Wil Wheaton on Getting Your Creative Work Out There
Seven months ago, Slashdot got an interview with Wil Wheaton. They sent him their questions. He’s only just got around to replying – he’s been a bit on the busy side recently. Anyway, the whole thing is well worth a read – funny, smart, and full of tips, stories and humour. He has some great comments on getting your creative stuff out there to the world – some snips…
Create something, and release it yourself. You don’t need anyone’s permission, and the traditional rules about distribution just don’t apply anymore.
The long answer to you question is: First, create something for yourself. You asked about acting, but this applies to a book, a ‘zine, a website, a web-comic, a short film . . . whatever. Don’t wait for someone else to give you something to do, or give you permission to do it. Just create something that you are passionate about.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Here is the most important thing I can tell you: You do not need the so-called traditional channels of distribution to get your work to an audience, and you’ll probably be happier and more successful by not going through those channels. I’ve done it both ways, and self-publishing and distributing was more fun, more creatively satisfying, and much more financially rewarding than the indescribably frustrating process of doing it the other way.
I wholeheartedly agree with what Wil says about “You don’t need anyone’s permission”.
It is highly satisfying and stimulating to self-publish. An illustrated blog, for example, need not cost you anything except time and energy. The priceless reward from “getting it out there” for any creative person is a tangible growth in artistic self awareness and esteem.
Peter Bryenton http://www.brypix.com
Sorry the Spam eater ate your comment. I made it spit it back out again, though. I think it’s caught on to the idea that anything on Typepad is spam, so anything linking to it is spam too. I can’t seem to shift the idea too easily, but it’s only a click when we log in to release stuff again.
Anyway, I think it’s great that there’s a whole generation now growing up with the idea that they’ll always have a camera with them (even if it is pretty poor quality, in their phone), and that sticking their pictures online with something like Flickr, and sharing it with the world, is easier than getting a film developed to show a print to their gran.