Well, I thought that I’d talk about how it’s absolutely ok to keep making the same type of art, reading/watching/playing the same sort of things etc… if you need to for the sake of your sanity. And, yes, this article might get a bit heavy, depressing and/or “political” in some parts and I’m not sure if I’ll even post it or not (Edit: I did, but edited out and/or rewrote several paragraphs. Sorry about the short article). But I need to write this.
Yes, I have a complicated relationship with the topic of repetition and variety. The longest I’ve been able to focus on a single topic on here was the first and second seasons of my “Horror Videogames Series” in 2021-22, where I spent two stretches of about 5-6 months only writing about horror games. And this saved me from some terrible writer’s block and gave me a focus, but even I got “burnt out” writing about this topic for an extended amount of time. I do tend to get bored and need variety, but there are also times when I have to focus on one thing for emotional or personal reasons.
Because, sometimes, you just need to focus on whatever is the most emotionally-satisfying for the sake of your sanity. And this was something I ended up thinking about in mid-April when, after the British Supreme Court misgendered every trans person in the country, it felt like the news was filled with coldly dystopian hostility towards anyone with even the slightest amount of gender-variance. It was simultaneously depressing, infuriating and frightening at the same time. It felt like things were going backwards…
And, in this context, I just had to make art more for the sake of my sanity than anything else, even with the art I plan to show off to an audience (in late September/early October next year). In other words, stylised gothic art with stylised vintage fashions and stuff like that. Gothic art with the sort of gloomy horror genre atmosphere that feels both ominous and reassuring at the same time. The sort of art that – paradoxically – I find to be “feel-good” art to make, the sort of art which feels like self-expression.
Yes, creating a good variety of stuff and being in the audience for a good variety of stuff is important for all sorts of reasons. When you’re feeling relaxed, safe and at peace with the world, you’ll probably have the instinct to explore, you’ll crave variety and difference in both the things you create and enjoy. But, sometimes, for the sake of your own sanity, you need to focus on whatever gives you the most emotional satisfaction. Your own sanity takes priority over variety.
Art, literature and creativity in general is all about emotions – which is why the modern “STEM” culture and corporate culture seems to have such a disdain for the arts. It doesn’t fit into their coldly utilitarian worldview, where everything has to be “data”, everything has to make a profit and/or everything has to be “efficient”. But creative works do have a valid purpose. And sometimes this can be staying sane during dark times. So, don’t think any less of yourself if you need to hyper-focus on making or looking at whatever gives you the most emotional satisfaction right now. When you feel better, you’ll probably be more interested in variety again.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
