Last year, I posted a bunch of NaNoWriMo advice, including Being Creative When Life Sucks. If you’re a creative artist person suffering from difficulty doing creative art things lately, I recommend reading that, because everything there is still true.
If you’re not a creative artist person, but you enjoy creative arts things, there are acts you can do to help your favorite creator(s) keep producing stuff so you can enjoy it. Remember, creators are actual human people beings. An astounding number of us suffer from health issues of one type or another, and many, especially those of us who work in F/SF, have social anxieties. (If we were good at the people thing, we probably wouldn’t lock ourselves away to create art, amIright?) When in doubt, opt for kindness, gentleness, and a hands-off approach.
I obviously care the most about writing and books, but most of this stuff is generalized for all artings.
These things are all welcome forms of support:
- Post a review of their latest creation.
- Tell your friends about your favorite creation of theirs.
- Tell the creator (in person) that you love their stuff.
- Tag the creator in a post where you say how awesome their stuff is and everyone should check it out. If it attracts trolls, shut them down.
- Request their books at your local library.
- Follow them on social media and add positive comments to threads where appropriate. Like and share as much as you’re comfortable with.
- Relate a story about how the creator’s work changed your life for the better.
- Join their ARC or street team and follow through on your commitments to it.
- Follow authors on Bookbub, Amazon, and Goodreads, even if they aren’t active on any of those platforms.
If you want to gush, feel free to gush. All these things are positive influences that help drown out the negative stuff. Us creative types are amazing at focusing on the negative. It’s like a superpower.
Things not to do:
- Slide into their DMs with an expectation of response.
- Start fights in their mentions or threads, even if you’re defending the author from a troll. Report trolls in other people’s threads. Deal with trolls in your own.
- Ask when the next book is coming.
- Ask why they’re on social media instead of writing.
- Get personal. Unless you actually know the creator, keep your comments on the topic of their work.
Thank you for your support. 🙂
And hey, look, these are my last few books, all released earlier this year. If you’ve read them, I’d appreciate your posting a review. If you haven’t, check them out: Darkside Seattle: Mechanic (cyberpunk), Porcelain (YA sci-fi), Nova Ranger Academy (superheroes). All three are also available on Kobo, Apple Books, and Nook.