Are You Creative in Other Ways?

[Penpilot]

I'm pretty scatterbrained with my interests, but I guess a lot of them have elements of creativity to them, or at least I take them as opportunities to be creative from time to time.

Before I took up writing, I wanted to be a comic book artist. Even went to art school for a semester. But I realized that drawing was just an excuse for me to create characters and stories. Also, I'm not very good at drawing, so I cut to the chase now.

I play various types of board games with friends, and for some of my favourite games I make my own game aides to enhance the experience.
Also, I tend to like games where the mechanics allow me to manipulate the game pieces and puzzle together something akin to a Rube Goldberg machine to generate an explosive game ending turn.

I collect action figures and toys, so I make stands, displays, and sometimes custom accessories for them. And on occasion, I'll make custom figures via paint and part swapping.

I play sports, specifically hockey, and I play a position where I'm often the one that creates the opportunities for my teammates. I have to read the flow of the game and translate what I see at ground level into a mental overhead view of where all the players are to determine what I do.

I dabble in video editing. I use to play on a hockey team that took videos of all their games. I'd scrub through the footage and assemble highlight reels with music and some rudimentary effects for our year-end parties. Nothing like turning hockey sticks into lightsabres while the music of John Williams plays.

During lock-down, I dipped my toe into a little audio editing. I was playing with the idea of maybe turning some of my short stories into audio and maybe putting them up on youtube with some visuals. Still thinking about it, but the idea is stalled.

I also have a CompSci degree. I can program. In fact, I found there are similar ways of thinking between writing and structuring a program and writing and structuring a story. A program manipulates data. A story manipulates characters. Specific parts of a program take data in, manipulate it in a certain way to get a desired result and send it off to the next part to process further. A story scene, takes a character in, manipulates them in a certain way to get a desired emotional result, and then sends them off into the next scene to be manipulated further.

But all in all, other than writing, hockey, and board-gaming, I'm pretty much a dabbler in everything else.

 

[Finchbearer]

I do, all the time. People find it fascinating.

I have no doubt that my grandmother was brainwashed by fascism - but she married a British man and never went back, and I only know a very surface amount of her upbringing. Still today in the UK I find it’s generally a taboo subject to talk openly about.

 

[The Dark One]

I have no doubt that my grandmother was brainwashed by fascism - but she married a British man and never went back, and I only know a very surface amount of her upbringing. Still today in the UK I find it’s generally a taboo subject to talk openly about.

That will pass. I went to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and it was just fantastic. There was this incredible party spirit across the country and it felt like Germany had finally been welcomed back within the community of nations.

Maybe that's fanciful, but that's how it felt.

One of the best months of my life.

 

[Finchbearer]

That will pass. I went to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and it was just fantastic. There was this incredible party spirit across the country and it felt like Germany had finally been welcomed back within the community of nations.

Maybe that's fanciful, but that's how it felt.

One of the best months of my life.

Ah, well how can I put it, UK - Germany relations are very good, it’s just the whole topic of talking about Nazi fascism that isn’t always a popular topic for discussion, especially if they know you have a German or Austrian relative, or you yourself are German. It’s more out of respect for the elders, but that’s just my experience personally.