Are you different from the other members of your family? What about your neighbours in your community? Do you understand your differences and what are the impacts of those differences? The art of being different actually comes naturally for many people, but as we grow we’re pulled into the world where we sacrifice some of our differences to blend or fit into a group because we are social creatures. Creative people generally tend to explore differences more easily than others. Whether that helps an artist sell a creative project is another thing entirely.
Creative people generally tend to explore differences more easily than others. Whether that helps an artist sell a creative project is another thing entirely. Originality is always something to strive towards because most people are looking for some kind of fresh new spin on a subject.
Everyone knows that catch word “Hybrid”. So let’s look at how to use the interaction between two unlikely things, cultures, traditions, etc., to build something different.
- We all have different experiences and I’d encourage everyone to utilise their interests and understanding of their expertise and exploit this in your writing, blogging or vlogging.
- Learn to explore your knowledge with new or different interests or expertise and place them together. Have them interact.
- Accept and respect differences of others and ask yourself this question. What if you had to work with a group of people from different cultures, and your creative ideas have been brought together. Then a challenge has been set. Check this out! Different People (Stand Together) songwriting project. All different kids in many different ways, but each of them have embraced the creative challenge. And the outcome is a brilliant collaboration.
Remember: Our life experiences also make us uniquely different.
Travel writing is becoming the real blogging buzz. Here’s a quick idea for bringing two subjects together – teenagers and travel from my experiences. Here’s a short extract from my travel diary which I could write about in more detail later.
Borneo Brings Us Together – A Mother and Daughter Story
I was always good at going off the grid while on holiday. I had decided the perfect place to build a bond with my daughter was Borneo. I didn’t even have much trouble convincing her. She wanted to go! So off we go!
Mescote’s Jungle Eco-Camp
Travelling to the camp began in a canoe. After our paddle down the river, stopping occasionally to view the monkeys playing in the trees or the odd crocodile swimming down the river, we arrived. During the afternoon we settled into a hut on stilts, and I do mean hut, with two swinging doors, windows (just an open space) a very thin mattress and nothing else. Toilets and showers were down the jungle path. In case you haven’t noticed by now none of the experience was meant to be luxurious. It was about experiencing and bonding with my daughter surrounded by natural jungle.
Our bond was growing each day and in the silence of the jungle at night. A friendship forged in the quiet, peacefulness of our days together. Then came the most powerful experience to date. The noise began in the distance, breaking branches snapping and falling to the ground. I won’t lie. We were both a little scared at that point. The sound came closer, louder and louder until the branches were falling and hitting the roof of our hut. Scared much? Yes! The breaking and banging carried on over us and then once again become a distant sound. The next morning I asked the locals about the noise in the night. What was it? A troupe of monkeys had moved overhead in the night, with no other noise in the jungle at night but breaking branches as they swung from tree to tree to signal their journey high above in the canopy. How cool was that?
If you enjoy being in nature without all the comforts of home this is the place for you.
Early morning in the Borneo Jungle at the Mescote’s Jungle Eco-Camp
So as you can see from my travel diary we are all doing different things for different reasons. As human beings, we do have similarities that link us together and build our rapport with each other, but our differences, when embraced creatively, can be a blessing like no other. Knowing when and how to use them is merely the strategy to help produce success.
Two important rules.
- Don’t compare yourself to other writers or artists. The mainstream world will do that for you. I guarantee that!
- Don’t wish you could be like other artists either. Yes, we have all done it… that stupid comparison and then wished we could write something just as good as another writer. Try not to do this too often. It will stall your creativity and change your methods from a free flowing rhythm to a forced and brittle shell of your true creative self. That doesn’t mean an artist shouldn’t listen to constructive criticism when it’s offered. The key to understanding criticism is reflection and then adjustment if it’s required.
Each of us might use the same technique, but we will almost certainly have a different approach to other things, different experiences, research techniques, not to mention, our writing voice will be vastly different.
Lastly, I know there are millions of people in the world who are “differently similar” It’s true, an oxymoron does have a way of making things “clearly confusing”.
Until next time, be brave and bold in your chosen field of creativity. And never be afraid to explore new techniques.
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