Rethinking Creativity

In my mind, I always associated creativity with freedom. I don’t know where I got that notion, but the word creativity always summoned images of untethered adventures and boundless exploration. The blank page was to me the proper birthing condition for all creative endeavours. Because of this worldview, I perceived due dates, prescribed word counts, and imposed writing themes as anathema to creativity.

So it was with some trepidation and a lot of discomfort this year that I took on the task of writing submissions specifically in response to calls from anthologies. Why take on this challenge that so opposed my view on creativity? Well, I reasoned, if I’m going to be a writer, I should be able to write. Whatever the conditions. That’s how I approach combat sports and fitness competitions. Athletes rise to challenges; they don’t duck them. Whenever, whomever, whatever.

My first project, “Fromage and Failure,” was written for Raconteur Press’ upcoming anthology whose writing prompt was “For want of a sprocket.” The theme is about the idea of how missing one minor detail can change the events of history, and the goal was to explore what the world would look like because of this course alteration.

I went to ChatGPT to research important turning points in history that did not involve warfare or violence. Who hasn’t already tried to imagine a world where Lincoln accidentally lost his theatre ticket? My goal was something less obvious. The Wright Brothers were one of the items that came up, and despite–or maybe because of–having very little knowledge about the history of aviation, I thought this was a curious avenue to explore. My AI aide suggested that absent a successful flight demonstration at Kitty Hawk, Frenchman Alberto Santos-Dumont might have been the first to succeed at putting a person in the skies. Chat wittily imagined an airline industry ripe with the smell of artisanal cheeses, suggesting the title “Fromage and Failure.” And that was all the creative jet fuel I needed.

Tickled by the absurdity, I set out to create a revenge plot to redeem the Wright Brothers by sabotaging the French-dominated aviation industry in a most unexpected way. It turned out to be fun researching and writing this piece. French cuisine and airplanes are two subjects foreign to me, and they seemed just disconnected enough to be interesting. After a couple of days’ work, I found myself holding an amusing though ridiculous first draft. Only problem was that, short story writer that I am, my draft was 1700 words long. When I rechecked the submission guidelines, I discovered Raconteur wants stories in the range of 5,000-8,000 words. Oops.

No amount of adjectives was going to make up the 3300-word shortfall. The main character around whom I had crafted the story was not going to be able to carry a 5000-word story alone. I began again, keeping all the things I liked about the first draft, but introducing a complication in the form of a second main character. In this case, an antagonist. Of course, his participation completely changed the story’s outcome, steering it in almost the opposite direction of the first draft. But to my surprise and delight, this only strengthened the story.

In the end, I wrote almost 6000-words and trimmed it down to just north of 5000 in the editing process. A masterpiece? No. But a cute, entertaining tale with an unexpected twist and a lot of absurd humour. And more importantly, proof that I could bend my creativity to serve a predefined theme, due date, and even word count–and have fun doing so.

So much fun, in fact, that I went on to write “The best Kind of Pet” for Raconteur’s “Pet Monster” themed anthology, “Half Baked Curses” for Raconteur’s “Muse” themed anthology and “Back Country Adventures” for Iron Fang Press’ “Vacations From Hell” anthology. All three of them stronger and funnier that Fromage and Failure.

And here is the real takeaway: I’ve been thinking about creativity wrong all along. Creativity isn’t only about unbridled freedom set loose upon the blank page. Creativity is also the ability to craft something new out of the resources provided. Creativity is taking a thing given to you and trying to see it in a new and interesting way. Constraints aren’t the antithesis of creativity; sometimes they are the catalysts for it. Instead of being a burden, they can in fact be a blessing; the irritating grain of sand around which the oyster forms its pearl.

Yes, I’ve taken a brain break from anthology submissions the past couple weeks allowing my creative muse to roam the wide-open freedom of the blank page, but I’ll be reining it in soon as we buckle down for our next foray into themed writing projects.

No, Raconteur did not pick up Fromage and Failure for their upcoming anthology, and I really wasn’t that surprised or even disappointed. I did receive an encouraging rejection letter. They selected 10 out of 107 submissions. While they appreciated the research that went into my story, their final selection decisions were made trying to use stories set in a similar temporal mode. I am guessing that most submissions had a more futuristic scifi bent compared to Fromage and Failure’s anachronistic, alternate history feel. It might have been a jarring contrast to the other stories in the collection. 

The upshot is that I have a fun little story to share with you on Substack. Enjoy:
https://brainsoupfic.substack.com/p/fromage-and-failure