Ugh...I've lost my mojo

[DokiDokiTsuna]

It's been almost a full week and I haven't been able to come up with one juicy topic...I'm hoping maybe doing a little ranting will help me get the spark back, or something...

The worst part is that I'm the one who suffers the most (as far as I know)...without the option to duck back into a good discussion/argument whenever I please, there's nothing to break the dull monotony of the rest of my online life: basically, working on art for hours and throwing it into the ether, rinse and repeat.

This is the only place where I can put time and effort into writing something and reasonably expect someone to not only read it, but react to it and respond to it! I liked that feeling... :[

I would join discussions on other people's topics, but...frankly, most of them bore me. That 'dislikeable villains' one started a pretty cool discussion, but that was the one highlight of the week. And I didn't even write a reply. I didn't feel like I had anything to add. =/

Basically, I'm re-realizing what I discovered soon after joining this forum: nothing will happen unless you make it happen. But that's what's making me feel so helpless, because I can't come up with anything! >_<

...Oh well. I guess I'll go off and...do homework, or...putter around in my story scripts, or something...

[DiegoPalacios]

Doki, you have created really interesting threads and personally i apreciate it a lot. Even the ones when i disagree with you

I don`t want you to feel pressured to create threads. If you go for a topic, go when you feel like it. Your mojo will be back when it has to be back.

I know people rarelly create threads, but don`t worry. It will eventually happen and people will give something interesting to talk about.

[TimCaloweh]

Is it really that important to make a topic? I mean if you want people to talk about things you bring up, I suggest you blog about the news.

[QueenofBabyLoon]

I feel that one problem with forums targeted at a specific demographic (a pretty darn narrow one at that - visual artists mostly with some writers, between the ages of about 15 to 55) is that they do bring like-minded people with similar interests (let's start a theory on how interests shape personalities as opposed to the other way around) together.

And there is just so many things we can say to each other. Ok, so we've talked about villains. Now, I guess we should start a thread about what type of heroes/protagonists we hate. It will be derivative, but hey … that is the logical order. And then what?

But I am not complaining, if we just wrote about anything, this place would be like a jungle. But it does get a bit monotonous from time to time. People promote, discuss villains, discuss heroes …

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[DokiDokiTsuna]

Honestly, I think it's this kind of thinking that makes people pissed at me for what I do. And I understand...I'm not trying to "distract" this forum from its true purpose or anything.

I just think that a forum, any forum, works better as a place where people can have fun and get to know each other. If our only goal here is to dictate impersonal answers to very specific art-related questions, why have avatars or profiles? Why have usernames and 'likes'?? Why have accounts at all?? We should all just be numbers that can jump into the system at any time and duck out immediately after. Like a public chatbox. =/

Besides, like I said in another topic, fiction is about EVERYTHING. Every little bit helps; every human interaction makes the characters you write just a little bit clearer. Learning and talking about things you didn't expect can improve your writing in ways you didn't expect; give you the opportunity to write a character you didn't think you could pull off.
Giving empty speeches about plot construction doesn't have to be the extent of writing advice. It's like talking to somebody who wants to start a company about budgeting to get it off the ground, without addressing the networking and motivational aspects involved. It's all important; it's not just one thing.

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[TimCaloweh]

Hey listen, I once suggested an idea for a story about how someone can unnaturally remain immortal as long as people reply to their thread. The Netcromancer. Is this what's happening right now? That would be freaking hilarious. I'm really starting to consider writing it.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I agree with you about the categories (for a forum that's supposed to be about creative work, it really doesn't make sense that two large topics like Art&Writing are smushed together as if they're insignificant)...

Although, in that case, I feel like this forum is already "finished"? There's only so much you can ask about technical things like color theory and perspective, and most of it has been asked already.
The only thing left is to ask specific questions about your specific art pieces, and the fact that I might want to start a psychology topic doesn't take away from your ability to do that. People love to help out here; it's not like I'd be stealing the spotlight from you or anything. =/

Hey listen, I once suggested an idea for a story about how someone can unnaturally remain immortal as long as people reply to their thread. The Netcromancer. Is this what's happening right now? That would be freaking hilarious. I'm really starting to consider writing it.

Um...you tell me...?

[Klaustasya]

I try to create a lot of threads exactly because sometimes it feels like this place is a little bit dead, usually i open one every 24h but sometimes i don't know what kind of topic to open and it always end up that i brought a boring topic or unnecessary kinda hurts because i just want to talk with people and possibly be friends with others creators in a genuine way, but yeah, sometimes i'm afraid of bothering people too much with questions and discussions so lately i'm being silent XD

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[DokiDokiTsuna]

Is it really that important to make a topic? I mean if you want people to talk about things you bring up, I suggest you blog about the news.

Late, but: that honestly sounds terrifying. News (especially on a scale that an international community like this one could follow) is often either mundane or inevitably leads to heated flame wars about politics. I've already had one topic locked up; I don't need another... ^^'

The only news I could think of that wouldn't suck would be science news...I'm not really sure how that would go...

kinda hurts because i just want to talk with people and possibly be friends with others creators in a genuine way, but yeah, sometimes i'm afraid of bothering people too much with questions and discussions so lately i'm being silent XD

Take courage! If it's not against the rules, there's no reason anyone should be bothered unless they want to be. And if someone wants to be bothered, that's their problem, not yours.

So, have you tried go to psychological forums? Maybe what you want already exist outside of tapas. Because it seems you're forcing yourself to come with topics, because the threads you want/need are not in tapas.

I think you're misunderstanding the issue...it's not just about having discussions about certain topics, it's about having them with a community that will take them in a certain direction. Starting my psychology-related topics in a psychology-centric forum would not have been the same experience (it probably would have been worse, tbh... ^^')

I want to discuss these things with other writers and artists, plain and simple, because they will look at them in ways that writers and artists will.

I am an artist and a writer, and I enjoy thinking about all kinds of things. Often, these seemingly random things are what inspire my work. I've been doing a lot of research on metallurgy lately: crystal formation, mining processes, gemcutting. Is it because I'm a mineralogy nerd? Not necessarily. In truth, it's because I'm writing a story where I'm using the concept of metallurgy as a theme.

Similarly, I was doing a lot of research on clouds once upon a time, and not because I was a meteorology nerd. ^^ It was just more inspiration: I wanted to design a series of characters based on clouds, and I needed to know more about how they look, form, and behave. I look at these topics in a way that an artist and writer would.

I don't understand how anyone can deem certain topics 'unworthy' or 'irrelevant' in a forum that's supposed to be for artists. I repeat: fiction, and art as a whole, is about EVERYTHING. There is no topic that is exempt from the touch of artists; we channel the universe into our work. It's what we do.

The only way such criticisms would make sense is if this were not a forum NOT for artists and writers, but for art and writing INSTRUCTION. A school, then. And so far, no one has proven to me that this is the case.

[TimCaloweh]

Well of course not here. This is a forum for the arts. Try reddit.