This post originally appeared on Substack, 19th January, 2024.
Make like a goblin
…and rollick
When I was searching around for a good verb for something goblins do I saw an article titled “What Is ‘Goblin Mode’ and Is It Healthy?”.
Hello. I’m going to attempt to offer some brief advice for creating things. What qualifies me to give you advice? Nothing. See point 1.
My advice for creating things and being happy with those things
1. Be an imposter
Imposter syndrome is real. And it can suck. Instead of worrying about being a charlatan, simply embrace being one. Next time you feel out of your depth, repeat this mantra: “no-one knows deep down I’m a goblin”.
Be the rootin’ tootin’ goblin you want to be and acknowledge that getting things wrong is just what you do. Goblin don’t care.
I work under a pseudonym. It’s not because I’m concerned about my identity being in the public sphere necessarily, it’s because I can ride Alfred Valley like a stolen car. That doesn’t sound quite right but you get what I mean.
2. Get lost
How often do you start a journey with no idea of where you’ll end up? The joy of making things can be about going on a mysterious trip.
I believe the most important characteristic of an ‘artist’ (inverted commas) is simply being able to notice things. So I wander from thing to thing, a nice picture here, an interesting word there, some cool concept, something I saw in the street. Where is the road leading? I have no idea, but I’m leaning out the window taking snapshots on the way. And then when I start a project, I cherrypick the pieces I’ve collected, smush them together and then spend time filling in the cracks between the joins.
Which is a long way of saying: become comfortable being led into unknown territory by pure curiosity and chance (and take notes). Let chaos reign.
3. Make sacrifices to the god of creation
Mere desire is not enough to complete a project.
Actually, it can kind of get in the way. There will come a time when you stare at a blank canvas, with your spirit in a headlock in the hope it’ll cough up something good on the surface. This is creative block and it happens.
In the face of whatever precipitous deadlines you have, urge yourself to switch off from the dead end and make something, ANYTHING else. I liken this to the sacrificial metal they use in engineering to stop the main structure from corroding.
Make something with no pressure to finish it. Make something for pleasure. Make something for the sake of making something. Often this works like magic to lift you out of that rut you were in and to see it from a different angle. Which segues into…
4. Surprise your brain
Humans are creatures of habit. The lucky ones get to call it a ‘style’.
Even so, the arcane part of your brain that expectorates creativity needs a varied diet. The surefire way to hijack your imaginative road trip (see point 2) and send it careening somewhere you didn’t realise it was possible to go, is to surprise it with unfamiliar activity.
In plain english: seek out things that will get you thinking in different ways. For me, game jams are great for this. I released a tiny dungeon generator made up of 24 words today because I saw this jam and thought, damn that seems hard. And it got me thinking in ways I’m not used to. This is a small thing, it’s hardly going to be successful at all, but in making it I’ve added some bits to my bag of tricks for the next big thing.
5. Skip to the end
When you learn to make a finished thing in whatever field you’re in, the advice you find is usually fairly linear. Do this first, then this, then this, etc. This is for obvious reasons and in most cases it would be rather wild to present the steps in a different order.
But once you have a rough idea of the stages don’t put all the emphasis on step 1 in the process. Crane your neck and consider the end-point, think about the qualities you want to be present there. Often from a logistical and mechanical point of view those qualities will put boundaries on the way you can approach the project. GLORIOUS BOUNDARIES. Honestly, if I didn’t have creative boundaries, I’d have no creations.
Embrace these limitations and get around them like the goblin you are.
Pervert the natural order. Start with a piece of artwork and design around it. Get hung up on a certain mechanic and find a way to make it make sense. 𝔴𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔩𝔶 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔱.
Or maybe it’s just me.