Warren Ellis made a point yesterday about webcomics and the need to produce the work, if only to get the idea out of your head. Here an excerpt:
"Look at the webcomics week thread on Whitechapel. Some of that stuff is raw as all hell, and some of the websites they sit on are frankly horrifying. But they’re doing it for the idea. So long as the idea gets out of their head and into the world, they’re winning. Not everything has to be smooth and shiny and run through user-experience wisdom. Sometimes, it just has to be done. "
He touches on something which I've be struggling with for years. The fear of being wrong. Of looking stupid. It's stopped me from making hard but necessary decisions that could and would have gotten me where I am now in my mid 20's in stead of my early 30's but hey, experience isn't waste if you don't give up right.
I've recently been forced to accept a painful and liberating fact. That my life is the way it is because i refused to be an active participant in my own life. Now that may seem damning, but actually its not. The flip side is that I have the ability to do anything I want.
Hitting my word count for NaNoWriMo every day and the first draft of my novel have proved to me for the first time what happens when I shut the fuck up, sit my arse down and do the bloody work.
It's made me realise that you can't afford to be frightened, or scared. That's death. You remain stationary. You create a void. You do that often enough and nature/the universe/life will fill that void. Normally with something you don't like.
With comics and writing, you have to learn in public. You have to learn on the job. You have to expose your work to people. You can't sit your hobbit hole and beaver away until stupid o'clock the morning forever until you feel your ready, because how will you know your ready until you expose your work to people?
Warren's right. But his statement extends to writing as well. So long as the idea get out of your head and into the world, you're winning. Not everything has to be smooth and shiny and run through user-experience wisdom. Sometimes, it just has to be done.
Learn Work. Show. Learn. Work. Show. Learn. Rinse and repeat.
Back to work.
"Look at the webcomics week thread on Whitechapel. Some of that stuff is raw as all hell, and some of the websites they sit on are frankly horrifying. But they’re doing it for the idea. So long as the idea gets out of their head and into the world, they’re winning. Not everything has to be smooth and shiny and run through user-experience wisdom. Sometimes, it just has to be done. "
He touches on something which I've be struggling with for years. The fear of being wrong. Of looking stupid. It's stopped me from making hard but necessary decisions that could and would have gotten me where I am now in my mid 20's in stead of my early 30's but hey, experience isn't waste if you don't give up right.
I've recently been forced to accept a painful and liberating fact. That my life is the way it is because i refused to be an active participant in my own life. Now that may seem damning, but actually its not. The flip side is that I have the ability to do anything I want.
Hitting my word count for NaNoWriMo every day and the first draft of my novel have proved to me for the first time what happens when I shut the fuck up, sit my arse down and do the bloody work.
It's made me realise that you can't afford to be frightened, or scared. That's death. You remain stationary. You create a void. You do that often enough and nature/the universe/life will fill that void. Normally with something you don't like.
With comics and writing, you have to learn in public. You have to learn on the job. You have to expose your work to people. You can't sit your hobbit hole and beaver away until stupid o'clock the morning forever until you feel your ready, because how will you know your ready until you expose your work to people?
Warren's right. But his statement extends to writing as well. So long as the idea get out of your head and into the world, you're winning. Not everything has to be smooth and shiny and run through user-experience wisdom. Sometimes, it just has to be done.
Learn Work. Show. Learn. Work. Show. Learn. Rinse and repeat.
Back to work.
