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Saxonia Issue 02 Part 014
SCENE ACTIVITY - WITHOUT INSPIRATION
By Darkhawk/Iris
[l
It is, as all article writers should know, profoundly hard to come up with
anything remotely looking like an article, when the inspiration fails you.
In such a situation, what can you do? There are several roads you can take
in such a situation, not only if you're an articlewriter. The reason I am
writing this article, with this topic, should now become clear to the
clever people amongst you, ahehmm..
Firstly, you can simply [2 give up,[0 and simply wait until the much needed
inspiration finally hits you, before you write anything. This is the method
artists most often take. I mean, as an artist, you can't very well do
anything, if you do not have inspiration. Forcing yourself to do something
regardless, will just make sure you deliver a really crappy and lacking
work. This is true enough, but to give up, when there is no inspiration, is
also the method of [1 the lazy ones,[0 those not thinking much of duty or
deadlines. Not to try and work with something without motivation makes the
scene a very empty place to be, as it seems like these days, not many have
sufficient motivation or inspiration for anything. So, if everyone would
just lean back and do nothing without inspiration, the scene would be
without life and productions. Also, and this is the more ingenious part,
without releases, there would be nothing in the scene to stimulate and
inspire other sceners to release something, and thus the negative spiral
would just continue, with no one releasing anything, and no one getting
inspired to release anything, because there is nothing to get inspired by.
And thus, the scene slowly dies.
But, while not participating unless you have the inspiration is a very
idealistic, that is, lofty and somewhat destructive way of doing things, it
is still the 'right' thing to do, in a creative and productive scene.
Others will take over for you, and you have the luxury to wait until
inspiration strikes you. This might not be true for many sceners in groups
where there is an organizer of course, but nevertheless, this approach did
tend to produce the best quality of art in the scene, that is, only
producing things, when inspired. However, the scene is now so small, that
this is quite dangerous, because of the above mentioned things. The
idealistic people, many of which are in my own group, and are coders
(naturally only a coder can really develop this: 'I will only work when I
feel like it' attitude, and they tend to know it, especially these days,
when you can't just kick them out and take others in.. Ohh well..), might
have their ideals of only producing art, and art can't be rushed, but that
is somewhat arrogant really, as there is in this, as in other things, a
point in between the extremes of inspiration and duty.
You can indeed start out with something out of a [1 sense of duty[0 to someone
or something, and end up getting inspired along the way, with a type of
inspiration you would never have gotten, if you hadn't started out without
inspiration and only with a sense of duty. There is something really
satisfying about forcing yourself to do something you do not feel you want,
because you have a higher sense of duty (yes, some call it masochism, but
as long as it produces good results, we might call it either for all I
care). In this day and age, most scoff at such things, as the search for
immediate pleasure is the master of the western world. Forcing oneself to
do something without motivation has always been hard naturally, and it is
often said that no good can come of it. Well, this is a simple thing to
know isn't true, for those who have actually tried it. Some times, it is a
dread bore, sometimes it gets fun and inspiring a long the way, and mostly
you produce something that others feel happy about, which should satisfy
you, if your sense of duty alone can't do the trick. In any case, the scene
needs commitment like that, if we only had the artistic 'I will work when I
feel inspired.. And ready.. And have time' type, we'd be long since
extinct. Naturally these types produce the most memorable art, and
I would not be without them (I hope I am at least partly in that group,
infact), but it is a bit sad to hear these people say that one should only
work when inspired. It is arrogant, in that it leaves it in the hands of
others to uphold the scene, those that are more dutiful and can work
without inspiration now and then, and at the same time, it robs them of the
credit they deserve for that work. Working out of duty, to uphold the scene,
to keep it going, also when you didn't think like doing anything, has mostly
been the province of swappers, editors and in general, the not-so-famous
groups.
In the history of the scene, the sceners have always [1 idolized the best and
brightest,[0 the true artists, as is natural. However, recognition to those
who keep the scene alive when the artists don't feel like producing
anything, those who do think it is possible to work out of duty, if not
inspiration at least sometimes, has been somewhat lacking, naturally. All
the groups in the middle, those in the lower positions of the chart (or not
on the chart at all) have really upheld the scene until now, and have made
sure there is something happening. Some have also inspired the artists to
produce something, and have shown people, that there are people to produce
for. This deserves respect and recognition, and at the very least, more
idealistic people should not scoff at those who force themselves to work
without artistic inspiration, or who work on boring jobs to give something
to the scene; e.g. pack or diskmag coding is a dreaded thing, as is drawing
panels, fonts, etc.. But some do it, out of duty, more than out of
inspiration, and the results are something we all should be happy about. I
admire people who can work without inspiration, and still produce inspired
work. it is easy to write, ccode, do music or graphic when you are
inspired, it is much harder to do it when you're not. When you still do it,
it must be a sign of a sense of duty, of love for the scene, and for
loyality to the people you do it for. So, I'd like people to [2 start
appreciating this,[0 and in the actual context, it means that I want people
to support the people who give them packs and mags in particular. Reading
the last issue of JP, one can see that the staff is not that happy about
doing their scene duty issue after issue, without much recognition. This
also makes it harder to get the inspiration you will need, if you never get
any recognition. And of course, we all need to do some, hopefully the best,
of our scene work when we are inspired, but we also need to do scene work
out of a sense of duty, to give something to the scene, and keep it alive
when there are no others who will or can.
So.. Inspiration and duty... In any case, [1 you must participate in the
scene now and then, or there will be no inspired people to produce
something that in turn might inspire you..[0 Respect to hard working sceners
on boring jobs.. Maineditors, pack and mag coders, and all sceners who try
to work, although they have no inspiration. Don't let their work be in
vain, or the inspiration will never come again.
DARKHAWK
