User blog:Taldin/Creative Genes

From the moment we pick up a gob of finger paint -- okay, spaghetti sauce --- as a toddler and smear it on the wall, or on ourselves, we show off our artistic side. Our ability to change the world, one pureed tomato swath at a time.

How well we develop as creative forces of nature depends on where we put our mind to. Whether we're allowed to wander as we wonder, or if we are asked to accept rules of order, and our creativity is quashed by critical commentary.

Sometimes, that negative commentary comes from inside our heads.

As a writer who was once an aspiring artist in his youth, as a dreamer who once believed he could write video games for a living, I had parents who encouraged me -- up to a point. When it came down to guiding me into where they thought I would be a worthwhile career, being an artist wasn't it. Drawing all those cartoons and sketching on any blank paper surface was cute, they said, but not something I could survive doing.

Dad wanted me to be an engineer. Mom wanted me to be a teacher.

I'm a technical writer. I'm somewhere in between the two. I create with words, rather than machines. I teach adults that I'll likely never meet, rather than standing up in front of a crowd. My art is about making people see pictures without using their eyes - and I am also rather evil when it comes to crafting diabolical puns with those same words.

But I digress.

The Wiki is a blank canvas that the editor in all of us fears filling; it's easier to pick up some page someone else has created and run with it. We want to fit in, we want others to be okay with the edits that we make, and we worry about messing things up even before we click the Edit button.

Editing and writing is about risk. It's about putting a part of yourself out there, knowing that what you do will be seen by others, and it will be judged as worthy or unworthy in their eyes.

But in all of us are artists. In all of us are folks who want to make our mark upon the world, and in this place we have people who want to do the same. Editing for the Wiki is effort. It's work. But it's a work of art, all the same. It's a shared work that you can do a little, or a lot.

If you're not sure if what you're doing is the right thing? Ask. If you need to show off something without causing trouble anywhere else? Make a for Scribes Sandbox. At worst, the worst things we could possibly say? "We've got something like that already,"  or, "This doesn't quite work for me."

But you will never know these things if you never try.

For those of you who are working on Scribe tiers, one of the higher level requirements is to make a significant impact on the Wikia. Be the Seer of the Unseen; look for places where you think we can improve. Be the Dreamer; look for things we don't have yet. Be the Hunter; look for things that are outdated. But most of all; the way you succeed here the most is to be the Doer.

Invoke your creative genes. They're in there somewhere, or you wouldn't be reading this now.