crowdfunding, writing, etc

[alpharaposa]

The Crowdfunding community is in the LJ spotlight this week. (No tags - I'm posting from my phone on break at the dayjob.)

Anyway, some folks have commented how few patrons are participating. That's sad, because patrons have two things that I, and many creators, really crave.

No, not money. Money is icing.

What I crave as a writer are ideas and feedback. I get ideas of my own, but in a slow and rare trickle when it's just me. However, one person talking with me to start sparking from? I can spin a whole world out of somebody saying that they want to read about a villainous polar bear.

Patrons are vital. They provide the proteins that my little creative enzymes can take apart and put back together into stories and poems. Feedback provides a stock of more proteins, to make it grow. (Especially questions. Asking who or what something is? Oooh, amino acids on parade.)

So, patrons, you have a market, too. That idea nobody ever writes about? I bet there's someone out there who's staring at a blank page who would love to know what it is.

And once you cultivate an artist, they may start producing works just because they thought of you. I probably would have never written a short story about giant space rays if I didn't know that one of my friends likes rays.

Comments

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

So, patrons, you have a market, too. That idea nobody ever writes about? I bet there's someone out there who's staring at a blank page who would love to know what it is.

This is a fantastic point about one of the ways patrons contribute to the crowdfunding process! It's also a point I wouldn't have thought of, since I've always assumed creators have all the ideas in the world but not enough time or energy to morph each one into something. So I've definitely learned from your post today. Thank you for mentioning this! :)

[stryck.livejournal.com]

It's one of the big draws for me to get involved. I don't have a very creative brain in the sense of spawning new ideas all over the place. I have analytical brain- it makes connections between things. I'm very good at placing odd things into worlds where they make 'sense', or digging out the hidden plot tanglements between people. Coming up with the odd thing or the people? Much harder.

So, I love to write but need help to get going.

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

I have analytical brain- it makes connections between things. I'm very good at placing odd things into worlds where they make 'sense', or digging out the hidden plot tanglements between people.

Whereas I have "character-driven brain;" once the tiny, uncertain voice of a new character starts speaking in my head, I immediately pile on the unique personality traits until that character's voice is strong enough for me to write about. And I find inspiration for new characters everywhere - in an interesting-looking person walking down the street, in my friends' co-workers, in an episode of MythBusters, for crying out loud!

Clearly, I have overpopulation issues. :D

[stryck.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to work on building unique characters. I realized that I got so interested in the conversations that sometimes the characters themselves were just sounding boards for an idea. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not conducive to building plot.

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

I realized that I got so interested in the conversations that sometimes the characters themselves were just sounding boards for an idea.

Whoa. That's...pretty cool, actually. I wish my characters were as helpful in this regard! Mostly they complain about how I'm treating them in their stories. :D

[stryck.livejournal.com]

It's cool when you're working out a philosophy question, but it doesn't make for very lifelike characters.

I think we'll just have to envy each others' problems. *grin*

[anher.livejournal.com]

Luckily I have the same sort of brain you do, and stryck and I can come up with really amazing plots when we work together. Our players hate us when we do that.

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

That does sound like an excellent match-up. Evil, but excellent.

This is for roleplaying games, I assume? Do you use a particular gaming system or is this more of a free-form thing? (I'm involved in online roleplay but we have more guidelines than hard-and-fast rules. ;)

[stryck.livejournal.com]

We actually met through role-playing! Original World of Darkness, many moons ago.

We've coGMed LARPs, Exalted, and worked together to do world building for ADnD and many other systems.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm thinking of putting together a post about this for Crowdfunding.. do you mind if I quote your reply in it?

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead! I'm glad you're going to make a crowdfunding post out of all this. You bring up some excellent points. :)