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yuurei20 · 1 year

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March, 2023 Interview with Twisted Wonderland Creator Toboso Yana

This interview can be viewed in its original form in the App store.

*Disclaimer: This is a fan translation and is not endorsed by anyone associated with Twst. Speaking on Yana's behalf makes me very nervous so I am very careful (and hire a professional proofreader for projects like this), but results may vary! Thank you for your understanding!

The Passion of Toboso Yana, the Creator of the Game’s Concept and Characters

Where did the inspiration for the world and characters of "Disney's Twisted Wonderland" come from?

The person who painstakingly took care of every creative element and holds the key to the entire project is well-known manga artist Toboso Yana.

“I love constraints and aiming to do the best I possibly can when surrounded by hurdles.”

- Toboso Yana (concept and scenario creator, character designer)

“I have a manga series—Black Butler—that is still ongoing, so I had been turning down offers for long-term projects. But then I heard about this, and I love Disney’s works and their characters, so I said I’d do it without a moment’s hesitation. Before I even saw it my editor told me that I would be taking this one on for sure, like a line straight out of a western TV show, and he was absolutely right.

At that time, however, the only thing that had been decided was that it would be a game themed around Disney villains. We started working with Aniplex without knowing what it was we were actually going to make.

Initially we thought ‘Well, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Disney is Hollywood,’ so our initial proposal was that the characters were young actors performing the different Disney IPs in a musical theater format. That was rejected.

Disney has a lot of rules to ensure that their works are accessible to everyone regardless of age or gender, and a lot of our other proposals after the ‘training up actors for the theater’ idea were also turned down.

After that we came up with the idea of setting the game in a school, as a genre that is gaining recognition both in Japan and abroad.”

It took Toboso Yana about six months to come up with the idea that eventually became what the game is today. As she began creating stories and illustrating different elements, the world of “Twisted Wonderland” began to take shape.

“Working on my manga I would often submit different ideas over and over again until I received an OK, and then I would work closely with my editor to brush up on what had been approved. I think those experiences really came in handy.

Personally I love constraints and aiming to do the best I possibly can when surrounded by all the hurdles and decisions that come with game production. In the pre-development stages we were all communicating weekly with one another as I drew ideas for the rhythmic games, user interfaces and battle scenes. I think a big part of the fact that we were able to release Twst at all was that we were able to break through the parts of the game that we just couldn’t imagine or verbalize using the power of illustration."

The Message Entrusted to the Villains

In the main story you get to know seven dormitories and their unique students. You learn about the different sides to each of these characters, and, over time, the weaknesses and problems of these spiteful students who all seem to hate each other.

The depth of the storylines and character development also required a lot of effort from Toboso Yana.

“The story and the characters were created almost simultaneously. The story itself is an homage to the fates suffered by the different Disney villains, but when fitting the characters into the story, they shouldn’t be on a radically more developed stage than the story or vice versa.

The full main plot that I was to share with Disney seemed linear and uninteresting, so I submitted character details and sub-plots at the same time.

I received very thorough checks and made corrections to what was returned to me to be resubmitted in a process that took about a year before I was really able to start writing the scenario for the game in earnest.

And since Disney’s works are universal stories, villain underlings are often a bit comical and subservient to their villain…so there was some difficulty coming up with multiple, individual characters based on them.

For example, coming up with four different students based on the card soldiers from ‘Alice in Wonderland’, and creating a character based entirely on the poison apple from ‘Snow White’ was not easy.

Basically I would put myself in the position of a card soldier and think about how the poison apple must have felt, then I wrote that down and built upon it.

There is no way that apple wanted to become poisonous; it was forced into those circumstances against its will by the Queen just because it was the most appetizing option. Maybe that is what its thoughts would have been? etc.

While working out each character’s personality we created a huge character guide before the game was even released. Since we only had one or two lines for the voice actors to record in the beginning we had them read that character guide, and there were a few times that they showed genuine surprise at the sheer amount of information that was available for them to work with.”

And what’s beyond this story of villains facing their own weakness and frustrations that Toboso Yana has created? Therein lies a positive message that she hopes will reach the game’s users.

“Happy endings in Disney works come from righteous actions and love, but I believe that the villains are characters who do not get saved during the story. That is why, through this game, I want to portray the message that even if you get beat up all the way to a bad ending, you can grow from it and live your life without feeling discouraged.

Acting lame, obstinate, without hesitation, being open and honest—it’s not as bad as it sounds.

I would like to paint a positive picture of living honestly with yourself and not worrying about others.

In today’s society there are so many people who live in fear of failure and are always walking on eggshells, but nobody’s flawless. It is exhausting to try to live your life so that no one will hate you.”

An original culture woven into costume

One of the elements of Twisted Wonderland that has had the most heart poured into it is the costume design.

Toboso Yana explains the struggles behind creating entirely unique designs meant to reinterpret the worlds of the movies upon which the seven dormitories were based.

“I started the design process from the dorm uniforms based on the original works and their worlds.

I wanted the costumes to be modern while also portraying the worldview of each dorm within this school where different countries, cultures and time periods all exist simultaneously.

I also had to be constantly aware of whether some things were too close to existing cultures or fashion brands. For every look that actually made it into the final game, I created almost three times as many different designs for everything.

For example, for the designs for the Pomefiore dorm uniform, the more elements that were added, the wider the disconnect from the original, classic animation. It was very difficult, but eventually I settled upon using the silhouette as a starting point and reconstructing it from there, rather than focusing on individual elements. By incorporating what Japanese people consider to be classical (kimono), I was able to come up with a design reminiscent of the simple but elegant impression of the original ‘Snow White.’

For Diasomnia’s dorm uniform, I wanted to incorporate the relationship between Maleficent and her black-armored minion goons into the design. For that I chose leather as something that is both classical and rigid. I also incorporated harnesses, which were trendy in the world of high fashion at the time that I was making these designs.

While keeping the high fashion of the real world in mind, I also placed a lot of importance on expressing the unique culture of Twisted Wonderland itself through the clothing that appears in various events. For example the clothes in the ‘Harveston’s Kelkkalot’ and ‘Tamashina-Mina’ events aren’t reinterpretations of existing costumes. The starting point was designing a possible clothing history based on the daylight hours and the climate of those areas.

A region that is often deep in snow with short daylight hours is likely to develop a culture of embroidery, as people would spend long hours indoors. In hot climates, people might dye breathable materials such as cotton and linen, and maybe end up with something like this or that, etc. That was the thought process. That is how I design costumes based on the different textile histories and cultures of Twisted Wonderland.

The costumes for some of the events took almost two years to complete, including constant checks and revisions. There are often times when people will spend actual money in order to acquire these costumes, so I don’t want the quality to be anything less than one might expect to find at a fashionable store.

A member of staff at my own studio, D-6th, holds professional certifications in Western-style sewing and pattern making, so everything from the backs of the costumes to how they would be worn has been designed so that they could actually be functional. Since it is a world of magic, however, fantastical and dreamlike designs are just as important as realistic ones, so sometimes we decided, ’This part would look too awkward if it were sewn on, so let’s pretend it has been attached by magic.’"

The Epic Story of Twisted Wonderland

Since its launch in 2020, the world of Twisted Wonderland that you, the main character, have wandered into, has been developing spectacularly along the main story by Toboso Yana. Here, she explains the passion that comes from the creative development process:

“We have been able to achieve some degree of success through the combination of myself (who had only ever drawn manga), Aniplex (who were unaccustomed to creating games targeted at a female audience) and F4samurai (who handled the development and management on-site but had never attempted this genre before).

I think one of the reasons for this is how close all three of us were able to work with one another. I enjoy every meeting that we have. Despite having no idea how game development works I am always coming up with these ideas, and they are always so accommodating and are never caught off guard. It feels like we have always been working by trial and error together.

The text of the first book is 35,000 Japanese characters long but book 6 has over 250,000. Up until about book 3 users are still getting to know the characters, so we prioritized helping people come to understand the world of Twst and keeping things compact. After the game was released, however, it felt like people were reading much more deeply into the story than we had anticipated. So now I include much more information than was provided during those setup chapters.

Going forward things are going to be on a much larger scale, incorporating not only the vertical and horizontal axes of the story but also expanding upon elements such as a present, past and future.

Look forward to Book 7 (currently on chapter 2)!

What I thought of while writing the story is that villains can become extremely strong if they can keep their mindset flexible while developing mutual understanding without compromising their own identities.

The core of this game consists of becoming stronger while reaching an understanding with the strengths, weaknesses and points of view of those who are different from you.

I think that this might be similar to the stance that we all share as we create it.

I think that I have become tougher myself since I first got involved with the development of Twst. I am a manga artist, and this is my first attempt at creating a game. I was surprised, at first, by how many situations there were where my skills were completely useless: meeting the different team members for the first time, being so unfamiliar with the culture of the gaming industry and the strictness of being judged as part of a global work instead of as an exclusively Japanese form of entertainment.

As a result I have reached the point where I am able to adapt my approach to different challenges when my first attempts fail, rather than simply fight them.

Since the characters in the story are villains they do not admit defeat, but they will admit when their opponent does well. Even if they don’t like each other, they will recognize each other’s abilities.

We will continue to develop this game that emphasizes the spirit of villains that cannot be discouraged, and we hope that our users will continue to enjoy it."

#twstyana #twisted wonderland #twst translations

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jenner-benjamin · 3 years

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Extended Practice Summary

Presentation poster that summarises my practice in three words - digital rendering of mixed media works.

Throughout the last three years as a Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking Masters student my work has endured a development beyond that which I could have ever anticipated. I began the course very unsure of myself and felt incredibly out of my depth, suffering from imposter syndrome and a feeling a general uncertainty that I was a right fit for the course. I have since undertaken a series of modules that have; taught me the basic principles of printmaking, shown me how to understand research as a practice in itself, allowed me to develop ideas in a supportive environment, encouraged me to consider where I would place myself as a creative in a professional context, and ultimately, to produce a body of work that consolidates all of the above. My work has developed quite substantially in this time, beginning with figurative printmaking and ending at the complete opposite end of the spectrum in abstraction. However the concepts at the heart of the work have always remained constant. I have always strived to depict an autobiographical narrative, but the aesthetic, the depth of thought and research have progressed.

At the beginning of the academic year I had surmised that visual poetry and asemic writing were a means by which I could communicate a personal narrative. I had spent the previous year touching upon the theory of asemic writing, and using the skills I had learnt in the printmaking studios to develop ideas and explore this newfound and exciting visual language. Because I had established an area of interest and a research methodology, I sought to utilise this final year to try to locate my audience. I achieved a mindset of discerning that the end of the masters degree is not an ending as such, but the beginning of my career as a creative practitioner that is using the end of the masters degree to segue in to a professional context.

In terms of putting my aims in to practice, I submitted works to a multitude of opportunities, open calls and exhibitions with the intention of placing myself in a professional context and locating my audience simultaneously. As time progressed I understood that I am a representative of more than just one community of artists. I am a Masters degree student, a queer artist, a conceptual artist, a performance artist, a book artist, a visual poet and also a researcher. Therefore, by not defining myself as a fixed identity I was able to explore more avenues and test more places where I might place my work. I submitted works to assembling publications and exhibitions, both digital and physical. The networking that I have carried out as a result of this determination has led to further opportunities, such as exhibiting at Bristol Pride and reaching out to artists whose work touches upon asemic writing in their practice.

I have finally developed my website as a space to host a digital portfolio. A lot of open calls and opportunities ask for an online presence, and I feel a website is considerably more professional than pointing people in the direction of your Instagram profile. I initially made my website to serve as an exhibition space for the Practice in a Professional Context module and for the Bower Ashton Library artist-in-residence exhibition. I am glad to be able to use this space as a permanent display for my work, rather than the awkward digital exhibition venue that it has been - though these were necessary at the time to adhere to government restrictions and social distancing measures.

I have regrettably not become as proactive as I would have liked at engaging with social media. I have grasped that it is a useful means through which ideas can be shared, but I still feel an awkward disconnect with the concept. Perhaps this is because the algorithms mean that there is no definite strategy to employ to get people to actually see your posts. I would rather put more emphasis on encouraging my audience to physically engage with my practice. I have achieved this by collating the work that I would have exhibited at the end of degree exhibition in to an edition of 150 publications that I will share with as many people as possible. I will post this portable exhibition to those that supported me in fundraising for the project, those that I would have invited to the exhibition at university, and I intend to submit the publications that are left over to various libraries and artist’s book archives.

Inevitably the current global crisis affected my practice quite dramatically. Access to university facilities has been sporadic throughout the last year, and this lack of consistency meant that my creative outputs have been staggered as a result. The weeks of isolation and multiple lockdowns hindered motivation and consequently, creative development. This feeling of disconnect that I had with my practice led to a period of reflection. I realised that not having access to the facilities meant that I did not feel the pressure to adhere to printmaking traditions, and that I could explore the more conceptual side of my work from home. This deeper understanding that I had gained of where I want to push my practice led to a much broader body of research, and I found that the gesture and performance of writing was as exciting to me as the works on paper themselves. Both research and performance have peaked my intrigue in the last six months and are areas that I would hope to explore further as my practice progresses after the course has ended.

The coronavirus outbreak affected more than just my university studies, it was also quite damaging to my mental wellbeing. Consequently I have utilised my practice as a coping mechanism throughout the latest lockdown. I have used it as a means of documenting everything that I have felt and experienced in the last year, this includes working in the hospitality industry throughout the whole ordeal, and in particular my feelings towards the treatment of hospitality workers. My third year work has told the story of the pandemic and three lockdowns from my point of view. The various periods of isolation and the loneliness that ensued had a negative impact on my mental health, and so I adapted these feelings into a series of breathing and drawing exercises that became daily rituals that formed a big part of my routine in lockdown.

The repercussions of the current situation meant that I faced many obstacles that required a degree of problem solving. The most notable instance was my time as artist-in-residence at Bower Ashton Library. I developed a body of work from found poetry that I was initially unable to complete due to the nation being locked down. I took to social media to ask my followers to send a found word, from which I could make a lockdown poem and print to send to everyone that had submitted a word. This was a wholesome project that kept my mind occupied in a time of uncertainty, and also a gift for everyone that took part. Upon my return to university I was able to complete the found poetry artist’s book, but the nation went in to a second lockdown just as I was about to exhibit the work. This challenged me to digitise the book that I had made and attribute a QR code to it that I plastered all around the city. My aim was for a new audience of passers-by to find my exhibition by chance, continuing the ethos of found poetry in a whole new context. I also spent the remaining budget from the residency on making the book into lo-fi zines that I could also distribute, wanting as many people to physically interact with the book as possible. I was particularly proud of this project, it showed that a little determination could enable me to see my ideas realise themselves in surprising and creative ways.

I have proven to myself that I can fulfil everything that I had proposed at the start of the year with very little in the way of facilities and materials. The majority of my final year’s worth of work was conducted from my bedroom with a roller and some etching ink. This low maintenance method of working is completely transferrable to anywhere in the world, which really is an exciting discovery to make so early on in my career as an artist. Armed with the knowledge that I do not necessarily need studios to develop ideas, I had the confidence to propose a project to an artist residency in rural Italy. I will be placing myself in the community and examining through first hand research how ideas of asemic writing and narrative might translate in a setting where the language spoken is not my mother tongue. I am intrigued as to the otherness of language, and how a language that I do not understand might be transcribed visually. The proposal itself is also transferrable, and has the potential to be explored on a global scale.

There is much scope for further research within asemic writing, and handwriting as a whole. I have enjoyed having the masters degree as a part time constant, but the nature of this part time study has meant that I have not been able to dedicate as much time to my practice as I would have liked. Asemic writing is an under researched area of study, and it deserves more time and commitment than I have been able to afford in the last few years. With this in mind I intend to write a proposal for PhD research. I am keen to explore ideas of asemic writing, narrative and comprehension, and will utilise everything that I have read and learnt in the last two years in particular as a basis for this proposal.

I cannot commend this course highly enough. Having the support to develop and explore my practice has been truly invaluable. I have seen my work mature in to a coherent practice with a clear path forwards beyond the confines of university. This confidence in my practice would not have been achieved without the continuous backing of the module leaders, my peer group, and studio culture as a whole. I have found my creative voice, and am excited to use everything that I have learnt as a student on this course to establish a future for myself as an artist.

#practice #summary #evaluation #report #asemic #asemic writing #performance #performance art #printmaking #masters #mamdp

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regybct-blog · 5 years

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Reflective Journaling

A little backstory: So, I’ve been putting this whole thing off ever since I found out about it on the 25th of April. Partly due to not really being sure as to what I would reflect on and write about. Mostly however, due to thinking myself to be out of my depth in terms of writing this thing. So now, here I am writing this (sort of Mid panic) trying to get something presentable out. Hope it was worth while reading/marking this. :)

So now on to the real thing: Cards for play A project that had meaning to me in Creative Technologies (meaningful basically meaning our only project at the time of writing this as our current one (data objects) is still being written up/worked on) Was my initial project of Cards for Play. the subject of this project was to create a “card experience” that promoted play for a target audience that our group collectively chose. Thing’s in this group were going smoothly; we had initially established our core purpose and set the “play aesthetics” that we wanted to apply in terms of our project, this set the foundation of our project and, in turn, “plated the seeds” (so to speak) of which our ideas would “blossom”. Our group went through many forms of “ déjà vu” in which we would go through multiple concepts that were eventually, pun intended, discarded. However, It was through this that we as a group attained a greater understanding of this project and what path we needed to take to see what aspects stuck and what didn't. It was through the process that was sort of being “drilled in our minds” of iterative design that we were able to get the needed feedback to change and refine this project in accordance with the aesthetics that we had set. This, in turn, gave the group a card experience that the not only had the user in mind, but, it was also streamlined and something that we could not have achieved otherwise.

Problems? Issues? A big ole yes to both: Looking back, this group had a very major commitment problem. This group that we had formed was very reluctant in sticking with an idea. Our initial idea was to go with something music based, then we decided to switch our idea (this was after having a talk with a lecturer about having a purpose) to something involving helping those with anxiety through making “fidget cards” and then switching to something involving idioms, then FINALLY going back to a music based idea but adding the idioms to make an idiom based rap game called “idiom rhapsody”. Our team had a lot of ideas with potential stuck to a wall .... its just that we didn’t see it that way, in a sense we got tunnel vision and basically laser beam on our initial ideas that we couldn’t weed out the “bad ideas”. We continued the developing process and with each concept that we had created we went through the same process of “this is the best idea ever” to “maybe this isn’t really the best idea ever” to “ok lets just scrap this idea and try to do something else”. However, this changed when we neared the end of the project time, we had found an idea in the form of a card game, and in doing so developed our aesthetics we were using, the base mechanics of the game and also helped us visualise the end look of our project. during this refinement process we brought our “card experience” (am gonna keep calling it this cause Ben hates calling it a game) to other people in our class for some critical feedback. something that stuck with me was the idea of a “wicked problem” - something we had learned the meaning of during ICT. A ‘wicked problem’ is the idea that a given intention from a designer’s view might be misconstrued or lost in translation when the input of a human is implemented. Some context may be required: members of the team had looked upon the project from the perspective of a designer. the rules, gameplay and mechanics were easily understandable for us, however, when we gave our play testers instructions for our game and left them to play whilst we observed them, it left them confused and unsure how to play/figure out what the game was supposed to be. It was at this point that Charles pointed out to us that in a real product the creators (in this case us) would not be there to play with/help the players with the game. Jarem had expressed concerns that the game in it’s current form and had suggested that we try and move to doing another idea instead of settling with what he already had. This led to the evolution of the concept we had initially had to a more fluid, better and overall enjoyable play experience with the users in mind all while keeping the core purpose in mind. So linking this back to the idea of the ‘wicked problem’, what we had thought to be a clear and intuitive solution to the problem we faced was actually a “wake up call” to take a step back and see what was and (in this case) wasn’t working and build upon it instead of settling and plateauing.

investigation: During one of your ICT lessons we came across the word Paradigm and upon searching it I came to the conclusion of a paradigm being a set of constructs of beliefs that become the norm. It is from this meaning that I formed for myself that I came accross this term, User-centered Design. User-centered Design (UCD) is a term that describes an end-users influence in the design process and thus shapes how the design outcome turns out. The term became widely used after the publication of User-Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction (Norman & Draper, 1986) and Donald Norman’s influential book The Psychology Of Everyday Things (POET) (Norman, 1988). The paradigm within our group was to focus on creating a card experience and focus on the aesthetics and rules of play as well as the visuals. And it was because of this that our group kept switching our project every time we couldn’t get past the setting of rules of play and aesthetics. In response to the proposition that communication lacks disciplinary status because of deficient core knowledge, I propose that we turn an ostensible weakness into a strength. We should identify our mission as bringing together insights and theories taht would otherwise remain scattered in other disciplines. Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x. In this journal Entman states that we should be bringing in more ideas from others to help one another. this further helped us shift the paradigm from focusing on the product first to the user and how the user reacts to the set rules of play.

What to do in the future? In the future I believe that instead of focusing on the product itself we should look at the user and how they would react to the product. within our group my personal opinion is that we didn’t necessarily think about the user and focused more on the aesthetics of play and rules instead of thinking about the user and how they would react as well as acquiring their critical feedback and refining and implementing those refinements into our idea. In the future I would like to implement this within the groups that I work with as well as in my own personal design endeavours.

References:

Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x.

Norman, D. (1988) Psychology of Everyday Things.

Norman, D. A. & Draper, S. W. (Editors) (1986) User-Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction. Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.

#ctec502

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zhoyoyo · 3 years

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My year in 2020

Inspired by Alix’s beautiful farewell to 2020, I decided to write mine.

2020 has been a year of introspective thinking, a year of returning to myself.

For the first half of 2020, the lockdown took away the pressure—which for most of the time I had been unconscious of—of socializing. Absent of the external pressure, I lived on my own terms, only reaching out to people when I felt like to and hearing from people who likewise took the effort to check in on me. I used to socialize a lot more and thought I wanted to. Needs and obligations were not always distinguishable. I felt happier, calmer, more grounded when the external force went away. I identified the relationships that meant more to me and set aside time for them. I also came to realize that the work I'm doing and will continue to do requires less chatter and more time to myself.

My self-contained lockdown experience was disrupted by the layoff in late May. The convoluted event couldn't be traced back to a single day. My priorities in every sense shifted as it unfolded. What it did most to me, looking back, is that it freed up my mind for more wandering thoughts and provided the conditions for experiments. I had worked a full-time job since graduating college eight years ago. The longest break away from work was no more than two weeks, including job transitions. I have always pursued jobs and positions I liked or I thought I liked—that's probably why I'm still doing journalism. But even a dream job comes with restraints tied to the institution and industry. My rationing (of what I want to do, what I should do) has always been bound by the existing and potential paths I could see myself take within the institution and the industry. The loss of a full-time job and day-to-day obligations forced me to erase the rough strokes on my preplanned future canvas and think about what I want to paint next without institutional constraints. In the weeks and months since the layoff day I reexamined the questions that had always existed with a different state of mind. Do I want to code more, draw more, or write more? (The answer: do more creative work and get better at articulating myself.) Do I see myself following the subject area I've been reporting on in the past few years (immigration, global migration) or have my interests shifted? (I don't have a definite answer to the question yet, but I would say based on my thinking over the past six months: It didn't shift, but narrowed.) Do I want to spend 14 hours a day binge watching anime and Chinese reality TV show? (Yes, and I've got some time to do that. The magical effect of pure entertainment content on myself always amazes me.)

***

I went with some friend to Acadia NP in mid-December for a short restful weekend. Having never hiked in the snow, it was surreal to see various formations of water molecules along a lake loop hike in below-zero weather, and later on the cliffs. The wind combed through the snow on the rock, brushing these white soft sands into the sea, and left its traces. The snowflakes fell onto the icy rock crystalizing into half ice. I admired the unbelievable oddity and beauty of the nature and took photos. I didn't think much of them until one day when I was lying on my yoga mat and the images came back to me. I started to visualize the formation. What were the weather conditions that turned water molecules into different forms? How did the rain drop, the wind, the uneven temperature, and the water in the lake come together to transform the view? The scene at the moment of the hike totally absorbed me. It took days before it came back and I started to visualize the process. On that yoga mat I realized that’s how my mind works. Many things that happened in 2020 surprised, amazed, or stunned me at the moment. But it would take some time for these moments to come back and sink in. And only then can I truly understand what really happened. Some moments of realization have occurred already; others will come in the future. There’s no way to capture all of them by the artificial year-end mark. All I can do is to document what has happened, hoping that with a gaze from the future a new moment of realization will come.

***

I started the year with the goal of developing a subject area of expertise in data storytelling. Most of my work this year is to fulfill this pursuit. The pandemic provided some great opportunities to examine the community of "global migrants (immigrants, expats, foreigners)" and their relationships with their home countries and host countries.

I analyzed the announcements by US universities on how they treated international students under lockdown (like most public policies rolled out dealing with migrants amid Covid-19, they were mostly an after-thought and all over the place);

I showed with data that US immigrants were disproportionally affected by the pandemic as more worked in high-unemployment industries and had less access to health insurance;

I looked into how the severe outbreaks in high-income countries affected low-income countries due to the plunge in remittances;

... the impact of the global pandemic on the value of passport at the beginning of the pandemic, and later on, why it's not a good year to be an American.

As the data became available, a reverse globalization could be seen around the world. Foreigners have left the US and other western developed countries.

For one more evidence of the global shift toward favoring skilled immigration, I built a calculator for UK's then-proposed now-enacted points-based immigration system to see who's qualified to migrate to UK post Brexit.

In another story, I charted the global inequality of mobility—a theme I could explore and talk about endlessly—by showing that citizens from richer countries had a higher chance of getting their US visas approved.

After the layoff, my work in the area switched from short-burst newsy stories to more creative, in-depth research and analysis. My ex-coworker and friend Dan Kopf allowed me to visualize the history of Chinese immigrants in the Bay Area on his newsletter (which is in itself a data feast of curious unknown facts about the Bay Area. Highly recommend!) I decided to tell the story through the lens of occupations, dug the data, and created something I'm proud of. The abundance of creative freedom made it a liberating experience. Then entering October, I started working on two longer-term projects—in one I was fortunate enough to be selected as a McGraw Business Reporting fellow to report on the story of the effect of immigration policies on US multinational companies, in the other I enrolled myself in the DCrit at SVA to deepen my knowledge and do research on the evolving forms of citizenship (something I had been contemplating of doing for a couple years). Both of them are still ongoing.

Another significant change in my work of 2020 is that I started freelancing. It was such a different (and educating) experience from having a full-time job. Aside from logistics, technicalities, practical dos and don'ts, what I learned the most is care and love. The few months of freelancing after the layoff made me realize how fortunate I am. This community of friends and acquaintances who reached out to me, helped make connections, and provided me with opportunities is something I did not know existed before. I was filled with warmth that I was not left on my own. Their love and action planted something inside me. I wanted to be like them, capable of loving others and taking action—an ability maybe natural to some, but one I cultivated more this year. My dear Quartz family, my friends and acquaintances from The AP and Graphicacy/Timeplots, from the larger JoC family, from the data visualization community (Data Viz Society), from journo-coders (NICAR, IRE, News Nerdery), and my fellow Chinese storytellers... If I need to name names, the list of people I'm grateful for would be long. I owe a great deal to you. ♡

Some stories I contributed to and loved from the short period of freelancing:

I worked on a number of data visualization stories explaining Covid-19 for Vox.com

One examined the effect of mask mandates on containing the spread of the virus (Masking is effective, but mask mandates do not fit into a single narrative.)

We surveyed the US population on their behaviors of wearing masks in various social settings. The individual decision of wearing a mask is often times a negotiation with the environment. The survey results revealed the danger of small gatherings.

Another story looked at the rationing of vaccine priorities among the U.S. states when the first Pfizer/Biotech vaccines just became available and there were a number of approaches of distributing the limited doses. While the consensus was health workers should get vaccinated first, the actual distribution did not follow that rationale.

I charted how Covid-19 became the third leading cause of deaths at the end of September for Scientific American.

Centro de Periodismo Investigativo investigated the excessive deaths in Puerto Rico after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic with expert analysis and local context. I helped analyze the data, build the charts, and put together the package.

CalMatters investigated toxic chemicals in California's water systems and how a regulation change affected communities living on the water supply. I did the data analysis and created visualizations for the investigation.

2020 has indeed been a year of failed expectations. Most of my plans fell short. I did not fulfill my goals for work or my travel promises to my parents and friends. I did not read more books or learn a new language. My races throughout the year were cancelled and my guaranteed entry to the NYC marathon was wasted. But it is also this year that I started doing yoga and grew more plants. I can clearly picture the multiple moments when I was showered in love and felt the urge to become a more loving and caring person. I learned more about myself and my values and embarked new journeys that I had always wanted to give a try. 2020 has also been a year of warmth and courage, and I would like to think it made me a better person.

#year in review #2020

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antonyeartwo · 4 years

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M2: Using constraints as a tool for interaction

This week has been interesting for me as an interaction design student. We have been working with constraints in the design process. This means that we are only allowed to use a single LED with an Arduino microcontroller. By narrowing down the design space, in this case, we are working towards using these limitations in output, material, and time (since this module only lasts for 3 weeks) to then hopefully, come up with some creative design solutions. As a guide, we have been tasked with reading “ Decisive constraints as a creative resource in interaction design” by Michael Mose Biskjaer and Kim Halskov. These gentlemen go in-depth regarding constraints in a creative process, proposing that constraints can be viewed from a different perspective, not only seen as problems or obstacles to overcome during a design process.

To me, this idea makes a lot of sense. Designers seldom have full creative freedom. This might be because of funding, what the company the designer is working for wants or intrinsic factors of the design problem itself. To me, in almost all of the courses that has had any design process included, we in the design teams have encountered constraints, but I have rarely been thinking that constraints could actually help the design process. I have thought that widening the design space in most situations would in turn widen the possibilities. But now I see that that is not always the case, that by enabling constraints as a tool instead of a limitation, you can then in turn avoid “dead ends” in the design process. In the paper they argue that the designer will always face this situation: “ constraints are always a part of a creative activity regardless of their origin—be it externally imposed requirements of a design brief, properties of the design material or aesthetic or other preferences or de-selections freely chosen by the designer (her)himself” (Biskjaer & Halskov, 2013).

How does this then, intertwine with our current project? This first week has been mostly about getting reacquainted with Arduino. Module one was mostly coding, so getting our hands dirty with Arduino again has thankfully not been too difficult or restraining for me as a designer. As for me and my new partner Hannes, we have tried to experiment with the example code made by Roel, we have now gotten some results to unpack. One of the goals this week has been to try to express particular contexts or emotions. I wanted to see if I could succeed in creating the feeling of stress/anxiety. In everyday life, I have some none threatening heart problems. When go to bed at night, I always get these rather unsettling heart palpitations. I wanted to illustrate this using the single LED I have in my arsenal for now.

As this GIF demonstrates, I think I have gotten pretty close to these feelings of anxiety and stress. I used my own perspective to illustrate a state of weird heart behavior. Although this example is quite linear with only two states, I think that it somewhat succeeds in portraying the desired emotions sought after. I talked to Clint about this example, and he would like me to further nuance this by introducing some kind of continuum, instead of going from “calm” to “stressed”. I had this problem of linearity in the first module as well. So I’m going to try to make this example more dynamic. Having a peek at external materials

By using a small piece of paper, I wanted to see if I could strengthen the emotions that the LED is displaying. I think that it works somewhat effectively. By hiding what is underneath the paper, we decouple the LED from the equation, and thereby strengthening the experience further. Next week we will go more in depth into this by looking at:

What is the interface responding to?

Which inputs make sense given the constraint?

Which ones are interesting to design for?(bonus: What can be gained by modifying the output physically?)

Cited papers:

Biskjaer, M. M., & Halskov, K. (2013). Decisive constraints as a creative resource in interaction design. Digital Creativity, 25(1), 27–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2013.855239

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charlenelouise-gdc · 4 years

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3.4 — FMP:

Initial Ideas for FMP

When the time came to draft my initial ideas of what my Final Major Project could be, there are a few that I thought of. I used the personal creative manifesto I made as guidance. I’ve always wanted to create things based on girl-culture and women. As media open up to more female centric stories, I wanted to be part of this conversation. Also, I would like to do one, specifically through the Asian lens. Here are some sample stories I would like to tell:

1) The Catholic Girl School Experience

I thought this would an interesting topic to explore since it has its own specific traditions and rituals unlike any other. Almost all girls who went to a girl school experience the same thing and its unique to them only. It’s almost a “sub-culture” of its own. As a girl who came from this kind of education, I can testify to this and have plenty of material I can work with.

I had an initial draft for story with a working titled “On your knees”. It’s based on the routine skirt checks that took place in school. In a way, I wanted to use this as a setting to challenge the sexism that women experience and the way women’s bodies are patrolled from a very young age. I thought it would interesting to explore this in this setting. Even in an all girls school, men’s comfort is prioritised and “modesty” is still held as the standard.

I proposed this last year as one of my ideas in the Year 2. However, I decided against it in the end as I favoured the other idea at the time. Also, I was advised to do this project when I have more experience. A year later, I gained more experience on set and improved my filmmaking a lot. This would be a good time to pick this project up.

References: Angèle - Balance Ton Quoi (music video)

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2) The “Packed Lunch”

This story is specific to the Asian immigrant lens or Third Culture kids. I would like to use food as a motif to explore the challenges that comes with this identity. The narrative I want to follow is based on my own experience. The story goes:

In primary school, my mother would make me lunch. It often involves rice and traditional asian food. I remember when I brought it once into school. When I opened it up at the lunch table, my meal was met with looks of disgust from my classmates and other invasive questions. It was the first time I felt disgust and hate for my own culture. I then asked my mother to stop giving me Asian food to bring to school. Since then, I’ve suffered through a lot of internalised racism. Now I know better and learned to undo everything, I take pride in the Asian food. Now, I look to Asian food as a sense of comfort and identity. Through the simple appreciation of Asian food, I’ve learned to love myself and accepting who I am.

Through research, I realised that this experience is not unique to me. A lot of Asian kids has gone through the same (e.g. Rina Sawayama interview with I-D Magazine). Food is so central to Asian culture: from the making to the eating. Also, its a way of staying in touch with a distant culture. Most importantly, its a very specific love language which Asian parents have; they do not say “I love you” verbally, but they do so in action - by asking if you’ve ate or providing food for you. In the story I just told, I didn’t disappoint myself, but I also disappointed my mother.

I would like to see more stories based on the diasporic experience and this what I have to offer. It also explores culture, identity and love (love for oneself and parental love - something that is not usually shown on screen); I think this can be something refreshing in the film landscape. As we look for more Asian led stories, I think it has its place and potential.

References: Pixar’s short film “Bao”, Nike’s “The Great Chase” Lunar New Year campaign, and “The Farewell” by Lulu Wang (Feature Film).

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3) “Fangirl” Culture

Like I said earlier, I’ve always wanted to champion women or pursue female centric stories in my work. Out of all the things out there regarding the feminine experience, nothing speaks more of it other than boybands and fandom culture. Its always been a persistent part of girl culture; whether it’ll be a pop band or a rock band. I think this would be an interesting world to explore.

There’s already a preferred narrative around fangirls - the rabid, crazy kind. Although that is true in some extreme cases, it would be unfair to only present this as the only side of the story. I would like to show the other, more wholesome side. Fandom culture goes beyond the band and the music; in fact, they are only mere catalysts. Fandom culture is ultimately about identity and community; through the band and music, many young girls across the world is given the opportunity to own something and begin to have a good sense of themselves - ultimately forming an identity. Also, its about community; they’re able to connect with others and form strong bonds simply because of the band/music. You can see this, in the queues before gigs or the excitement they discuss their favourite member. Above all, it speaks about a different kind of joy that is often belittled.

At present, a lot of the coverage around fandom culture are often done by people outside the community (with negative preconceived ideas which already suggest a bias). It would be interesting to see it from the people in the community themselves. I want to give the girls the voice and and let them reclaim the narrative. Ultimately, tell it from a loving lens.

Also, I believe this is quite telling on how female passion is portrayed and what is acceptable, depending on the demographic. Football fans chanting? Perfectly fine. Girls screaming at concerts? Insane. This is aligned with women’s negative and dangerous relationship with hysteria throughout history. I think there is an interesting window to explore the social implications around fan culture. Additionally, I like the challenge of taking something from pop culture and considered as low art, and give it context and background. After all, it deserves to be studied carefully as much as its high art counterparts (From Stuart Hall’s theory Representation: feminine taste = low art, Masculine taste = high art).

Above all, I think it would be equally as fun as well to do. It’s would be cool to celebrate fan culture, where its alive and present. Not just through a nostalgic lens. References: BTS’ documentaries: Bring The Soul (2019), “I used to be Normal” Documentary on fangirls across the ages (2018).

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I will think about the following and see which one feels the most right to explore for my Final Major Project. Also, I feel confident in the stories because they’re all quite original and I feel quite secure about pursuing them as I have proximity to the topic, whether culturally or through experience. Most importantly, I think the topics I’ve discussed have a lot of depth and tackle wider issues, despite being quite “small” or may feel “superficial”.

Idea 1: Skirt checks is about the patrolling of women bodies, at the expense of the patriarchy.

Idea 2: Lunchbox as a metaphor for identity: rejecting and accepting culture.

Idea 3: Fangirls have more to offer than screams. They’re actually full of love: for themselves and their respective community.

Moreover, they’re all equally challenging, depending how I try to channel them. At this present moment, I can imagine Idea 1 and 2 as written scripts. Wheres as Idea 3, feels more like a documentary. They require different skills. For example, Idea 3 is heavily reliant on research, while Idea 1 and 2 asks for good scriptwriting. With all of that in mind, there’s definitely room to take things further for each individual idea and accept the challenges it brings.

Ultimately, I think for my Final Major Project, I would like to give it my all and be ambitious too. I think its time to channel that energy to the correct idea.

#FMP 2020

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finnshta-blog · 3 years

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Last assignment process journal

I started this project intending to do Option 1 for the assignment. I was going to a long-form house track and then replace heaps of parts with saxophone (recorded on a good mic) and add in solos. My artistic vision looked like:

Based off this, I decided to write the song in 7 as I felt it would be a good challenge for myself, engage the listener and also fulfil my artistic vision.

I started the track as per my rough structure. I started with the beat as I wanted to feel how the groove would sound before I added keys. I had been listening to Todd Terje’s album “It’s Album Time” a lot and wanted to replicate that kind of bouncy synthy style. He also has a track in 7 on that album! The layer cake of this beat looked like:

I varied the “hats sauce” so it felt unpredictable where it would land. The “bleep bloops” would outline each quaver in 7/4, helping to cement the groove, and were directly inspired by Todd Terje. “Claps” served a similar role in cementing the groove. Eventually the kick came in to bring everything together.

After the beat was established I started working on the keys part. I wanted trigger minor 9 chords in a signature house style. I wanted the listener to keep guessing where they would land. The rhythm was (in quavers) 5:2:5:2/5:2:4:3. I doubled the keys part and EQ’d them so they both had space.

Once this was established I found some beautiful native bird samples online as well as a running creek and waterfall. This was to provide the lush soundscape. I also added in a beautiful wind chime sample that would be chopped up and used later in the piece. I did have to EQ the water sounds take out unnecessary muffle.

I was also panning the bird sounds on opposite ends, and moving them in opposite directions throughout the whole piece to add an immersive nature of the soundscape.

Once this was done I added in my first bass-line. I was trying to reharmonise the chords and have a bass-line that fit in with the keys rhythm. The bass is mainly from a synth e-bass, but I also doubled it with an electric bass to give a bit of twang to the sound and fill it out more, When I added the the kick to the bass-line, it got pretty messy. So I made sure there were not parts interfering in the low end and also gave the kick and bass their own space in the EQ. Mixing low end is a very new skill for me so I went to youtube and watched a couple of videos to help out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgq9IeRF8l4&t=149s&ab_channel=ProduceLikeAPro

I tried his trick of side-chaining the bass to the kick, but I found it wasn’t too effective, or couldn’t hear much of a difference. The adjustments and fine tuning of the side-chain is definitely something I want to get better at in the future.

Afterwards, I made the build up to the drop. I replaced the keys with synths (also doubled) for variation, and automated its cut-off and attack. I added in a lovely high frequency texture to build tension and density. A top line synth is arpeggiated with variations for interest. I wanted the feel to be bouncy to I added some swing so it wasn’t so straight. I also introduced a new bass-line with a different texture, this time the line has subtle variations within it.

At the drop, all textures are removed to provide space for the kick and bass to really punch through with the synth. This drop felt really good to me. Bouncy, housey and groovy. Once i started adding more beat elements it really grooved in a nice way. I introduced a new hat sound with a double that had some slight echo on it for interesting variations/density in the layer cake. Damian recommended he would like to have some claps on 2 & 4 so I tried adding that in.

Acoustic claps didn’t really suit the vibe, so I added in acoustic clap stack samples and a rimshot sample. I panned the clap stacks left and right and the rimshot in the centre. But I came up against the problem of that the claps don’t really work because in the 2nd bar it swaps onto beats 1, 3, 5 and 7 which definitely isn’t as groovy. I ended up keeping them on beats 2, 4, 6 with a shortened chime sample on beat 1.

According to my original structure, the first 2 sections were done. For the 3rd section I wanted a really pleasant ambient, natural vibe that felt like a breath of fresh air after all these crazy rhythms and sounds. I let this texture sit comfortably with minimal adjustments, to create that feeling of stability and peace.

As a mini reflection, I distinctly remember thinking at the start of the project how I appreciated having to actually plan out a song and articulate my thoughts on it before starting. This has never been a part of my process and I feel like its helped me a lot in this project and is definitely something I will be considering in future projects.

At the end of this 3rd section I released I still needed about 2 minutes more for my piece to be within the requirements. So I planned to have a “bridge” of sorts leading into the buildup and the drop again. I had already organised my outro - a chopped up section in 3/4. In the bridge I brought back the trigger chords yet varied its sound and depth.

The use of the phaser drastically altered its tone, and gave the vibe I was looking for. The chorus and tremolo were more subtle.

I think by this stage it was getting close to submission date and I realised that in the process of making this song (intending for parts to be replaced by sax) I actually liked the product I had + hadn’t left enough time to get a mic, record and mix sax into the song. Although this was not ideal, I think the process of Damian explaining so much why recording on good mics is important has stuck with me, and I feel determined to rent one of the mics in the future to record sax well. Although now I was in a predicament as I was not fulfilling the requirements of Option 1. So I decided to try my best to honestly think about Option 4 and how it relates to my original artistic vision.

My proposal regarding treatment, is that sound sources should be intentionally and thoughtfully selected. Effects should serve a purpose. How I treat and plan my music is directly reflected in how submersed the listener is in the music. The goal is to transport the listener in a lush yet driving soundscape that is hard to comprehend. Treatment implies healing or aiding, and I hope to aid the listener in their daily life by taking them outside of the world for a moment and providing relief. Though keeping in mind to not keep it too heavy or deep - essentially this project should have thoughtful technical decisions made in regards to my overall artistic vision, to remain consistent throughout the piece.

Overall, this song has been fairly challenging in terms of creative and technical aspects. I have never written a piece this long in a DAW before and it challenged me to actually plan out what I was going to do and remain proud of it at the same time. I found what I was listening to began to kind of distort as I had been listening to the same material so much when mixing or editing. Not looking at the screen, standing up or listening to it as a Wav. file helped me gain clarity about what I was listening to.

I feel inspired to keep creating in this manner and eventually get to the point where I feel super comfortable in DAW’s and can make my tracks sound like the ones I love.

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williamlwolf89 · 4 years

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34 Journal Prompts & Ideas to Unlock Your Writing Creativity

Let me guess…

You’ve been asking Google to help you find journal prompts or journaling ideas, right?

You know that successful writers throughout history have kept a journal for creative writing, thinking, and self-discovery. It was a defining practice in the works and lives of Thoreau, Emerson, Wilde, and many others — and you think maybe, just maybe, it can do the same for you.

And you know what? You’re 100% correct.

All the creativity you need is already inside of you — you just have to tap into it.

And a great way to do it is with journal prompts.

29 Journal Writing Prompts to Spark Your Creativity

Like a fisherman’s fishing rod, the following journal writing prompts will help you fish out your best ideas from the depths of your mind. They will also help you:

Exercise your creative writing skills

Land more writing jobs (if you’re a freelancer)

Learn how to write better

Shift your perspective and access new points of view

Overcome writer’s block

Ready?

Grab a pen and a journal (or open a Google Doc, if you prefer), and let’s start writing.

1. New perspective

What is a topic about which you have changed your opinion recently, and why?

2. Metaphoric feelings

Come up with three metaphors to describe how you feel right now.

3. Answer your “why”

What makes writing such an important part of your life? Why do you want to write in the first place?

4. The big question

What question would you most like to know the answer to?

5. Self-editing

Read through one of your old journal entries or a story/article you wrote a long time ago. Pretend you’re an editor getting it ready for publishing and make it shine.

6. Funny stuff

When was the last time you laughed really hard? Write about that moment.

7. Guaranteed success

If you knew for sure that your next book or article would be successful, what topic would you write about?

8. Make me cry

Think about a sad moment from your past. Write a scene about it that would make anyone cry.

9. Hidden thoughts

What has been on your mind for a long time, but you never gave it the attention it needs?

10. Personal success

What is something at which you have succeeded greatly that others could benefit from learning about? Write a case study about it.

11. Dictionary

Open a dictionary at random and write down the first word that catches your eye. Repeat three times. Then, write a short story that includes those three words.

12. Old friends

Think about a problem you’re currently facing. Write a fake letter to your best friend from high school explaining the situation and asking for advice.

13. Domain name

If you were to start a blog on WordPress documenting your life so far, which domain name would you choose?

14. Life lessons

Think of the five important people in your life (family members, loved ones, role models, friends, etc.) and write a list of lessons you have directly or indirectly learned from each of them.

15. Bucket list

If you knew you were going to die today, what things would you regret the most not having done? Create a to-do list.

16. Happiness

When was the last time you felt truly happy? Describe it in the most sensory way possible.

17. Pitch yourself

Imagine you just wrote an autobiography and you’re trying to get it published, but your chances depend on a short email cold pitch. What would you write?

18. Keeping memories

Which parts of today (moments, ideas, thoughts) would your future self benefit from reading about? Write them down.

19. Embarrassing writing

Write down a really bad joke or a super cheesy poem.

20. Prioritizing

What is the one thing which, if you did it every day, would transform your current life into your best life? How can you start doing it?

21. Perfect day

If money was no object, what would an average ideal day in your life look like? How can you make that happen in your current circumstances?

22. Life chapters

If you were to divide the story of your life into chapters, what would be the titles?

23. 7 Prompts

Come up with a list of seven journaling prompts related to a topic you want to write about, and then complete one prompt for each day of the next week.

24. Eavesdropping

Sit in a coffee place and write down snippets of conversations you hear.

25. No E

Write a whole journal entry without using the letter ‘e’.

26. Literary devices

Describe your day using as many literary devices as possible.

27. Copycat

Choose a passage from one of your favorite books. Copy it into your journal. Then write your own journal entry inspired by the writing style of that author.

28. Favorite things

Make a list of your favorite things. Your favorite songs. Favorite movies. Write about why they’re your favorites.

29. New Year’s Resolutions (5 years from now)

Pretend it’s New Year’s Eve five years from now. What resolutions for the new year would you write?

Editor’s Note: Want a printable copy of these journal prompts you can print, display, and reference, as needed? Here’s a free Google Doc (no opt-in or email address required).

5 Journaling Ideas & Exercises for Writers

Journal prompts are a great way to exercise your writing skills, but if you want to utilize the full potential of journaling to unlock your creativity, the journaling ideas and exercises below will take you one level deeper.

Whereas before you had a fishing rod to bring new ideas to the surface, these journal ideas will give you a scuba diving oxygen tank so you can explore all the treasures that lie at the bottom of your creative mind.

Ready? Let’s dive in (pun intended).

1. “One-inch picture frame”

Let’s face it…

You have so many writing ideas that you don’t even know where to start.

That brilliant plot you came up with while taking a shower. That self-development article that will become viral. The book idea you’ve been dreaming of writing since you were a teenager.

All those pieces of advice, all those short stories, all those scripts that will never become real because…

Well, because you’re too overwhelmed with ideas to actually start writing.

In her book Bird by Bird (Amazon affiliate link), Anne Lamott introduces a framework called “one-inch picture frame” that helps her beat overwhelm and get to work by writing down only “as much as [she] can see through a one-inch frame”.

In other words, you don’t have to aim at writing your whole life story in one go, or putting together a whole “Ultimate Guide on How to Beat Anxiety” in one sitting.

You can start by simply describing that one afternoon from your childhood when your mom bought you your first ice cream and you felt like you were in heaven; or you can start by writing down the main cause of anxiety that your clients tell you about.

I use this trick to make myself journal every day: all I have to do is write about one thought, one idea, or one life event from that day.

Very often, this is enough to spark my motivation and I keep on writing. Other times I don’t, but that’s okay — one little paragraph is better than nothing.

If you’re struggling to get started because the job seems too big, you can always scale it down. What can you see through your one-inch picture frame?

2. Start a public online journal

Writing has been my main job for over three years now, but until recently I still struggled with practicing my craft consistently.

So a few weeks ago I did something that I thought I would never do: I started a public online journal where I publish a daily entry about my life, thoughts, struggles, and ideas.

At first, it felt scary and vulnerable as hell. In fact, it still does.

But it also changed my life.

How?

I only shared it with a few people, but the fact that someone expects to read my entries every morning keeps me accountable and makes me stick with my commitment. It’s the first time in my life that I have published something every single day for over a month.

Not only do I feel like I am writing my own life’s story, but I also use my old online journal entries for inspiration whenever I need ideas for a new piece of content for my blog. But the biggest benefit of journaling in public is that, unlike what happens with my offline journaling practice, I actually have to put some attention into my daily writing in order to make it readable and enjoyable for other people.

Plus, the daily routine lets me practice being vulnerable and sharing from the heart in front of an audience — a great skill to have as a blogger.

3. Brain dumps

Whenever I want to create a new piece of content, my default is to either begin with an outline or just start writing the whole thing straight away. Word after word, line after line, from beginning to end.

But the thing is, when I just do this, I often hit a wall and get stuck. There are only so many ideas that my brain can access by traditional direct association thinking.

That’s why I started doing brain dumps.

What is a brain dump?

A brain dump is a process of emptying your mind by transposing all your thoughts onto paper. When you hit a wall with your writing, brain dumping is like punching that wall really hard so send all the bricks flying and then get a good glimpse of what’s on the other side.

If you’re stuck or without ideas, stop for a moment. Take a step back and notice all the thoughts going through your mind. What are your worries? What’s taking up all your attention? Is there something you want to write but you feel ashamed because it’s not good enough?

Write it all down. Everything counts. Write it all over the page of your journal, without caring for keeping it organized. The point of brain dumps is not so much to get good ideas, but to relieve your mind of worries and blocks so that creativity can flow freely again.

4. Most Important Question

Sometimes, our best ideas are one night’s sleep away.

It’s true. In his book The Art of Thought (Amazon affiliate link), psychologist Graham Wallas proposes that the creative process happens in four stages:

Preparation (identifying the problem);

Incubation (processing the information on a subconscious level);

Illumination (when everything becomes clear);

Verification (testing if the idea really solves the problem).

Very often, we skip the second step, incubation. We obsess about the problem until we solve it, but what we should do is let it go, allow our subconscious mind to process it, and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

So, how can we start incubating our ideas more?

The technique I’ve been using for months (and it’s been working miracles) is something called Most Important Question (MIQ).

This technique was invented by Josh Waitzkin (he talks about it in this interview) and it goes like this:

In the evening, take some time to reflect and come up with your Most Important Question of the day. Once you’ve got your MIQ, write it down in your journal, and then…

Let it go.

Forget about it.

Take a moment to relax with a good book or a nice walk, and then go to sleep without it on your mind.

Then, in the morning, immediately after you wake up, open your journal, look at the question, and write down the answers you have on your mind.

I have been using this process to help me get ideas for new articles, fix writer’s block, and solve writing problems that I had struggled with for days.

It works like magic.

It’s been proven that our brains are at their most creative immediately after we wake up, and every time I do this I am in awe of the gems that my mind had been hiding.

5. Flip it around

We are so used to writing in a linear way that we fail to make use of the biggest advantage of a good old paper journal: its versatility as a tool for creating ideas.

The main reason why I always buy journals with plain pages is that there are no rules or boundaries for what my writing has to look like. That being said, the last journaling exercise I have for you today is extremely simple:

Flip your journal around.

Yep, that’s it. It’s that simple. Next time you’re in the middle of a journal entry, try rotating the notebook by 90 degrees (or any other number you fancy) and continue the entry at a different angle.

I know this exercise might sound silly or pointless, but it’s not.

Changing the visual representation of our ideas can completely shift the way we create. Rotating your journal in the middle of an entry brings your awareness to how you are using the space on the page, which will inevitably impact the words you choose. It can change your writing speed, the length of your sentences, and it can even inspire you to include a drawing here and there.

Small shifts in perception can make a huge difference to the final results. Don’t be afraid to look at things from a different angle. Spice things up. Open your mind to new ways of being creative.

Think differently.

And most of all, make it fun.

All it Takes is Five Minutes of Journal Prompts to Unlock Your Creativity

A journal is much more than just a few pieces of paper glued together.

It’s a free ticket to the depths of your creativity, and to the brilliant writer that exists inside of you. It’s also one of the best tools to get to know yourself and make sense of your life. Who doesn’t need that?

Whenever you feel stuck, or simply know that there’s something important you have to say but simply can’t find the words, use one of the journal prompts or journaling ideas above.

Sometimes, all it takes is five minutes to become a better writer, or to learn something important about yourself that will change the course of your life forever.

The post 34 Journal Prompts & Ideas to Unlock Your Writing Creativity appeared first on Smart Blogger.

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ronaldsmcrae86 · 4 years