Sometimes you just have to battle through things, and this is one of those captions. I had the idea to detail more of a transformation in this one, since I was stressing the losses he had went through in a short period of time, which was going to pay off with the denial at the end. While it was a decent pay-off, I am NOT that fond of this caption.It comes off as a bt forced (sorry Trixie if you are reading this, then again, she hasn't commented yet on the Haven) but on the scale of "dreading the very evidence that I created this monstrosity" and "I get orgasms just THINKING about this caption" ... I rank this on the scale of "meh" and sometimes that is worse than hating it. At least then, I have some emotions about a piece I've made that I don't like. This one just sort of exists.
"SO then Dee," you may ask, "why the hell are you posting this caption?" to which I would reply, "Why the fuck not?" I am not ashamed of it, and when I can dial in more on her preferences, I might make an even better one.
The main reason I am posting this is ... Making this caption opened up the floodgates of some creative juices I needed to have milked (sorry if that visual was TMI bhahaha) and led to a few works that I'm really proud to call my own. I wrote a caption (which I'll probably post here soon) in a realm of preferences that I'm not really into, but I thought I did a great job creatively. I also made a birthday caption for Petra which will be posted on her special day (aka tomorrow). I should be discussing that one here as well, possibly on Friday.
For me, making captions usually comes easily. When it doesn't, I find that just doing the act of creating something often stimulates the thoughts and grease the skids. Sometimes I post them (like this one) and other times I'll save what I have and then redo it another day. I have made enough captions now that I am allowed clunkers from time to time (and I don't consider thsis a clunker, its more of a missed opportunity.) Even better, the repetitive nature of creating is so ingrained, that its easy to bounce back into the groove.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: Regardless of whatever creative endeavor you are doing, what things do you do to give yourself a "creative enema" and get yourself going again when you've stalled? Do you keep plugging away or wander off? Attack it from a slightly different perspective?
Okay first of all i wonder if i'm on that difficult group to cap "giggle" at least for you Dee and now onto the questions which i hope are part joke, part serious ^-^
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "creative enema" you must be refering to go out and find something that may inspire you enough to make you do caps, which i would say yes, i may had one of those times, heck even a lamplighter gives ideas, like you said think of Wal-mart "giggle" if not then it must a bloody sex question ^o^...
Onto the next:
If i note i'm wandering from the initial purpose of the cap, i stop and think it over, heck sometimes i've been writing and when i'm half doing it i say: "heck that could work better saying this because i'm doing that" and so on "giggle" so in a short answer i try to wander in a constructive way ^-^'
And for the last question if i have to go an attack the whole plot from a different angle i'm sure it will take me more, so i give myself one day and think it over, sometimes it results on making a whole new cap, which makes me wonder if the first draft was any good because it would never see the light and be kept in the depths of my imagination...
Hugs and Kisses Alectra
I often have to deal with the issue of writer's block: the most recent with captions being the caption rewards on RH. I had to mentally rest first and recharge my head after doing them. However, the tough part once I'm done is starting back up.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing to do when dealing with this is find something to pull inspiration from. I watch movies or read, listen to music with a notebook. I start writing things down until I have some ideas. When i have enough ideas to work with, I start playing with them. From there, it just becomes a refinement.
Normally it's the picture that will inspire me. But other times I'll draw inspiration from Tv show's/video game quotes, Music, Movies, and Story's I've read.
ReplyDeleteIf I stall on a cap I'll come back to it later. But if I still can't get a caption to start, then I'll roleplay in IM or at a site. more often then not, once I'm done roleplaying I will go and make one or three captions.
And congrats on the 100 Followers!
Hmm... I wish I knew how to get a 'creative enema'. When I was in photo school and it was create or fail the class, I would just start shooting. Its said that for every single good photography a photographer makes, there are thousands of crap ones. So I would go out, buy some cheap film, and start shooting. Pictures of clouds, cars, details on cars, store fronts, random people (this often creeped them out), grass, trees... anything and everything. I made no concern whether it had the chance to be 'good' or not, I just went through the motions figuring eventually I would find something inspiring and get back into the 'creative mode'.
ReplyDeleteAfter graduating, I thought about doing it, but was having a hard enough time paying for rent, let alone rolls of film and processing. So I just waited it out. And in all honesty both methods worked the same. I could ram my head against the wall of a creative block for days by wasting tons of film and keeping a processing company in business all by my lonesome... or I could wait, and do nothing. Both yielded the same results.
That is the same approach I take now. When I'm blocked (like I am now) I start the process and see if it feels right. If it doesn't, I just stop and wait. I believe that I could make caps now... but they wouldn't be up to my own standards, and I wouldn't like them. If I don't like them, I won't like making them, which would just make the block worse.