Creative Pause

For the last six months, I have been writing a lot of music. I wrote a Bassoon Concerto scored for bassoon and piano that incorporated pre-existing music from A Light in the Attic Suite and the The Day After Halloween Suite with some originally composed material (hopefully to be scored for chamber orchestra later). I updated and edited my Bella Suite that I wrote in 2009 so it would be performance ready. And finally, I completed my Sanguine Symphony, a work that took well over a year to compose. With all of this music flying around in my head, I remembered that every once in while, I need a creative pause.

For me, a creative pause is a break from writing and specifically, writing music. I need to do this because if I keep on writing and transition from one music project to the next, each work will sound too similar to the previous one. This is not always bad. Every composer has a specific style; different harmonies favored, chord progressions commonly used, favorite melodic shapes, et cetera. The problem that I encounter my own writing is that without a creative pause, each subsequent work is a little less original than the previous and my confidence in my own originality falters.

So I pause. My most recent creative pause was when I participated in NaNoWriMo. During the month of November I did not compose a note and I focused on the written word. For me, writing words is extremely difficult. I have been writing music for around 26 years and am comfortable expressing myself through sound. But words are different. A story is just a collection words that everyone can read, but to be able to communicate clearly and creatively with those words is extremely difficult. I have writing all my life, but only recently do I feel I have a basic grasp of how to communicate using words.

Looking over the next few months I plan on having another creative pause as I record my Inspired by Silliness Suite, A Tiny Symphony, and rerecord A Light in the Attic Suite. The act of performing music is completely different than composing music or writing words. Performing music requires a great deal of practice, concentration, physical memory, and precision. The only way to become a better performer is to practice for weeks and months on end and to truly get a grasp of your instrument, for years! Then, when you are decent at your chosen instrument, which can include singing, you have to somehow add your own musicality and originality to a performance which is the real challenge of performance.

At the end of the day, you need to do what works for your creativity and your ability to rest and recharge your mind. For me, a creative pause allows my mind to focus on something else other than just music. For others, a creative pause might be reading instead of writing, it might be training for a marathon, writing a journal article, or purusing some other hobby. We all strive to be creative but every once in awhile, we must also let our creativity rest.

My View of Storytelling

I have been writing since I was 14. At that age I tried to write on a grand scale; symphonies, operas, novels, epic poems, and like. At that time my writing was truly youthful because my skills and artistic self-awareness were not fully developed. It took another 15 years for me to finally find my voice and now 25 years later I feel comfortable writing and this has led to me to reflect on my journey from a teenager to adult writer. Previously, I have written about my own development as a writer in my articles My Compositional Focus and All Music is Original. No Music is Original, but in this article I will collect my thoughts on my personal view of storytelling.

For me, storytelling, whether it is through words or music, is simple. You should, in no particular order:

• Be honest and be yourself;

• Have confidence in your artistic direction;

• Write what you know;
• Edit and revise within reason;
• Accept that what you write might never go beyond your friends and family;

• Write because you have a story to tell.

Be honest and be yourself.

Why do you need to be honest and be yourself? The words and notes you choose are a reflection of who you are inside. This might sound dramatic and overly artsy, but for most people, writing is about self-expression and the best way to effectively communicate with others is to be honest and be yourself.

Have confidence in your artistic direction.

Having confidence in your artistic direction is one of the most difficult concepts writers must face. Some writers have a loud and often times distracting internal voice that is overly critical and detrimental. This is understandable because when you put a work out to the public, 33% of the people will love it, 33% of the people will be polite, and 33% of the people will not like it (my own stats). This all comes down to personal taste in art. As a writer, you must have a strong internal compass that allows you overcome the criticisms of others and helps you focus on your artistic direction.

Write what you know.

Next, write what you know. This does not mean you cannot write Star Trek fan fiction on some distant planet or write about a Medieval mystic. This just means that your stories need to be driven by characters that are relatable and real. If you create characters that are caricatures, do not have any substance, or are not believable, then the reader will not be interested. Often, the people in our own lives are more interesting than anything you will find in-print and being able to translate your own relationships into interesting characters, without angering your friends and family members, is a great challenge.

Edit and revise within reason.

For years I had numerous folders on my computer of half finished works that I never was able to complete. This was because I would constantly edit and revise these works and never just sit down and finish them. I have learned that when writing a piece you need to finish it, edit it within reason, and move on to your next project. This is important because as a writer, you can get bogged down in editing; constantly revising a work to make it better or perfect can quickly stifle your creativity.

Accept that what you write might never go beyond your friends and family.

By stating this I do not mean to be depressing or defeatist, but real. What happens if what you write never goes beyond your front door? What happens if your stories are never published on the big time and do not make a mi$$ion dollars? Elizabeth Gilbert commented on this possibility and is the best advice I have ever heard when it comes to writing and money.

Write because you have a story to tell.

Finally, everyone has a novel, a symphony, or an opera in their head. Each person has a story to tell that is worthy of being told. Some writers have just one story to tell during their lifetime while others have countless. The most important thing is that you tell your story because you have a story to tell and that your story is a means of self-expression.