Category Archives: Creative Responsibility
What Do We Expect Our Art to Do?
This is a question worth considering as you present your work to the public.
What is it that we expect of it? What reaction are we looking for? And perhaps more importantly, should we be looking for a reaction?
The answers come down to the intention we hold for our creative work.
Why do we do it? Who is it for? Are we creating for ourselves, for the fulfillment it provides us, for joy and satisfaction – for the sheer knowledge that the creative work is given to us to be expressed? Or are we creating it for an audience? To move people, inspire, invoke, disturb even?
Clearly, there can be mixed intentions. Giving some thought to what they are can help you prepare for the public’s reaction.
Even when you’ve been there, done that and the process is familiar – every new project deserves attention to this question.
What do you expect of your art? Who is it for?
Protect Your Work’s Message, Not the Words
Theme, or message, is the DNA of your creative work. It’s not something you consciously add or layer on top of it. It’s where the Story touches the human soul. Message comes from within the work, it emerges organically and exists before the work comes into being. It’s there, though sometimes it takes a bit of gentle digging and patience to uncover it.
As the Writer, you’re the first Trustee of the Story. It’s your job to shape, craft and decide how the Story can be expressed in the most powerful, effective way. If it’s a novel, these decisions are entirely up to you. For a screenplay, this is where you have the most power, up front, to direct how a reader experiences the script and to ensure the Story has the substance to make it through the creative collaboration of nearly 200 people. It is your first and often only chance to lay out your vision for the characters and theme for the other writers who will be tasked with contributing to it.
Which leads to a question: does the Story ever really belong to you? I don’t think it does.
We’re the first Trustees. Charged with caring, nurturing, and writing the strongest Story we possibly can. Giving the Story the best possible chance of growing up into a powerful, self-reliant film by the sheer quality of our storytelling’s framework.
No matter how robust a script is, other people are going to take over caring for it. We have to remember our role as First Trustee and when given the opportunity, be willing to stand up firmly for what we know is sacred to the Story and the characters, and be willing to stand down, as well. And to do that professionally, we have to remember that there is more than one way to get a message across.
When I was starting out as a features writer, one of the first things I had to learn was to “let go” of the story to hand it over to an editorial team. I quickly learned that there is always more than one way to tell a story and still get the same message across. It’s the message you have to protect. Not the words.
When you are driven to protect the message, and not the words or expression, you’ll be able to craft your work to its fullest, and most powerful, potential. And when others are given the task of contributing to it, you’ll know what to measure.
It’s true that once your Story is bought, you may never have another word to say about it again. All the more reason why we have to make sure a script is the strongest, most robust ‘framework’ it can be.
The Good that You Do
Why do you create?
There are as many answers as there are artists. Ultimately, most of us want to inspire a reaction in a viewer or reader.
What reaction do you want to inspire in others?
I’m not talking about whether someone likes or dislikes your work; or critics, reviews, or sales.
I’m talking about the emotional, soul reaction they have. How they will feel after viewing or reading your work.
We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about this, do we? We create because it seems to flow so naturally to us – it’s simply part of who we are. We can’t imagine not creating. But the question deserves some space in our lives. And space in every new work.
When your work goes public, this question becomes essential.
As an artist, you make choices. You have the power, if not to decide what your work will be, then to shape and guide it. I know that much of the creative work we do is given to us by Something Greater that wants to flow and speak and express itself through us. We don’t usually feel as if we have a choice in what our creative work is.
But the energies of your work, the reaction it inspires in a human heart and soul – that is where we do need to pause and think.
We have incredible power and I believe, responsibility.
We have the power to move the human heart toward healing, connection and hope. Or not.
Our work is capable of making someone stop and think, of inspiring someone to make a different choice, to believe or take one thought toward remembering their own power in this life. We have the ability to evoke joy, beauty, a sense of grace and wonder. And, in our darker sides, to release questions that are allowed to bubble to the surface. Questions that may not have been asked if it were not for our work.
I’m not advocating that all creative work has to be beautiful or have a moral point. That is not the question. I am advocating that we stop and think and become aware of the power and responsibility we have toward our viewers and readers. They may tend to take our work for granted as entertainment. They may not be aware of the affect that that entertainment can have on them. But they do know when they’ve been touched.
So why not touch them?
Your work has the potential to do something incredible. Even if it’s only in one viewer or one reader’s heart. And isn’t one heart worth a million?
creative inside out 