The Creative Unknown
The creative unknown is a term that has come up a few times in my articles, and it’s something I want to expand upon a little bit more.
Creative flow
As artists, we are known for creating. But where does that creativity come from?
Have you ever created something and found yourself staring at it or listening to it over and over again? You’re dumbfounded by what you’ve created? You’re aware you made it, but you’re also inspired by it. You might experience a little bit of imposter syndrome?
Maybe before a project, you already had a rough idea where you want to go and what you wanted to accomplish and you sort of, but not really, knew what to do in order to get there.
Then that process began. The process of the creative unknown. Creativity just came out of you. You took those pictures, you moved that brush or pencil. Your fingers moved over the piano or keyboard keys – and things happened.
It’s only after you came out of the creative flow and looked back, you were amazed by your own work. It might have felt like it wasn’t you who created it. It was you, but it also wasn’t you.
"The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists." - Charles Dickens
Discovery
In order to get into the process of creative flow, you need to leave room for discovery. To simply allow the creativity to flow out of you, and not judge it. Get out of your own way. Don’t judge or criticize as you’re creating. Just create.
Find comfort in the unknown.
You can only plan so much. The rest should be up to discovery and innovation. Whether it’s gibberish and something you’ll delete later, it doesn’t matter. You’re discovering. Just discover. Don’t label it. Don’t judge it. Allow it to be. Go down the rabbit hole and see what you find on the other side.
Perfection shouldn’t be on your mind when you go through this process. What should be on your mind is discovery, and you can only accomplish that by moving forward. That means going through some mud and fog.
Most of the time you have no idea where you’re going and what you’re going through is muddy. It’s nothing you’ll consider good or worthy of sharing, and that’s exactly the point. It’s during this process where you make your discoveries. Where you simply stumble upon things you never previously thought of, and it was there all this time. All you had to do was to allow yourself the opportunity to find it.
Now you can take whatever you found back to where you came from, clean it up and refine it, then share it with the world.
It’s this process you should fall in love with. Have a passion for the process, not the end result. In the end, the hard work and creative suffering should have been worth it, then you have passion for what you do.
Process of the work
The reason you’re able to create great work today, is because you created good work yesterday.
Never stop creating. Keep putting in the work. Learn from others, but also learn from yourself. Learn from your past mistakes and successes. Find what worked and what didn’t. But keep going.
Your greatest piece of work never arrives. It’s always still to come.
Always travelling, never arriving.
You might create something incredible today and have no idea how you did it. It might be because of the work you’ve done previously. It’s all of those experiences and skills that have allowed you to create what you just did.
Everyone is on their own creative journey so don’t compare your journey to theirs.
WONDERFUL POST FRIEND😊
Always traveling, and never arriving. Always creating, and never being done. Our cyclical shifts of existence move us in spirals and bring sweet satisfaction how there is no destination, for path itself is the key of the expansion of the Universe. Your each creation expands the sum of everything that is.
You provided an awesome view on creative process and discovering so much beauty in the unknown. It was a pure pleasure to read it 💚
As a storyteller my creativity for blog post well-up from memorial experiences , photos I’ve taken, and the desire to document, and often an expression of humor to share. Good post. Thanks for sharing
Memoriable experiences, …if I could spell …lol
Wonderful post. Very interesting and full of positivity. Keep up the good work.
Wonderful thoughts…all of us experience it at some time or the other…
Words describing an experience coming from a creative mind. 👏👏Lovely.
Great read. In photography, especially film use, I used a phrase ‘The Shock of Latent Imagery’. When you go through the process of push the button to developing your negatives and dark room printing your photographs. Seeing the image develop in front of your eyes. The first one to see it. Disappointment or wonder ensues. ‘Did I actually produce this?’ scenario. No pride involved. That is simply not on the agenda. It is just as you insightfully say here, inspiration and imposter syndrome go hand in hand. Mostly you can be your own worst critic. But from time to time it’s good to recognise small self success. No pat on the back. Just a wonderful feeling that gives goosebumps. Cheers for your posts. Enlightening in their reflective nature.
Love this post so much, wonderful words.
That’s a lovely piece Hannes. I think you’re right regarding falling in love with the process. That’s one thing I’m trying to learn and it took me time to realize that it is important to play and savour every step along that journey…way before you hit that final stage of putting it all together to create the final piece.
Very well stated. We need to enjoy the entire journey (especially the discovery & all it may yield), not just the end result. Thank you!
That was very encouraging, something that all of us who create, can relate with.
This is really good! Excellent quote from Dickens, too, but the good counsel is in itself inspiring to me today. And you are so right! It’s the process of discovery, the “hmm, what should come next? Let’s try this. Noooo, how about this” and so on and so on, until that feeling that it is ready for the unveiling.
Thank you for this post
Here we go again. You just seem to know what to write and when to share your thoughts and insights! I receive your gift this morning as I start my day! I know and have experienced this creative flow with my writing. I never know what the topic will be before I start writing or what I will write. I sit at my computer, ask Great Spirit to “order my steps” and then the process whatever it is begins. When I read it back, and I not saying it is profound, but I don’t know how it came thru me. A strange feeling of “and so it is”-Ashe
Thanks for brining this to light!
Very interesting
Great, inspiring post, Hannes.
♥It might have felt like it wasn’t you who created it. It was you, but it also wasn’t you.♥
This is such an inspiring and grounding note. It takes the wobble out of my knees.
Helps me to stand firm
Thank you for tackling the muddiness in the creative flow
A fragrant note I will use as a bookmarker.
Nice thoughts, well said! I’ve written two novels–for each one, I had a starting point and destination, but I had no idea what would happen in between. So, I “got on the train” to see what I’d discover along the way. Even though I had a general outline, the characters and landscape changed as I wrote. Having your approach makes that “creative ride” a whole lot more fun and adventurous!! Keep up the good work!
Yeah, it’s interesting.. We create things that we may think are not very good and yet others respond as if you’ve touched them in that special way that art can.. If we are too critical of our own work then we may be taking away other’s opportunities to fall in love with it. 🙂 Nice one wandering 🙂
Very inspiring… thank you for this.
Nice post, very inspiring. Keep it up.
Always travelling, never arriving. I really like that. That feels like my life. I never want to stop growing, learning, changing.
I needed this reminder today! Thank you.
Great post. You said what had been in my head and heart but had to put to words.
I love this post! It’s so encouraging. Thank you!
Nice post! I really enjoyed it. Keep going!
The quote by Charles Dickens was absolutely amazing . As a very young writer who just started it certainly will be helpful
I can relate to this and have often thought about it. You have given me the clue
Gosh yes!~ Whenever looking over my old work I wow myself only by the time I finish reading realize I’m the one who needs to update the next chapter and then suddenly feel like it’s beyond me. Imposter syndrome is definitely the perfect way to describe it!
Good talk. Cause this is definitely me.
“The reason you’re able to create great work today, is because you created good work yesterday.” I’m gonna tuck those words into the folds of my heart.
Thanks.
I’m you resonated with it 🙂 You have so much creative potential in you just waiting to be discovered 🙂
I have done those things, create not to show, just to create. Those were fine things. When I get blocked, I need to remember to get creative. It always works. My best writing has come from my personal diary where I write my personal life, pains, pressures, the unknown, fears. I have written fine things from just from one thought, one word. I will remember these things, and stay creative. Thanks
I recently read a quote from the book Outliers, “The drive to succeed and the accompanying fear of failure have held back some of the greatest creators…”. It’s interesting how our creativity sometimes disappears when we feel obligated to create something “great” or “worthy” – before we created it. Shouldn’t we judge our creative work AFTER we have created it, because then we have at least created something? It might be good or average, but at least it can serve as a foundation to create something even better.
As I understand, the way you’re creating is the most authentic and best way to create. Your writing is an extension of who you are. Your thoughts and experiences. Your writing is literally a piece of you transferred onto paper.
‘All you had to do was to allow yourself the opportunity to find it.’ You know, this is true about other people, allowing them to reveal themselves. You won’t always like who they turn out to be but you have choices then made on observation, rather than projections. Same process, fits multiple subjects.