It has been a pleasure being a Writer Warrior on Triberr. I’ve connected with a number of really wonderful people. Many in the group responded to my call for articles or interviews about Creativity.
Here, In this Q & A, British freelance writer and editor Nick Daws reveals why creativity is important to him both personally and professionally…
The Creativity Series: Nick Daws on Creativity
Q. What do you do that is creative?
A. As I am a full-time freelance writer and editor, some would say that everything I do is creative. Personally, however, I feel that some of my work is more creative than others.
Sometimes I’m hired for my creativity – this applies especially with copywriting work. At other times, such as when I’m editing a book, the scope for creativity is less.
Even so, there are often many possible ways to edit a text, and creativity still plays an important role in achieving the best possible outcome for all concerned.
Q. How do you use your creativity?
A. I use my creativity in my work, as mentioned above, and also for coming up with ideas for new projects of my own. Although I write for clients to pay the bills, I enjoy fiction writing when the time permits, and always have a few short stories and other projects on the go.
Another area where I have to be creative is in marketing myself and seeking out new outlets and opportunities. Being a freelance writer is a tough gig at times. You have to be creative in how you present and market yourself. And sometimes you may have to reinvent yourself entirely!
Q. Why is creativity important to you?
A. Creativity is essential to me partly because, as I said above, it’s one aspect of what my clients pay me for (and sometimes the main thing).
Beyond that, though, creativity is what keeps me excited and motivated by my work, and always trying to do better. I’d hate to have a job that offered no scope for creativity. I’d soon go mad from boredom!
Q. Who or what has been a creative influence on you?
A. There are numerous brilliant creative writers whose example has inspired me – just a few examples would include the British poet and novelist Laurie Lee, science-fiction author Roger Zelazny, thriller writers Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and fantasy author Robin Hobb.
There are also some brilliant bloggers whose creativity (and productivity) never cease to amaze me: Darren Rowse of Problogger, for example, and Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn.
More generally, the Internet itself has been a huge creative influence on me. It’s an endless source of creative ideas and inspiration.
Q. What do you feel your creativity does for others?
A. For my clients, I hope my creativity helps them to produce the very best work they can – be it a book, a website, a blog, an advertisement, or whatever. And I hope that, through my work, my creativity inspires readers to try new challenges, to take on projects they might not otherwise have considered, and to find new sources of fulfillment and creative satisfaction.
Byline: Nick Daws is a professional freelance writer and editor, living in the English county of Staffordshire. He has a blog at www.mywritingblog.com and a homepage at www.nickdaws.co.uk. His publications for writers include the CD-based Write Any Book in Under 28 Days and Kindle Kash, a downloadable guide for writers who want to publish their work for profit on the Amazon Kindle platform.
Of all the wonderful people who have come to help me out, Mary Pax is least known to me. I do know she is a commenter par excellence, not only here but on many of the blogs I visit as well as our Triberr group.
May says of herself: “I write mostly science fiction and fantasy. It calls to me. I started with more literary stuff [as I'm quite enamored with Jane Austen, Hesse, Tolstoy and Thomas Hardy], but a dude with a jet pack and blaster kept yelling at me, “Hey you! Over here. Remember your awe for Dune and 2001?” Oh yeah. Vonnegut and Bradbury, too.”
So…here is my way of getting to know this awesome and well liked writer.
# Five in the Creativity Series (Guest Posts)
Mary Pax: Weird Tales and Stories of Wonder
Thanks for having me on your great blog, Stuart.
Writing is my biggest creative outlet. I wish I could paint, but I can’t. Nor can I sing. I once played the flute and received pleasure from that. My most vivid memory, besides a great sense of joy when playing well, was a comic I’d read while waiting on my lesson to start.
I can’t recall the name of the comic book, but it had several strange tales in it. One was about this town where the residents had eyes in the back of their heads. Every week when my dad came to pick me up, he’d ask what had happened in that story. All these years later, that weird and fantastic graphic fiction sticks with me. The wonder it kicked up in me is something I strive to capture in my stories.
Around that same time, I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey. Arthur C. Clarke blew me away. I didn’t fully understand it, but I loved thinking about it, wondering about it. The visual poetry spoke to me, drew me in. Later, the book did the same. To this day, I consider that story my idea of fiction perfection. Besides Clarke, I’ve been influenced by Thomas Hardy, Hermann Hesse, Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury.
Doling out wonder in the tales I write, is a real need. Perhaps an ode to a memory of happiness, security and simplicity. A reminder of when awe was awakened in me … by a comic book and Arthur C. Clarke.
What has influenced your creative journey?
M. Pax: Inspiring the words I write, I spend my summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where I live with the husband unit and two loving cats. I write speculative fiction mostly and have a slight obsession with giant, man-eating reptiles and Jane Austen. I know, they don’t really go together, but it’d be interesting to insert Godzilla in the middle of Pride & Prejudice.
Author of free reads Plantgirl, Small Graces and Translations, the recently released novelette, Semper Audacia only 99 cents from:
Join Us In The Rule of Three Writers Challenge BlogFest!
Final Day to Sign Up: Monday October 3, 2011
I am co-hosting an exciting creative writing blog challenge, and I hope you will join the over 40 writers participating!
During October 2011, venture into the shared world of Renaissance (information below). You will create three characters set in that world: any genre, any time period. During the course of four weekly postings you will craft your tale where your three characters interact, or not, winding up in one great cumulative story. Each Friday, you will be given a set of prompts to move you along until you reach your climax. There is the chance to discover new writers, see a different side of ones you already admire, and hopefully have tons of fun doing this: you might also win some prizes. Read on!! <a href=”http://wp.me/P1mecg-bV”><img src=”http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z451/Jc_Martin/RuleofThreeshield.jpg” alt=”REN3″ width=”242″ height=”242″ /></a>
Grab this code for the badge created by the wonderful Portia Burton, Concept by the equally wonderful Lisa Vooght
The Shared World: Renaissance
An outpost town in the middle of nowhere, but many routes (the TARGE, KRIS, and VILLEIN are the largest of routes, but not the only ones) pass through or by the town. The SCHIAVONA Desert is encroaching on one side (to the West), a once lush forest (the CULDEES) lies to the East and South. A large river, the ESPADON, runs through the forest of ASSART (to the north) but it is not close by. The ROUNDELI Mountains are also to the North, far, far away, and when you look towards them you don’t know if they are an illusion or not. Closer by are the smaller hill chain, the MAIN GAUCHE and the MINOR GAUCHE, that fed the mining, creating caverns (the KASTANES) and passages (one particular passage is known as HERIOT’S PASS) lie underground.
The town has had a number of identities throughout it’s history: A trading post; a mining town; a ghost town until it was rediscovered; a thriving community; the scene of a number of great battles; the scene of one great tragedy (that led to it’s Ghost Town standing); a town of great joys and celebrations, and so much more.
At this point in time, there is a general population of 333. A mixture of a community. It boasts families that have lived there for generations upon generations, but they are in the minority, and are not in positions of power. There are traders who have come back here, at the end of their many travails, to settle in. The new families and power players have taken this as a last refuge for themselves, hoping to rebuild lives torn apart on the way here.
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…and:
Announcement: The Doll is a horror novelette by J.C. Martin that has only been read by a limited audience so far. It will be FREE for anyone who signs up on the Rule of Three linky list. We will email participants on the linky list with the direct link.
For those of you who don’t know it, I had a story published (my first) in July 2011. The story, “Redhead Riding,” can be found in the ebook anthology Dawn of Indie Romance. The proceeds go to a worthy charity that helps victims of natural disasters, so please support the book. It can be purchased at Amazon US, Amazon UK, or Smashwords..
The BIG announcement:
I am going to have a new story published around Halloween 2011! My story, “Trolling for Loving,” will be published in an anthology of the paranormal. I went outside the publishing box, so you won’t find any vampires or werewolves in my world. Trolls, Redcaps and the Ferrypeople of Hell? Oh, yes indeedy. More info to come when it’s announced.
Well, through Lisa Vooght of Flash Fiction (yes, she appears a lot here because we’ve become really good friends on this newfangled internetty thingy). She had writing analyzer site on her page entitled I Write Like.
So, I was curious. I write fiction on Tale Spinning. There have been a couple of interviews (some printed; more to come) where I get asked about my style. The best answer I’ve had is: I’m a creative chameleon. I think it fits me best, at this point. Writing what interests me at the moment, and playing with genres and styles, has left me open when I’m asked that question. Lisa asked me to take some of my work and put it in the analyzer.
That is some combination of writers. I’ve linked the stories I chose to analyze so you can make your own mind up. This was a fun exercise for me. The links are below. Let me know if you agree or not.
I will be co-hosting, in October 2011, a month long Fiction Writers Blog Fest called The Rule of Three. We created a shared world set in the town of Renaissance, gave the setting, some of the history, the potential for the future…but the stories of the inhabitants of Renaissance, ah…those we’ll find out together. (For my teaser story, click HERE).
All the information will be unleashed on Wednesday, August 31st. Plenty of time to sign into the project. The Basics: create a 3 person story arc, one posting per week for three weeks (with prompts provided if you need them), each posting dealing with the story you are building towards through the POV of one of your three characters. There will be one more posting, the culmination of the story you’ve been telling week by week, one final burst into the story you’ve set in Renaissance. Yes, very Rashomon.
The Shared World: Renaissance
An outpost town in the middle of nowhere, but many routes pass through or by the town. The desert is encroaching on one side (to the West), a once lush forest lies to the East and South. A large river runs through the forest, but it is not close by. Mountains are to the North, far, far away, and when you look towards them you don’t know if they are an illusion or not. Closer by are the smaller hill chain that fed the mining, creating caverns and passages underground.
The town has had a number of identities throughout it’s history: A trading post; a mining town; a ghost town until it was rediscovered; a thriving community; the scene of a number of great battles; the scene of one great tragedy (that led to it’s Ghost Town standing); a town of great joys and celebrations, and so much more.
At this point in time, there is a general population of 333. A mixture of a community. It boasts families that have lived there for generations upon generations, but they are in the minority, and are not in positions of power. There are traders who have come back here, at the end of their many travails, to settle in. The new families and power players have taken this as a last refuge for themselves, hoping to rebuild lives torn apart on the way here.
EVERYONE has a secret!
Welcome to Renaissance.
Enjoy your stay.
Full Details Released On Wednesday, August 31st, here and on Tale Spinning
Sparkfest is the invention of Christine Tyler of The Writer Coaster, and this is my first introduction to her writing blogging world. I am sure it won’t be my last as I just subscribed. SUPPORT WRITERS AND OTHER ARTISTS. End of soapbox.
The prompt for this blogfest:
What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?
What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?
Or, Is there a book or author that changed your world view?
Christine has a whole set of “rules” on her page: check them out, and enter as you will. Me, um…well, if you’ve been reading me at all, you should have an idea about how I feel: Rules? Rules? We don’ need no stinkin’ rules! Her basic prompt was to choose one of the three above.
By The Way: if you don’t know, I am also a Fiction Writer, and write on my Tale Spinning Blog. This probably should have gone there, and it might still, later. Thought you should know, if you have only known me for what I write about in Education.
I’m going to try all three. Just to be…me. (Thank you, Gene Simmons. I hope she says yes, and I hope you are better).
What book made you realize you were doomed to be a writer?
This is a tough one for me. I am not sure there is one book that did that. The first thing that comes to mind, really:
Comic Books
I have been involved with reading, collecting, cherishing comic books since way before I could read. My mother used to buy me a few when I was very little (Gold Key; Harvey; Classics Illustrated; Disney; and Archie comics) and I loved the whole thing. It was more than pictures and words. Comics took me on a journey across the world and into imagination. When I discovered Super Heroes, that was it: Hooked 110% all the way. My imagination knew no boundaries from that day forth. I also understood very well that with great power comes great responsibility.
My memory may play tricks with me, but besides wanting to be a scientist (not with MY grades!), I had always wanted to write for the comics. Always. Still do. I used to write my own little things in school when I was bored out of my mind. Always drawing my little thumbnails (didn’t know I was story-boarding then), creating characters, writing dialogue, etc.
So…doomed to be a writer? I don’t think I’ve ever thought of writing as a doomed thing. Exciting, creative, expressive, exploitative, demanding, challenging…yes. Doomed? Never.
What author set off that spark of inspiration for your current Work in Progress?
My current work in progress is Agent driven: I asked her “what do you want from me?” when all she had previously said was she wanted to see a novel from me (she won’t handle short story writers). Her answer: “I want a great love story.” So, that is what I am doing right now. For those of you that have read my published short story in Dawn of Indie Romance, you’ll see I do have that in me.
The author who set me afire in inspiration overall is Roger Zelazny. I do have a few other things in the works besides the “great love story,” and I feel that I owe them all to the late Mr. Zelazny. He was, to me, THE writer to look up to, to want to be compared to. He broke down big heavy walls in his speculative fiction and fantasy writing. He explored ancient mythologies putting his own twist on things.
Lord of Light was the first book of his I read, and will reread it as long as I can read. Hinduism, scifi, fantasy: you name it.
A Rose for Ecclesiastes just an amazingly beautiful story, melding Christian mythos with science fiction AND it’s a love story too.
The Chronicles of Amber is probably what Zelazny is best known for. This fantasy series has everything in it: great stories; great characters; great mysteries; great love; great horror and tragedy; and a lot of Zelazny’s humor.
He was diverse in his writing styles. He had a love for language. He had a diverse referencing skill in what he drew upon as a writer. If I ever had to grow up, I’d want to grow up to be a 1/10 of a Roger Zelazny in my writing. My The Kistune-Mochi Tale (working title) is inspired by his work. Thank you, Mr. Zelazny.
Is there a book or author that changed your world view?
This is the book that blew away my itty, bitty mind when I was around 16/17. It was written/published in 1972, and I still have my copy. So, yeah…16 or 17. I remember reading it, having to put the book down, close my eyes, and my head just swam/exploded with all the complexities I was experiencing from the book. No: I was not on any drug. I don’t do drugs. Never did. This book was enough.
RD Laing’s knots was a psychological poetry brainf**k for me then, and it still retains all of that for me now. Not a fiction book, per se, as I’m normally driven towards fiction. But,it is life presented in an infinity loop of desperation, longings, desires, needs, destructiveness, love, hate, and “what are we doing to ourselves and each other?” wanderings.
Amazon’s description of the book is: “A series of dialogue-scenarios, which can be read as poems or plays, describing the “knots” and impasses in various kinds of human relationships.” I think they do it a disservice.
I think my questioning of “why” someone does something, not as judgment but as wanting to just know to understand, has it’s roots from reading this book. It does help me as a writer/playwright: all characters want something. My question is: why?
Hope you liked this one. Bit on the long side, but…I never did promise you brevity.
You should join this one, if you are serious about writing too.
Storytelling is the oldest form of communications. We told stories in gestures, painting in caves, in dance, in song, and from guttural uttering to languages, to finally the written word. “How did the hunt go?” led to many tales of bravery and “…you should have seen the mammoth that got away. It was THIS big!” (yes, the first lies too).
I have a Masters of Arts Oral Traditions, but that alone does not make me a Professional Storyteller. I tell (performance: my definition of storytelling) as one way of making a living. There are a variety of styles of storytellers and ways to tell stories as there are genre’s of books.
Most people associate storytelling with something you do with the kids. You crack open a picture book and hope they go to sleep happy. That is only one way of telling.It is not just for children, and it’s time people really realized it. It’s a community based sharing of cultures and morals and mores; stories were ways of giving out news, passing histories, commentary and caution (Red Riding Hood: watch out for strangers!).
There is: conversational storytelling; telling true stories (The Moth, etc); digital storytelling; picture book telling; corporate/organizational storytelling; and performance storytelling, where the teller orally presents a story from memory and heart, most often NOT memorized word for word, but beat by story beat. This type of storytelling allows for interpretations, mood and energy of the audience or events of the day, and takes into itself the personality of the teller. There are a few more, but these hit the major oral tradition points.
I’m a performance storyteller. Not always in costume (I do that for certain thematic shows), but I am always investing of myself into the tales I tell. I create my own, love traditional fairy and folk tales, really get into global tales, improvise many, and on occasion will tell a personal story. I take pleasure in the pleasure of the telling, and the reception of my audience. I am not a favorite of the “quiet, breathy” tellers. That’s OK. I’m boisterous and energetic, and I often try to find humorous spots in the story I tell, if not completely humorous. If Shakespeare could insert a bit of humor into his most tragic of tales, why shouldn’t I? He was of and for the common man, not some highfaluting (I never knew that was one word until now-FUN!) ways and prim and proper stuff. (OK..mini rant over).
So, Storytelling to ME is…
FUN
Pleasing
Energy
Sharing
Creative
Laughter
Touching
Adventurous
Connecting
Fulfilling
Stress Reducing
Mesmerizing
Sweat Worthy!
Exhilarating
Pleasurable
If you like storytelling, go find a storytelling event in your area. Create one yourself. It’s not hard: check out my article in the top menu here on World Storytelling Day. I set up one in less than a month.
If you like my writing, check out my fiction at Tale Spinning. I think you’ll enjoy my attempts at a variety of genres.
As I mentioned in the previous post (Education Reform: Parents As School Partners), learning does not happen only in the school. I feel that when people feel that ALL learning should come from the teachers, there is a gross disconnect with what our children experience. Experiential learning is as important, if not more so, then Theoretical. This mixed message, of learning only happens in one place gets passed along, and school becomes just work (and yes, in some cases it is just busy work instead of true learning. If you have been following me, you know I am anti-”learning for taking tests”.).
Mentorship programs are nothing new, yet for schools it is another idea that was slow in being brought on board. There have been partnership in various levels in schools (older students “adopting” younger ones by class; Parents as Reading Partners; etc.), but Connections within the community is more important than these segments. And, for all involved. Social Engagement is big now.
We always talk about the school problems, fixating on the students. It seems we forget that if the adults were also being taken care of, educated properly, supported, and sought for their knowledge and experience. Things would be smoother in the long run if they were part of the problem solving. Teachers are often secluded from other adults (see Education Reform: Team Teaching), until they hit the lunch room or a common prep period. Principals, in the building, are on a status level by themselves with not that many to turn to. Parents who work so much are isolated from their families and communities.
I do feel that ONGOING mentorship/community partners will help all involved. One person can not do everything. It is ludicrous to think so.
You have valued retirees in your community who have vast experience and would be honored to be able to help in many ways.
You have current business people, some who are trying to stay afloat in this economy, where a cooperative system and connection to them could be beneficial both ways.
Parents who may work obscene hours may take that one day off, or switch a shift, to volunteer IF they see that it really does make a difference and it’s not padding.
You have community leaders who can add so much to Professional, Student and Parent Development
So…Do you feel partnering up will help the educational system? Can you share any success stories?
(more an ad for United Way, but I like it’s message. btw..call Dad too)
As a certified Drama teacher in New York State (yes, there IS certification for it!) and as a Teaching Artist, I have used Storytelling in my classrooms for years. It’s part of my creative make-up, and it is part of the performing arts.It has been an extremely effective educational tool, as it has so many levels to reach, engage, and enables good things in students. Storytelling is not just the teacher reading a picture book to the students and then getting some responses from them. It IS part of it, but, again, it’s so much more.
I have seen so much growth over the years in my students, whether I saw them over a long period of time or just once. You can see that moment when they get it, when it really clicks for them. It’s personal growth, life lessons, as well as the educational, assessment driven part of the process.
I’ve used storytelling in my process dramas, in Storytelling Clubs, Festivals in schools, presentations at student conferences, creative writing, and more.
Below are only a few links about Arts In Education. Please take a look and support all Arts-in-Ed.
Have you ever felt that you really just don’t fit in? Have you experienced that no matter where you are, or only a few times in your life, that this experience is outside of your comfort zone, is foreign to you? Have you gone beyond your normal levels of point of view and try to see what it’s like to be Other? Have you been a stranger in a strange land?
Published in 1961, after 12 years of writing, Robert Heinlein’s Hugo award winning book hit the shelves. Ground breaking for the time, this Science Fiction novel tackled topics that were not normally part of the literary landscape, and scathingly as it did so. Religion, philosophy of life, sexual mores, polygamy, free love (yes, very ’60s BEFORE the ’60s happened, or were just coming about: see Harlan Ellison on why he was calling his work Speculative Fiction, not SciFi), cannibalism, questioning government & authority, and God as concept or reality(outside of religion, already mentioned).
I read this sometime around when the original Star Trek hit the airwaves, and I started to see the “Can You Grok” or “Do You Grok” tee shirts. At first I thought it was something from ST, but I was told that it came from a book, by the older brother of a friend. So..what do I find the next time I go to Dr. Z and visit his bookcase (see previous entry for more on how important this was for me: The Once and Future King)…a beat up copy of Stranger in a Strange Land. Yes, I took back whatever I had been reading and exchanged it.
And, as a pre-teen/just on the verge of teenhood…wow. Talk about reading things “normally” not in my reading vocabulary. Sex, sex, and more sex. … but, it was more than that. I didn’t/couldn’t understand the entire book at that age, but what I did took me along on a trip of trying to reach beyond myself, and trying to figure out why I felt so OTHER, even at this early an age. I’ve grown into someone who believes in being a non-conformist, who tries to Grok (I think I’m fairly intuitive),and yeah, I fails at times. I’m also not every one’s cup of tea, as I don’t follow the party line all the time, party line being a fuddy duddy grown up dull thinker with blinders on.
Accepting what is in front of you, getting rid of the judgmental portion inside of us, loving as freely as you can, to not fight new expressions of self…what’s wrong with that. Why is that Strange?
So…another book that moved me, changed me, inspired me, connected me. There are more, just like there’s music that does. Next seven to come.
A. As I am a full-time freelance writer and editor, some would say that everything I do is creative. Personally, however, I feel that some of my work is more creative than others.
A. Creativity is essential to me partly because, as I said above, it’s one aspect of what my clients pay me for (and sometimes the main thing).
Byline: Nick Daws is a professional freelance writer and editor, living in the English county of Staffordshire. He has a blog at www.mywritingblog.com and a homepage at www.nickdaws.co.uk. His publications for writers include the CD-based Write Any Book in Under 28 Days and Kindle Kash, a downloadable guide for writers who want to publish their work for profit on the Amazon Kindle platform.
Exhilarating
Pleasurable
