Creative process discussion
I'd love to hear about how you create your favorite works. Of anything. How did you write your best music? How did you create your favorite character in a story you wrote? Anything of the sort.
I'd love to hear all the different processes people have. It's really quite an interesting topic of discussion, for me.
Personally, I grab a cup of coffee and listen to instrumental music (mostly avant-garde jazz [Coltrane, Washington, etc]) while creating the world of the story I'm writing. There's something very productive-feeling about being wired on caffeine while also having a constant noise in your ears. It's how I compose some of my better characters and settings.
Due to my constant writer's block phenomenon, sometimes I'll smoke some pot to get past it. It's almost like phasing through a wall you can't jump over. There's something lifting about it.
I get really drunk and listen to the kind of music I want to write, then proceed to get even drunker and spend 4 hours frantically writing as much as I can. Once I have the structures down for all the parts, I drink a glass of water, probably go to the bathroom, then drink more and start editing until I realize I wasted my entire night and pass out at 4 am.
This is great advice, and applies to other creative activities too. I enjoy photography, and I didn't really start to get better until I just started taking more pictures. Yes, I want them to be good images, but to get to the point of taking good images you have to apply yourself and just do it. Eventually your ratio of good to bad images will get better.
Before making the conscious decision to engage in a creative session, I make sure I'm well hydrated and I've got everything I need before sitting down at the computer. This means I've showered for the day, my desk is free of clutter, and general house keeping stuff are taken care of.
I consider a good session of music creation to be a four hour block of uninterrupted time. I make it a point to try to submerge myself in what I am doing so I can become better little by little every day. It dawned on me at some point that many of the hobbies I've had have come and gone, but creating music (and writing; in fact, I've also written extensively about music on a blog that's still online) is something ... I've just stuck with. I love possibility and that thought alone only serves to encourage me to press on.
On a personal level, I used to be super into technology and computing in general; I've grown up with computers, forums, and the golden years of the Internet but that being said, I've realized that I've become a bit disillusioned by both technology and the tech industry. I guess it's just a bit weird for me to no longer consider myself all that much of a "computer guy."
It has impacted me this much.
I've been making music. Basically my technique is to try and see if it sticks. I open my last work in progress, listen to it, try to do something and if I "feel it" I keep going as long as I can (too long sometimes), otherwise I stop. Rinse and repeat. You have to strike while the iron is hot.
It's not very efficient but I just do music for myself, so if I don't have that internal drive there's no point.