Creativity: Expand and Contract
Introduction
Countless books and courses exist that will, “Make you more creative,” but when the rubber meets the road it really comes down to sitting your butt in a seat and doing the work. Still, maxims, routines, and processes succeed where willpower fails.
Every creator’s process is different and the more specific you make your process, rather than just following the daily routines of famous artists, the better it will work for you.
That being said, a good overarching model is the Expand and Contract Method.
Expand
In this phase of the creative process, the goal is to expand as far out as you possibly can. This is the collecting phase. This is the brainstorming phase. This is the phase we all love.
It’s the constant search for that perfect sound on Spotify or that quest to find the right quote or research to support your claim. In our mind’s eye, this is us sitting in a candlelit attic furiously digging through old books as a victrola plays.
Here, we do not yet have the idea. Maybe there is a concept, an emotion, or a feeling. Perhaps we are pulled towards a genre or motif, but we do not have the “thing” yet.
In this part of the process we are using gravity, code, and kismit to find what we are looking for, or, as Cormac McCarthy reminded us:
“The ugly fact is books are made out of books, the novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.”
We can see Austin Kleon’s work from “Steal Like an Artist” reflected here. It’s best to think of ourselves as collectors, after all, all artists are made up of their tastes. Honestly, this is probably what attracted you to the creative process anyway.
You, the creative, possessed a keen ear, eye, or nose. One of your senses was acutely tuned to your medium and you were able to pick the best wine, the best herb, the best paint out of the bunch.
Actors imitated what they considered good acting, or bad acting in my case but I liked it nonetheless (see Nic Cage, Vincent Price, Al Pacino at his best, Robin Williams off-the-cuff, Jim Carrey on four cups of coffee).Musicians potentially tried to steal a riff, a beat, or a concept from their favorite musicians but can’t quite imitate it in the right way. Writer’s feel a powerful mix of envy and joy when a story, a line, or a piece of dialogue feels as if it is ripped from their own subconscious.
Know this:
The dirty secret of all artists is they wish they could be someone else. But we can’t. Try as we might all we can be is ourselves, even in imitation, even in theft, all we end up with is our own lens. That’s okay. That’s the secret sauce. Trust your taste, see where it takes you, and produce.
Now that we’ve collected all this material, we have to do something with it. We have to reduce.
2. Contract
It’s the natural cycle of life. We must first grow then we must contract to survive.
Nothing expands forever, even the Universe, will eventually snap back to its core.
Expansion is the fun part. It’s ideation. It’s brainstorming. It’s the muse flowing through us. Contacting is the work.
Everyone must edit. Even though Hemingway did not say the now infamous line, “Write drunk edit sober,” Papa was a proponent of editing:
“…The only kind of writing is rewriting.”
Part 1: Get it down on paper
Part 2: Realize it’s shit and make it look like you did it on purpose.
We all have ideas. In our heads, they’re perfect, crystal-clear images of epic samurai battles, perfectly crafted character arcs, and pristine thesis that can change the course of the reader's life. And then we get it down on paper. Or as the meme goes:
So we have to clean it up. We have to put in the work and realize what is shit and what is Shinola. There is no other way around it.
It is possible it came out perfectly like one of the VH1 Behind the Music stories where take 1 of the song was hit. Odds are, however, this ain’t reality TV.
Suck it up and be a pro.
Produce
Herm Edwards knew what he was saying when he quipped, “Don’t press send!”
We all do dumb stuff and want to publish it. Social media encourages viral, outrageous hot takes. It rewards inflammatory statements.
When it comes to our personal lives, keep Edwards's words in mind. Unless you want to be an opinion columnist, an influencer, or simply someone who derides then keep your Tweet/X to yourself.
When it comes to our work? Share that shit.
Show your work. Share the process. Get out in public. We have to put our work out there.
It used to be the case a writer had to be rejected by every blasted editor in the world first. Unknown writers are not hot commodities. They have no fanbase, no way to move sales. So, novels, articles, and shorts were rejected almost out of habit.
Today, that is no longer the case. There are too many Mediums out there to sit on the sideline. If the work sits on yourself, it's the equivalent of an unread manuscript, an unproduced play, or a book rotting on a shelf.
We can’t leave our work unfinished, unshared. Life is too fleeting. Good or bad the work has to be done. There was a time when artists wanted to appear perfect, divinely inspired.
We wanted to make it seem like the art flows forth effortlessly, and occasionally you will find someone who carries that flame. But, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case, has never been the case, and never will be the case. You’ve got to work. You’ve got to sweat. You’ve got to suck.
And through it all, you’ve got to share.
Key Lesson: It’s quantity over quality.
Conclusion
Let’s keep it pithy as ole Papa would suggest, shall we?
There are three phases every creator goes through: expansive fun, cold contraction, and public humiliation.
We can’t shirk the task. We can learn to ride the wave and surf.
Otherwise, make the shift from creative tasks to technical ones and learn to improve the system.