25 Reasons To Keep Making Stuff

Yesterday I did a thread on Twitter — replete with animated GIFs! — that I thought was valuable enough to put here, too, at Ye Olde Blogge. So, here it is — note, the animated GIFs are missing, so you’ll have to behold the original thread for maximum effect.

*clears throat*

IN THIS TIME OF RAMPANT ASSHOLERY

IN THIS ERA OF FLAGRANT DIPSHITTERY

IN THIS UNHOLY EPOCH OF UNBRIDLED, UNMITIGATED, RECALCITRANT FUCKERY

Why make anything? Why be creative? Not how – but rather, WHY?

25 reasons, starting now.

1. Because you need to escape the fuckery, and what you make is a door. A book, a piece of art, even an excellent meal – it’s a doorway out. It’s the tunnel dug out behind the Rita Hayworth poster in your prison cell.

2. Because we need to escape, too. We need what you make. GIVE US THAT SWEET SWEET PORTAL, GIVE US A LOG FLUME RIDE TO ESCAPE THIS OUTHOUSE FULL OF CENTIPEDES

3. Because creation is #resistance. Making things is additive. And in a subtractive time such as this, you must balance the void with its opposite. That is an act of defiance. And we need more defiance.

4. Because stories and art change the world. Individually, collectively, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Art is a glorious mutator. It evolves you. It evolves us. And eventually, the world.

5. Because you Making Cool Shit also makes the Worst People mad. Good. Fuck ‘em. Make stuff that makes those monsters mad.

6. Because what you make is a carrier for ideas. A Trojan horse stuffed with your NOTIONS. Packed tight with arguments and hopes and fears and solutions. Even when you don’t mean it to be? It is.

7. Because what you do is bigger than what’s going on. What you make is about tomorrow, so the cuckoo bananapantsness of today must not stop you.

8. Because what you make will outlast this ungovernable fuckshittery. What you make are mountains. We will cling to their peaks. And when the Tides of Stupid recede, the mountains of what you made will remain

9. Because it’s therapy. It’s therapy first for you, and if you share it, eventually for us, too.

10. Because it feels good, even when it feels hard, and feeling good is, uhh, well, GOOD. I don’t have to explain that any more than I have to explain puppies or cookies. Or cookies shaped like puppies, or cookies for puppies, or puppies baked into – wait scratch that last part.

11. Because you need that dopamine hit, baby. Mm, yeah, gimme that precious dopamine ping, that rush, that PAROXYSM OF CREATIVE DELIGHT. Nnngh. Unnngh. Yeah. *bites lip*

12. Because you need to up your game. No matter the era, no matter the epoch, no matter how fucking goofy things get – YOU STILL GOTTA UP THAT GAME. And making things ups your game.

13. BECAUSE I SAID SO

BECAUSE-A YOU FACE

BECAUSE SHUT UP, THAT’S WHY

I’m sorry that was very rude

14. Because you making something helps encourage others to make stuff, too. They see you doing it, and they want in on that BAD-ASS MAKER ACTION. CREATIVE SOLIDARITY, MOTHERFUCKER.

15. Because if you don’t, you disappoint this already-disappointed screech owl. Look at that owl. Feel its judgment. You need to turn this screech owl’s frown upside-down. That’s on you. DO NOT SHIRK YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

16. Because seriously, what else are you going to do, just sit here and stare at Twitter? It’s like staring into a blender full of chipmunks. Jesus, go make something, if only to find something better to do for the next hour.

17. Because making stuff is SEXY.

…

Okay I don’t know if that’s true but I’m gonna go with it.

*strokes beard seductively*

*finds a half-eaten Kit-Kat in the beard*

*eats half-eaten Kit-Kat seductively*

18. BECAUSE ART IS A WEAPON. A far more effective one than your standard weapon, too. LISTEN SPITE IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR, OKAY. Spite is your fuel source. Art is your flamethrower. WHOOSH, MOTHERFUCKER.

19. Because when you make things, you learn things, and education is good.

20. Because when you make stuff, you improve yourself. And we need you in fighting shape. YOU MUST BE A WHETTED BLADE READY TO SLICE THROUGH SHENANIGANS, CHICANERY, AND GARBAGE.

21. Because it’s what Li’l Sebastian would’ve wanted.

22. Because time is a depleting resource. You have what you have, which is this moment, right now. There is no guarantee you can make things later. So make things now. And if that’s hard, there’s always

23. Because you’re going to fail sometimes, and that’s a necessary thing. Failure is an inoculation. It bolsters your creative immune system. And in this ENDLESS CYCLE OF STUPID, you really, really need a strong intellectual and creative immune response.

24. Because art is beauty. Stories, poetry, craftwork, food, it’s all beautiful and this ugly world needs a dollop of beauty. There is beauty in both the act and the result of making stuff. So kick the shitstorm out of the sky with an aggressive rainbow counterattack.

25. Because

FUCK

TRUMP.

You think that bloated sack of stinkbugs and hate has ever made a thing in his life? He is a sucking chest wound. He doesn’t make anything and wouldn’t know art if it parted that merkin atop his head. SO DO THE OPPOSITE OF THAT SUPPURATING ASSHOLE.

So, keep on making stuff, folks.

You have your marching orders.

Now buy my books or I die gesticulating in the void.

* * *

DAMN FINE STORY: Mastering the Tools of a Powerful Narrative

What do Luke Skywalker, John McClane, and a lonely dog on Ho’okipa Beach have in common? Simply put, we care about them.

Great storytelling is making readers care about your characters, the choices they make, and what happens to them. It’s making your audience feel the tension and emotion of a situation right alongside your protagonist. And to tell a damn fine story, you need to understand why and how that caring happens.

Whether you’re writing a novel, screenplay, video game, or comic, this funny and informative guide is chock-full of examples about the art and craft of storytelling–and how to write a damn fine story of your own.

Indiebound / Amazon / B&N