Five Great Creatives on Creativity

“Heres to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing that you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They invent. They imagine. they heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.”

Jack Kerouac is the mind behind On the RoadDharma Bums, and several other works. His writing has been rightfully described as ‘jazz-like.’ His work is syncopated, chaotic. The words seem to boogie across the page, bumping and grinding away before pausing to step outside for a smoke. In fact, Kerouac wrote a piece called “The Essentials of Spontaneous Prose.” He describes the steps a writer must take in order to produce a work that has a life of its own. No matter what you may think of the man himself, his work lives on and inspires a new sort of Beatnik generation.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “‘It’s not where you take things from–it’s where you take them to.'”

So many writers get hung up on the idea that their work must be original. It’s time to face the music; in the year 2016, the only ideas that haven’t been explored are the bad ones, and even those are beginning to make their way into our collective consciousness. Jim Jarmusch points out the obvious fact that theft is essential to creation, but authenticity matters far more than theft.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Picasso never cared much for rules. One look at any of his paintings will tell you that. But despite his disregard for the standards of the time, don’t doubt for one moment that Picasso didn’t know what he was ‘supposed’ to do. His tossing out of the standards was only possible because he knew them. He defied style and tradition. He challenged the world to look at art in a different way. That’s the purpose of great art and great literature: to offend, to move, to make uncomfortable.

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery is best known for The Little Prince, but perhaps his greatest contribution to the world is this single line. Whether it is a lone pebble that becomes the cornerstone of a great castle or a simple scene in the back of your mind, the moment you can envision it as part of something greater is the moment when it takes on meaning far beyond itself.

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

The writers who sit alone in their rooms, waiting for the Muse to appear and bestow upon them her must-desired kiss, are those who do not succeed. Our time is too valuable to waste waiting on a temperamental Greek myth. It’s far better to chase inspiration down with a club and beat it into submission until it works for you. That’s what Jack London thought, and White Fang is the proof that he succeeded.

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