of Middle-earth, specifically the Shire and Hobbits. And that I wanted to share that with other people who wanted the same.