Finding and Forming Communities

Communities are important for people who live inside their heads.

Many artists – particularly writers, painters, sculptors, woodworkers, and the like – mostly work solo. What we do is inside of our heads – and the product of that are the articles, books, paintings, statuary, and various other creations we produce.

When you largely work on your own, it’s easy to get lonely and feel like nobody understands you. Let’s face it – everyone is unique, of course. But those who choose to professionally practice their art are specifically unique.

What does that even mean? In a society that both encourages achievement and frowns upon diverging from the “norm”, choosing that divergence automatically sets you apart. Like it or not, you’ve made the statement of I will not live how society expects me to – I will focus my passion on being creative!

Awesome, yes. But also fraught with insecurity, uncertainty, and the judgment of others.

The answer to the question “What do you do for a living?” feels awkward when you know your answer is not the norm. “I am a writer”, “I am a metalworker”, or “I am a painter”, and the like, can garner you odd, judgy looks from people.

But the world needs artists. Not just hobbyists, but professional artists of every ilk. And artists, in turn, need communities.

That comes from the undeniable fact that all humans need connections.

Seeking and finding connectivity

Introvert or extrovert, humans are social creatures. Great or small, we seek connections.

That means we form communities. Some are family alone. Others involve family and friends. And then there are larger communities like churches, social organizations, and the like.

Communities form because they represent connections that have been or are being made. They allow you and me to share common things that might be ginormous and obvious or microscopic and subtle. That bond that we forge helps us to connect.

External connections also help to clarify internal connections.

What does that mean? When all is said and done – you are energy. Everything is energy. All energy is interconnected and shares a common core. It can neither be created nor destroyed – but transmutes between form and formlessness.

This is why some wonder if the art they create is wholly of their own imagination – or if they’re channeling it from another reality or possible reality.

When we take these forms and inhabit these bodies, the interconnectivity of our root energetic beings gets unfocused. Because we tend not to see it this way – but crave connectivity – we look outside of ourselves more than inside ourselves.

But when we have common interests, desires, paths, and the like – the connections we forge with one another are related to our inner interconnectivity. We don’t necessarily recognize nor acknowledge it as such – but that’s what it is nonetheless.

For some people, a connection or two with others is sufficient. I prefer multiple connections. Then, I know people who prefer many more connections with others than I do.

Introvert, ambivert, extrovert, or other – we all seek to find at least some connectivity with others.

I could, at this point, digress into a whole analysis of the formation of communities – and how they begin inclusively, then often become exclusive. Sometimes dangerously and unfortunately so. But that’s another topic for another time.

As artists – particularly those working almost exclusively alone – connectivity with others still matters. Thus, finding and/or forming communities can help us grow, change, learn, and share our work.

As a sci-fi and fantasy writer, I have a LOT of different characters, worlds, and situations in my head. Many, in one form or other, have found or are finding their way to the page and screen. But there are many, many more that just live inside my imagination.

Unless I pull them from my head to the page or screen, they live in there alone. As I share them, however, I sometimes seek input from others about a blurb, a scene, the development of a character, plot, and so on.

Finding a community of others to share these with is important. It’s not that my friends and family aren’t also valuable when it comes to sharing – but this is not what they do. They might read my work – but since they don’t write like work, there are elements of my process they can’t understand.

A community of writers – whose creations are like mine – provides me a place to work with this. This is why finding and/or forming such communities can be a boon to us all.

On Facebook, I have joined several sci-fi and fantasy writer communities. In doing so, I find that not only have I found like-minded people I can bounce ideas off of – but I can also share my wisdom, knowledge, and understanding when they seek info about a topic I have experience with.

Local versus virtual communities

For some artists – particularly, in my experience, introverted solo artists – a virtual community is perfect. They can engage or not at will – and nobody is physically present.

Some artists, however, also desire the physical connectivity of like-minded people. Thus, local communities that can gather, meet, and share among one another – in a physical locality – satisfies the need for connectivity.

There is value in both local and virtual communities. During the pandemic, virtual communities have thrived. We needed that outlet – and being able to make connections across the internet served us all.

But extroverts suffered. Not being able to be with other people was soul-crushing. Having a local community of artists to get together with, for them, is nearly as essential as air, food, and water.

Whatever communities most resonate with you – finding and or creating them matters. Communities are important for people who live inside their heads, such as artists. Just as much as they’re important for people who don’t.

Forming a community can be more challenging than finding one. But if you have the drive to do so – because one appropriate for you doesn’t already exist – there are tons of resources available to make this happen.

Google is your friend!

Even if you mostly live inside your own head, there is no need to remain isolated. Finding and/or forming communities is a perfectly natural act – even for mostly solo creatives.

Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey, for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.

This is the one-hundred and fourteenth article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.

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