(Actual Splathouse Lore is an educational series about how I entered into content creation, and what I’ve learned. You can read part one here. You can read part two here.)
And here we are.
A shoddy excuse for a professor, and his gifted pupils.
Before we finish our series, I’d like to take a moment and thank all of you for reading. This last week has been a boon to my mental wellbeing. I appreciate the feedback I have received and hope my introspection has bred your own. I love you all, as always.
But I’ve given you a shit deal haven’t I?
I stated on twitter this series was going to focus on what I’d learned creating splathouse. I implied that I’d pull the veil back a bit, let you take some of what I’ve done and apply it to your own. Our first two entries were more autobiographical than educational. I apologize, but both (I feel) were valuable lessons in self actualization. It’s my sincere hope you all realize your innate capacity and power for change after reading those entries.
However, it’s time to put aside my own story for now. It’s been told-the words are free of my head, and will outlive me.
It’s time to focus on you-your story, your immortality, and how best to achieve it.
Lets start.
Why Create?:
I lead with this question, as I find it’s the most difficult one to tackle. Allow me to be perfectly blunt-absolutely no one can answer this except you.
Seriously. No one creator can tell you why you should create. They can only tell you why they create. It’s something that requires moments of repeated introspection. It’s something that can shift and change-and will. It’s a question you’ll ask in your worst moments. It’s something you can only answer during peak euphoria.
It’s still something only you can answer. However, you’re reading for solid advice. So here goes.
Don’t create media expecting to be rich, famous, critically applauded or popular. One need only stroll through twitter to realize how many extremely talented people work for free. One need only view literally any review site to realize how even the most brilliant works can be torn away by public opinion. There are untold numbers of writers, artists, actors, and musicians composing incredible works you will never read, see, hear about or notice.
This is partially due to the fundamental shift of the creative market (we’ll get to that soon). It’s also partially because of a paradigm shift in how we, as consumers and creators, disperse information. Mostly though, it’s because few people are aware of a creative work unless it’s curated to them via their social networking feed by other people.
So again, don’t get into creative works expecting to be paid, to be noticed, or to be loved. Toss all of that out the window. You are entitled to nothing regardless of your skill level. You can lose everything in a single Tweet. Don’t forget, but push aside, turning your works into your day job at first. If you fall into the trap of materialistic motivation, you’re just going to get burned out and bitter. You’ll lash out at your audience, and yourself. You’ll stop.
Before going any further, I’d like to add here that there is absolutely nothing wrong with quitting. Life is chaos masquerading as order-sometimes your moment as a creative isn’t this moment. Maybe it’s next week or a decade from now. Maybe you’ll find something else to do. Any option is a perfectly valid option for dropping from the public creative stage.
If you’re serious about creating, for yourself or for the public, I want you first to dig deep. Get in your feelings, get deep into your head. Ask yourself this question, and be honest. You don’t have to tell that answer to anyone, and that answer can shift as you grow. My motivation for creating?
I literally couldn’t afford therapy at first. Now I still can’t afford therapy, but the joy I bring other people keeps me grounded and sane. That’s it. That’s all I need. Occasionally getting paid is cool I guess, but I would still work for free simply because of the joy it brings myself and others.
That’s my reason, and it’s valid. Your reason is no less valid either. Identify it, accept it, and re-ask yourself this question on occasion.
Where to create?:
It’s been told that the world is a stage. I prefer what a friend once said about the creative experience: “We’re all whores shouting over other whores on the street corner”.
They’re not wrong. At least, that’s my experience-and yours as you begin to bring your works to the public.
Knowing just where to place your works requires three things: Awareness of capital, awareness of the “conversation”, awareness of diversifying.
Awareness of “capital” can be metaphorical or literal. As you look into where to host your works, ask yourself-Do I know services my friends are using? How much funding do I have?
If you have some social connections, go where your friends are. If you’ve a few hundred bucks, look into starting your own website. With self hosting, you ultimately control what gets posted, and aren’t subject to EULA changes such as what occurred with Tumblr last year. Friends will often support your work if you support their endeavors as well, which creates free marketing via retweets, reblogs, and more. This isn’t malicious in intent-again, often the only way people hear about works is through mutual curation.
If you have absolutely nothing, don’t panic. Seriously, don’t panic. I started Splathouse on Tumblr four years ago with absolutely no social connections or money. Now, I’ve got my site funded, a new microphone purchased, and have a patreon. I’ve friends I can depend on not only for mutual advertising, but emotional and professional support. The literal and metaphorical capital will come in time.
However, that can be a very long time if you’re unaware of the “conversation”. I use this as an umbrella term to describe pretty much every platform, social networking and otherwise. Where are people talking the most about your medium? What platform seems the most open to your work? Go where like minded creators are to start with. Don’t romance the idea that any one platform is better than another-they’re not. The difference is user base size, and that’s it. Be a part of “the conversation” in your medium multiple places for multiple perspectives on the market of your medium. How people discuss fiction on twitter, for example, is totally different than how they discuss it on DeviantArt, livejournal and others. This leads to you having a more finite grip on how to acquire that capital we talked about.
Likewise-and this is incredibly important-you are a living marketing opportunity for your works. You gain notice through engagement. You can lose it all with a single foul-up. So conduct your platform usage in such a way that is conducive to a marketable image. I goof off and shitpost on twitter a lot-and it’s lead to me appearing open and easily approachable. However, how I conduct myself in private messages and on my discord server is far more personal and one-on-one. This is absolutely by design, as such “conversations” are meant to be far more intimate than posting memes and screaming about my dick. Twitter opened the door-and I shifted my marketing awareness when people entered. See how that works?
As paranoid as this sounds, treat every engagement-be it with a patron of your works, or a fellow creative-as though you’re being recorded. Because you are. Is what you’re typing or saying conducive to your brand? If not, take a moment before you send that tweet. Take a moment before you crack that joke, or get angry.
Is it absolutely worth losing what you’ve worked for? More often that not, what you think will get you clout or justice is temporary. Let it go. Come back when you’ve gathered yourself and calmed down. Be honest and transparent with people, but don’t let your emotions control your keys.
As you enter into the “conversation”, keep the above firmly in mind. Be humble. Don’t lie, don’t claim clout or capital you don’t have. Pay your collaborators and fellow creators more than they’re worth-as many of us are working for below-poverty wages if anything at all. Admit when you are wrong, are ignorant, and fuck up. People will have far more respect for you for admitting your mistakes than for “taking the high ground” or adhering to some notion that being “right” in a petty squabble is “worth it”. It absolutely never is and will burn every bridge you’ve made.
With that said, no one is entitled to your attention except for you. The only truly valuable asset any of us have is time. Spend it on people you believe in, truly support and want to see succeed. You do not have to give it to people because they asked, because they needled you, because they whined, or because they yelled. Block buttons exist. Mute features exist. Use them and live your life instead of wasting it. You are not weaker simply because you don’t wish to engage with antagonistic or upsetting people.
This is especially important as your “conversation” widens, and you diversify your platforms. Remember when I said no one platform is better than another? Unless you’ve financial, personal or capital motivation for doing so, don’t be married to one platform. This is a lesson lots of people learned last november during The Great Tumblr Purge(™). Staying on one platform greatly reduces the chances of your work getting exposure. It limits your opportunities to network with other creatives. It turns any capital you might acquire into a drop in the bucket. If you want to succeed (or at least get noticed), multi-platform uploading is your best chance. Splathouse has its own site-and is also dual uploaded on DeviantArt, SoundCloud, PillowFort and still Tumblr. I also make use of CuriousCat, Twitter and Discord. Uploading to these takes minutes out of my day. While you don’t have to be on every platform, failing to diversify your uploads means you’re in for a long, hard grind.
And you want people to notice your work, don’t you?
How to Create?:
We’ve found motivation, and you’ve spread your presence as far as you can.
Now how exactly are we going to handle getting the work out there?
The simple, short answer is “do the thing and do it well”. Create content on your schedule unless you’re being paid/commissioned. You’ve no deadlines save for those you set for yourself. To date, I’ve settled for zero deadlines and maintained a fairly consistent uploads save for bouts of depression. There’s no reason to adhere to deadlines unless you just want to.
So start by sitting down, and doing the thing. Don’t rush to complete it. Don’t be hasty or fearful of the public response. Simply start.
Now that you’ve jumped that hurdle here’s my final piece of advice:
Don’t be afraid to change. Don’t be afraid of trying something new. Stop telling yourself you can’t do something.
I see people buy into all three of these lies, often all at the same time. It’s a big load of shit. No, really. It’s a load of shit you’re telling yourself to remain comfortable. In our last entry, I used a quote that stated “our greatest fear is we’re powerful beyond measure”. I started Splathouse telling myself I was a shit writer. When that was proven untrue, I told myself I couldn’t possibly create a game. After I created three of those, I told myself no one would ever want to hear me on a mic again. Five hundred episodes of Splat Speaks later that’s been proven untrue. I’m still trying to tell myself I’m not total shit at art.
I went into every bit of this with zero knowledge, capital, skill or understanding of the conversation.
But I did the thing, and I did it well.
There is absolutely no reason you can’t do the same.
You are powerful beyond even your most hardline self-realizations. Your limits are illusions created by a mind clouded with fear. If you walk away with nothing else this week, I want you to realize there is nothing standing in the way of creation except yourself.
That’s all for now.
Get your story out there. Get your work out there. Join the conversation, join your peers.
Become just as fucking amazing as I know you are. As you know you are.
Thank you for your time. Have an amazing weekend.