Behind the Stacks is a new weekly thread post for readers of In A Brown Study. Imagine we have a secret cozy room tucked away in the study where we can gather, talk amongst ourselves, and talk about the things we truly want to talk about without worrying about word limits or voices being lost.
One of my favorite things about being friends with so many indie authors is the wide range of genres they delve into. This month alone at least four of them that I follow are branching into different genres (mostly under pen names!) and I am in awe.
They refuse to be boxed in, they are doing what they love, even when it might be completely different.
As fellow artists, how do you feel when you want to try something new? Do you feel like you need to stay in your original box or do you box hop? Or just destroy boxes altogether? I support you no matter what.
I don't actually know if I have a box yet? Except for the Dark Academia aesthetic, but it would be nice to branch out a little.
I've been playing with the idea of more color, like neon. It still gives dark vibes, but neon gay instead of academia gay, lol. Just as long as I stay queer please.
As a writer, I feel like I want to try a little bit of everything. Just to see what flows better, what feels better, maybe what gets more reaction. But at the same time, art is about experimenting I think.
When I was nanowrimo-ing my hardest some years ago, I was very much boxed in (by my own self) to writing that fantasy / scifi mix that I love reading the most. But I didn't finish my story, it's only half done, and I think I have a mental note that I can't write any other fiction until I finish that one.
Art feeds art. I think sometimes ppl leave experimenting only for when they’re are super stuck, or when they need fresh inspiration, or they don’t at all because they feel guilty/shameful about hopping around or making something that sucks. Mind you, those first two are healthy, valid reasons to experiment, too. But I really believe that ALL of it feeds into each other. Like, we can impose boxes that are beneficial for marketing or organization or definition, or to help us understand a thing better. But idk I feel like the brain’s a remix+respond organ and everything bleeds into and ricochets off each other anyway. My current policy is “make the thing, figure out what to do with it or where it goes later, but make it” 😂
That being said, I know there are artists who THRIVE on limits. I watched a documentary awhile back with Jack White of The White Stripes who said his best work always came when had the least to work with. And then he made a playable guitar out of like, a broken guitar string, a piece of pipe and a glass bottle all from the trash like wtf 😅Having to be resourceful because of limits pushed his creativity in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish if the limits weren’t there. Which like, yes, decision-fatigue and page-fright are a Thing. And restrictions can bring out the problem-solving, riddle-cracking part of creativity. Depends on what works for you, right?
I don't actually know if I have a box yet? Except for the Dark Academia aesthetic, but it would be nice to branch out a little.
I've been playing with the idea of more color, like neon. It still gives dark vibes, but neon gay instead of academia gay, lol. Just as long as I stay queer please.
As a writer, I feel like I want to try a little bit of everything. Just to see what flows better, what feels better, maybe what gets more reaction. But at the same time, art is about experimenting I think.
When I was nanowrimo-ing my hardest some years ago, I was very much boxed in (by my own self) to writing that fantasy / scifi mix that I love reading the most. But I didn't finish my story, it's only half done, and I think I have a mental note that I can't write any other fiction until I finish that one.
Huh. I didn't even think of that until now.
Art feeds art. I think sometimes ppl leave experimenting only for when they’re are super stuck, or when they need fresh inspiration, or they don’t at all because they feel guilty/shameful about hopping around or making something that sucks. Mind you, those first two are healthy, valid reasons to experiment, too. But I really believe that ALL of it feeds into each other. Like, we can impose boxes that are beneficial for marketing or organization or definition, or to help us understand a thing better. But idk I feel like the brain’s a remix+respond organ and everything bleeds into and ricochets off each other anyway. My current policy is “make the thing, figure out what to do with it or where it goes later, but make it” 😂
That being said, I know there are artists who THRIVE on limits. I watched a documentary awhile back with Jack White of The White Stripes who said his best work always came when had the least to work with. And then he made a playable guitar out of like, a broken guitar string, a piece of pipe and a glass bottle all from the trash like wtf 😅Having to be resourceful because of limits pushed his creativity in a way that he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish if the limits weren’t there. Which like, yes, decision-fatigue and page-fright are a Thing. And restrictions can bring out the problem-solving, riddle-cracking part of creativity. Depends on what works for you, right?