I got into a bit of a back and forth with someone today on social media. I knew I shouldn’t. I know that’s a bad idea. I didn’t change his mind, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to change mine. Instead, he had all the excuses in the world why he had to use AI. I wish him the best, but when someone’s mind already made up, and they had gotten quite a bit of good advice already in the comments of their post, well, I don’t think he is going to see the outcome he desires. And as we look around and see more and more AI covers, AI marketing assets, and yes, even AI books (or AI narration), it can get really discouraging.
There is a growing group of voices that are reminding you that the world needs your voice. Though it can get discouraging if you feel as if your voice is being drowned out by the piles and piles of Ai slop. How do you find your creative purpose in the age of AI? How do you find your will to keep writing when there’s so much AI-produced work out there?
Finding Your Creative Purpose
People who specialize in life purpose have derived about five different ways people find purpose in their lives. One of these is a creative purpose. A simple explanation of a creative purpose is creating something for a specific reason. The reason could be as simple as “I want to” but often there are deeper answers to be found beyond that superficial answer. Of course it’s good to create because we want to. Creativity is human, and given what we’ve seen in the broader interspecies world in which we live, part of being alive. A bird building a nest may be acting partially on instinct, and some would argue that our need to tell stories is also an instinct, but I would also argue that it also takes creativity to build a nest. Just as the line between science and magic can be blurry, so too can the line between creativity and engineering.
Business people are all about “finding your why”. That was the buzz word about a decade and a half ago made popular by Simon Sinek’s book. Once you knew your why for your business, then you’d know how to position it, who your ideal client is, and the ways in which it would grow. There have been many attempts to try and transfer this over to the author world, and while the concept is the same, your creative purpose is going to be much more intimate.
Why Find A Creative Purpose
Your creative purpose helps you find resilience in a very difficult pursuit. I hate the word resilience. There’s so much more going on systemically and culturally than just what an individual controls, and resilience tends to imply in some respects that an individual is solely responsible for keeping themselves going. Without dismissing or minimizing the cultural and social impacts of AI, the changes that are happening in the writing industry, and even the writing community itself, having a creative purpose can help us keep writing when the times get (or remain) difficult or the results are disappointing.
A creative purpose also can help us write and help prevent writer’s block. When we know what our purpose is, there’s a good chance we can use it to help drive our stories forward. Individual actions may vary, and we may have written our characters into a corner, but having a purpose can help us find the best way to get them out of it without compromising our values.
Which is the other reason to find a creative purpose. When we look at our personal core values and the core values of our stories, for example finding chosen family, being authentic, queer normative representation, etc., we learn more about ourselves, our work, and the stories and impact we want to make in the world.
How to Find A Creative Purpose
Examine your core values and your writing carefully. Look deeply. What common themes, tropes, settings, characters, and representation are normally found in your writing. Use these to guide you to finding your purpose, your why.
Then, let the answers simmer for a while. Like letting a draft wait before revising, let your answers also wait before you go back to them. Take a second, a third, and even a fourth look. See if you can go deeper. When you have mined as far as you can, then you can begin to craft your creative purpose.
In a world that tells us to focus on revenue generating activities or to make systems to help us with our writing business, finding a creative purpose may seem like wasted time. And yet, the impact it can have on your writing and on helping you to keep writing means the time you spend is precious and exactly what you need to keep going in this age of AI.
Need help finding your creative purpose? Reach out for a discovery call and let’s talk. That’s part of my work as an author coach.