TRANSMISSION #21 // FAT BIKES & STAR WARS

 

A few months back I packed up my life, left the city and moved to the mountains.

 

From my cozy little ski bum home and #TAILGATEOFFICE I teach video game writing courses for UBC, take on freelance writing gigs and work on a book.

Teaching and freelance?  No problem.

Writing a book?  Unexpected.

 

I’ve been writing professionally for about  fifteen years.

 

But this is different.

It’s an absolute passion project and first steps towards the next phase in my career (creating content for my own company).

Working for a decade and change in the studio system has taught me plenty, but my words always shared a relationship with budgets, producers, marketing, actors, animators, game designers, programmers, etc.

Now that relationship is with myself.

Just me and my thoughts on paper.

 

I wouldn’t say it’s writer’s block.  More writer’s unbalance.

 

Instead of worrying about my slow start I threw myself into other pursuits.

Fat Bikes!

One of the many reasons I moved to a mountain town was to ride more.  Ripping about on mountain bikes and road bikes are two amazing things I have enjoyed all over the world.

When the snow began to fall I leaped at the chance to pick up a fat bike and hit the local trails. 

My new bike is oddly simple compared to my full suspension downhill ride or carbon fibre road cycle.

No shocks.  Limited gears.  Big ass tires.

 

During a recent heavy snowfall I sweated my way to the top of a nearby mountain.

On the way up I was questioning my writing process.

At the top I had decided to try a different approach.

By the bottom I felt confident it would work.

 

Think on the way up.

Decide at the peak.

Commit at the bottom.

 

 

This bike makes me feel like I’m ten years old.

And what ten year old has unsolvable problems?

 

New process in place I began to work through the book’s plot and characters.  But there were a few distractions keeping me busy: students, clients, the approaching ski season, company admin, business stuff.

A few false starts (which is rare for me) occurred and I started to get frustrated with my lack of creative clarity.

 

And then a distraction I fully welcomed.

A viewing on the big screen with one of my oldest friends  of the DE-SPECIALIZED ORIGINAL STAR WARS. 

No CG.  No new scenes. 

Just the greatest movie of all time and my single biggest creative influence – in all its 1977 glory.

 

I’m old enough to have experienced the first run of Star Wars in a theatre.  Watching it again was just as thrilling an experience.  I became very aware of how simple and straightforward it was.  How entertaining it was.

It wasn’t cluttered with today’s cleverness and tomorrow’s technological perfection.

It was pure fun.

 

Just like my book needs to be.

 

What did I learn from both of these experiences?

 

Get outside.

Watch great movies.

Remember why simple works.

Enjoy yourself.

 

 

END TRANSMISSION.

 – SEAN