Creativity – when to censor and the importance of originality

 Creativity

Censoring and Originality

I will admit right now, I started writing this post with no idea as to where it is going. I know what I generally want to talk about, but structure? I don't know what that word means.

What inspired this post was Twitter (are you surprised at this point? I barely spend any time on Twitter, yet most of my posts are inspired by something that happened there.) I posted a short story a while ago, which was the first story I had ever written that included swearing and I was of two minds as to whether to post it or not. I generally avoid swearing in all my writing, because I feel like there will always be someone who doesn't like it. However, in this short story, I wanted the swearing to be there. So I asked Twitter. Specifically, I asked if I should post it and whether anyone would care about the swearing, saying that I didn't particularly want to censor it. This tweet was perhaps my most popular one ever. Of course there were one or two people who said that they would mind, and that's completely up to them. I wasn't looking for encouragement, I was looking for honest opinions. For the most part, though, people were incredibly for me posting it. It was the messages in their replies that sparked this post. A lot of them grasped onto the fact that I had said I did not want to censor my work.

Obviously, in real life, there's a time and place for certain things. For example, swearing. You wouldn't swear at your boss (if you like your job, that is), but you might if you stub your toe on the side of your bed. Likewise, there are some things that need censoring, but if something is creative, if you are proud of it and it is not meant in, or likely to cause, any harm, I see no issues with expressing that creativity.

If you are not being creative in your own style, then it will affect your work. Creativity is like handwriting, or a voice, it is different for every person. Sure, you can mimic handwriting, or other peoples voices, but then you are not being yourself – you are being the other person. You can be inspired by someone else and take that inspiration into your own work, but directly affecting your work to please others, or to do what you think will please others, isn't what creativity is about. Take handwriting – you can see someone else's handwriting and think it is lovely and adopt some of their style into your own, but if you copy it completely, you are writing as them, not as yourself. I have seen some lovely handwriting styles, and some of the ways I write letters have changed, but the writing is so messy and clearly mine that I'm not copying the other people's handwriting – I'm being inspired by it.

If you have added something into a story, a work of art, a piece of music, a film, or any other type of creativity, and you think someone might not like it, ask yourself – is it important to the mood and emotions your creation is supposed to elicit? If you put it there for a reason, it probably needs to be there. It's like removing the fact that there is a bicycle present in a scene, but needing the bicycle later on. It just doesn't work.

I mentioned before about the times when censoring, or toning down might be necessary. If your creation will be seen by people outside of your target audience, maybe be careful – you don't want little children seeing or hearing things they shouldn't if your work is available somewhere they can access without a parent/carer to check over it first. If your work contains aspects that go against other people, have a think before letting it loose in the world – think about what people might think of you when you post it. Even if it wasn't your intention, it's very easy to misread a sign, an emotion, or a sentence and you don't want to cause trouble or upset people. If you do, then maybe you shouldn't release that work. 

Creativity is about making something and showing a part of yourself to the world – make sure the part you show is a good part.

Despite the fact that I had no plan, I think this turned out okay. I love creativity, the idea of making something and someone else seeing it is so wonderful. A lot of effort goes into being creative and it is a glimpse into someone else's head, into their thoughts and feelings, and the fact that everyone can be creative in different ways is fascinating to me. I don't care if your creativity is being good at designing bridges, or drawing cartoons, it's something that you have created, something that your brain thought up that you then put into the world. It's something that someone else might be able to do similar, but no one can create the exact same thing as you can.

I hope this last paragraph has inspired someone. Create something, anything. It doesn't matter! Even if you think it's bad, or not the best you could do, you made that thing. YOU! Isn't that great? You are the only person who could have made that in that way, and that's pretty amazing.

Keep creating, and be nice while you do it. Bring some happiness, some appreciation into the world.

Bye!