Engaged creativity

I've been trying to get my emotions back onto an even footing after the black hole of last week. And one of the ways I do this is by turning to the advice and wisdom contained in the large collection of personal development and creativity books on my bookshelves.

This week I've been re-reading wisdom from creativity coach Eric Maisel.  In his book 'Making Your  Creative Mark', he discusses the issue of how artists are affected by, and react to, their society. 

This was one of the things which angered me about the Hugos.  By nominating one of the books, the voters have effectively normalised an issue which I will never consider morally acceptable.  I'm not going to go into details, as I don't believe in slagging authors off, but it did leave me in despair.  The societal view which I write about is so opposed to that world view that I had another 'why am I doing this' crisis when I heard of the nomination.

"Most artists never think through how they want to relate to their society, or what role they want to adopt as artists" Maisel says, but I've been doing a lot of work in this area for the last five years.  I've become more vocal about the destruction of the natural world in my work, and in my current book the characters are very vocal indeed about human excesses.

I also challenge sexualised aspects of our current society in my work, and provide role model characters who refuse to live by our current accepted cultural norms.  In Maisel's classification that  makes me a "revolutionary artist... (who) adopts the stance of activist."  If you'd told me a decade ago that I would identify as an activist I would have vehemently denied it.  But age has honed and changed my beliefs and values, and now I accept that designation.

And I want my writing to reflect that new stance, and those sharpened-up beliefs and values.  "Engaged creativity is creative effort in moral service" Maisel says,  "whatever role you adopt as an artist, it's entirely likely that you will still not feel like you really fit in...  (They) remain alienated... (because) they're likely to disagree with and feel the need to dispute many of their culture's values."  

This is indeed how I feel.  But being reminded that questioning and challenging societal norms is part of my purpose for being creative has helped me to cope.  I will continue to use my engaged creativity to challenge world views like the one sanctioned in the Hugo nomination.