A way with worlds: 29 - Why are we doing this?

Ourselves on the other hand . . .

Well, it's easy to realize others take things too seriously, and sometimes difficult to admit we do it.

Don't take yourself too seriously - because you have to be the one person who can truly know yourself, and if you can't laugh at yourself, you are in serious trouble. If you take yourself too seriously, writing will be a burden, forever overshadowed by your own neuroses. If you take yourself too seriously, your ability to communicate will be stalled by fear, pretension, and arrogance.

Thus, don't take other people too seriously either.

Bad Digimon lemons won't kill thousands. "Harry Potter and the Fake ID" won't cause a plague. Obvious SI's won't cause famine. Poor stories won't cause nuclear war.

Taking life too seriously makes it gray and boring, an eternity of endless calculation and no real results. Life is best when its lived, and taking things too seriously puts walls between you and life.

(And, completely unrelated, "Harry Potter and the Fake ID" does sound like a funny story idea. If it exists, I honestly didn't know.)

THE ARTISTIC EGO:
I don't buy the idea the artistic ego is necessary or beneficial. I think it's a block, a barrier, an impairment.

Creativity is an expression. Creativity is best when it happens of itself. Dragging your ego into the process is only going to block it up, give you the mental equivalent of a strangulated hernia of the soul. It's going to bring in selfishness and self-image and all sorts of concerns that crowd out creativity.

Plus, it'll make you annoying to deal with. Trust me.

SO, WHY DO I DO IT?
I wrote this column because, once, someone told me the columns at fanfiction.net weren't that good. I looked, disagreed . . . and an inspiration struck me to share my big interest, worldbuilding, with people. I wrote three test columns that evening. I knew it was going to work, it felt real. I could use my creativity and reach people and make a difference. Creativity and Communication in one.

I write my Xai series because a bunch of characters came to life and I needed to give them a place to live. I'm now a year and three-quarters into a four year project. It just happened. It came to life. The idea had me.

I started drawing . . . well, because.

Creativity is one of those magical moments, unshakable by logic or anthing else.

Enjoy it.

And no one can truly take it away - you can only give it away.

So, that's in. A year of Way With Worlds.

Let's get ready for the next year.

And next column, expect me to be back to my technical self.

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It is archived at the Way With Worlds archive.