So by this point you've heard the solo mini-series thing that I've been working on, and I hope you liked it. It's been a lot of fun to make. But it has revealed some things about my workflow that I'm trying to figure out, some of which is new and some of which is old problems in new packaging.
The old problem in new packaging is the idea of "friction." Friction, in the creative context, is how much effort and energy it takes to get started on a project when you're not in project-mode. Friction takes a lot of forms, from having to get materials out to being in the right headspace. For those of us with jobs and families, friction is a major hurdle. When you've already been using your brain for 14 hours, you really need a simple way of dropping into the groove without being tempted by something easier to do (social media, video games, sleep, etc.)
So when I started the Tricky Fox Tales, it was when I was still recovering from surgery, and friction wasn't an issue. I was just sitting around all day looking for things to do, so I had plenty of energy and focus left to do the project in the way that I wanted.
Stick a pin in that line of thought for a second because I need to talk about the new problem for the old one to make sense.
As I talked about in a previous blog post, I was experimenting with different work flows involving paper, iPads, VR, etc. What I found is that I REALLY LIKE writing by hand now. My typing speed is very fast (90-120 wpm) but that meant that I could type almost as fast as I can think. And in the past I liked that, because it was like turning on a fire hose of words and they would just blast onto the page at a rate that makes a lot of people jealous.
But I also have to take into account that my life, and the pace of life in general, is different.
There's a bunch of examples I could make, both specific and in general, but to illustrate my point I'm just going to talk about going to sleep. Every night, I stick an airpod in one ear, find something to put on, and drop off to sleep. It's usually and podcast or some kind of long form YouTube video or sometimes I'll just load up the Dragonball Z Abridged playlist and let that run. I do this every single night. And sometimes, if I wake up halfway through the night, I switch the airpod so the other can get charged, put on something else and drop to sleep again.
I didn't used to do that. I used to lie there and think about stories and ideas and let my mind wander around.
In general, there used to be a lot more empty time for me to think. When I went to turn on the fire hose of words, I had already thought about what I was going to write, I was just solidifying it at that point. But right now, with the pace of my life, I don't have that. I've been trying to add that back in where I can, but there are some areas (like work for example) where it's not in my control.
Writing by hand has forces me to go slower, so it forces me to think about what I'm writing as I'm writing it. It gives me more THINK time. I'm more deliberate with word and sentence choices. And since I don't want to write a whole bunch of stuff and then cross it out, I will actually take the time to think for several minutes before I start adding words. This makes the process more mindful, meditative, relaxing, and more fun.
I have even started typing things ON MY PHONE. I am writing this post on my phone. I hated typing on my phone because it's so slow, but now that I appreciate slower speeds, I actually enjoy it.
So let's tie these things together.
In order to improve the quality of my work and the quality of the experience of creating the work, I have created more friction. This friction prevents me from doing the work on a consistent basis.
Yay~!
The real problem honestly is that when it comes to Tricky Fox Tales, I created too much friction. I gave the project its own notebook, and I was using this color coded system where dialogue was one color, dice roll stuff was another color, and the narrator was a third color.
The story I'm working on that I'm writing my hand is much simpler. It has a designated notebook, but that notebook also has a cover with a pen holder. I put the pen that writes the best in that notebook into the pen holder. That means in order to start that I just have to open the notebook, take out the pen that's already there, and start writing. For me to start on Tricky Fox Tales, I have to get out all of the RPG materials, character sheets, rule sheets, the special colored pens, and the special notebook.
Whoops.
Obviously I need to do it differently. I'm still working on that. Once I do, I think the rest of TFT will go faster, and I'm excited for that, it's very fun to do.