Hello, dear readers. It is I, the amazing, handsome, indomitable Gideon U. Eklund here, with yet another wondrous blog entry to enrich and improve your lives with my humbly incredible presence.
…As usual, you’re welcome.
I know, I know—you just saw a new post from me last week, and I was talking about keeping to a schedule and whatnot, so you’re probably confused. You’re looking around from wherever you’re reading this, and you’re thinking, “What the hell, bro? Gideon JUST posted something a week ago and now THIS?! I don’t think I can handle this shit. I’m freaking out, man! I’M FREAKING OUT!” You’re probably foaming at the mouth, and preparing to lash out at the nearest land mammal that passes your line of sight, right? Of course you are. This is a lot to take in so soon.
All I can say is; breathe, dear reader. Breathe. Last week’s post was a week behind my new and fancy schedule, so this one is to get things back on track. I’m sure I’ll get writer’s block and miss a post next time one is due, but we’ll burn that bridge while we’re crossing it– don’t you worry. This hot mess of a train wreck will be flying off the rails, on fire, and crashing through a nearby orphanage soon enough. Metaphorically speaking, that is.
So, let’s talk about something that I’ve learned is very important to the creative process: spending time around other creative, like-minded people. I know a lot of my fellow writers like to be alone in their thought processes; I do, too- but let’s not overlook the importance of a fresh perspective. When I chose to move to Las Vegas, I hadn’t factored in two very important things:
1.) By relocating to a new town where I didn’t know anyone, I was also taking myself away from many of the people who were my creative sounding boards on a nearly daily basis.
2.) My friends would obviously miss me terribly. My absence must be like a gaping void in their souls. Poor bastards.
Before I’d left Seattle, my friends and fellow creators were easily accessible to me. I could bounce ideas off of them and run scenes with them, and each of them would tell me what they felt didn’t work; alternately, they would feed me a new idea or fresh angle on something I thought was already pretty good, but could be improved.
“That character should not have their dick out right now,” one of them would say.
“That character should definitely have their dick out right now,” would say another, slightly more aroused friend, as I backed away from them warily.
And that’s a little window into the vast grandeur of the creative process. You get a couple of different perspectives, you get some fresh ideas, and you learn which of the people you surround yourselves with really like it when your characters do or do not have their dicks out, apparently.
Author’s Note: This can sometimes be a disturbing thing to learn. I can never look at my mother the same way again.
However, after I’d moved to Las Vegas, I slowly started running out of avenues to bounce my ideas. I have my wonderful girlfriend, to be sure, but she prefers to read them once I have them down on the page, without spoilers. I’d rather not waste time writing out an entire scene for a bad idea, if I can avoid it by simply having someone say, “Wow—that idea is fucking terrible,” beforehand. However, she has also informed me that my ideas come out much better on the page than when I explain them out loud, and she feels she connects better when she can read what I have in mind.
I also discovered that the people I had around on a regular basis to talk with have the same problem I do, which is “out of sight, out of mind,” when it comes to the people in our lives.
I never realized how important having more than one creative-type around can help with fresh ideas. It sounds pretty damn obvious when you say it out loud, but it’s not something you really stop and think about. You’re not standing around with a clipboard of names, taking attendance for the people in your life. (Unless you are really weird, and have nothing better to do.)
Author’s Note: Trying to take an actual roll call for the people in your life makes you look like a census taker who is calling out their next reservation.
So, don’t overlook the importance of spending time with your friends. Take a break from that manuscript, stage play, or crazy manifesto you’re working on, and go do some socializing with the people who inspire you. Maybe even step away and get inspired by people-watching at the mall, if you have nobody nearby to be with. Text your friends, if you just can’t get together. One of my best friends is still in Seattle, with no interest in moving to the desert, and we still manage to reach out almost as constantly as we did when we could pop over and go to a movie together.
I miss my friends, for far, far more than the collaboration they provided. Seeing their lives in action improved the views I had on my own. Matching wits with them kept my tongue razor-sharp, and my mind on constant alert. While I may think I’m great, (and don’t get me wrong, I’m fucking AMAZING,) my friends made me a better person, just by being my friends, and putting up with my ridiculous, narcissistic, misanthropic ways.
This is not quite the same thing as having a test pool, however. A test pool ideally should not be made up entirely of friends and relatives who tell you everything you want to hear. That defeats the purpose of having one. Currently, my test pool is a mix of friends and acquaintances who don’t feel the need to spare my feelings. My test reader pool has a set of rules they must follow to remain test readers, and the test reading process is a carefully constructed 11-step process which usually goes as follows:
1.) Group Email Sent Out To Test Readers With Latest Update
2.) Immediate Responses From Approximately Three Of Eight Test Readers
3.) Many Weeks Of Silence From Remaining Test Readers
4.) Random Conversation A Month Later, Wherein I Ask, “Hey, Have You Read That Last Update I Sent To You Yet?”
5.) Series Of Weak Explanations As To Why, No, They Haven’t Read The New Update Yet, But They Will Soon, And Then They’ll Get Right Back To Me
6.) Many Weeks Of Silence From Hold-Out Test Readers
7.) New Update Sent Out Anyway, Having Given Up Hope
8.) Immediate Responses From Approximately Three Of Eight Test Readers
9.) Hold-Out Test Readers Explain That They’ve Been Keeping Up So Poorly, They Will Need To Start Over, But Now They Will, Because They Have The Latest Update! Surely A LONGER Read Will Be Much Easier To Keep Up On!
10.) Realizing Your Hold-Out Test Readers Are Filthy, Filthy Liars.
11.) Drinking.
…As you can see, it’s all a very delicate system of checks and balances; an ecosystem built on trust and disappointment. But, when I was still within strangling range of my beloved test readers, I could always strong-arm them in person. They would have to see me at some point or another, and didn’t want to have an awkward, “yeah, I’ll get to it, I promise,” conversation, which really sped the test-reading process along.
Author’s Note: It takes a big man to be a patient author, and to simply give people the time they need to do your test reading. I am not a big man. Guilt and Shame are the greatest tools in your arsenal. Use them!
If you take away anything from this weird, rambling post, take away this: Having other people in your lives is an excellent way to add fuel to the fire of your creative process; be they test readers, friends, or weird strangers at the bus stop you talk to regularly, because they believe you’re a figment of their imagination, and command them to interact with you.
Okay! With yet another blog post in the can, I’m going to call it a night. Hopefully, I’ll be getting back on here soon, with perhaps some exciting new podcast news. We’ll see, time will tell, Gideon is amazing, the usual.
I’m out!
Feeling creatively burned out? Try a refreshing dose of “Friends” today!