My Creativity Is My Reality

For a long time, art has been an escape for many. I am no different, the traditional arts gripped me from the first moment I experienced holding a pencil. It's an expression of emotions and in many ways a method to ground yourself and work through your fears and doubts. It has also brought forward some opportunities.

I hope to give you some tips I have learned by sharing my story. Autism means I am often excluded from many occasions and circles, as not everyone knows how to let me work through the awkward dance of socialising. After all, there is so much variety in steps and quick tone changes to trace. I don't know about you but it feels like I am standing in the middle of a minefield just trying to make it to the other side alive. People have become much more open-minded and accepting so it is easier than once a time ago. Art doesn't judge it is unbiased by nature without a mould to fit us into.

I wrote multiple books and started working through many exacts of ideas, slow snitching my writing together from my short random and in the moment spars that made up my writing sessions. My main platform to begin with was Wattpad. During my time on Wattpad I can across some tools and events slowly building my cofidence with my abilities. This was how I learnt about NaNoWrimo and got reached out for my three web novel deals. While I am not as active on Wattpad anymore I am still very much working towards completing a Nanowrimo one day as I struggle to keep focus despite enjoying the time and finding the process calming. This may be my autistic mind exploding with ideas and not being able to work though after a certain time, simple distraction from another idea or just my process. I mean who knows, right? Which brings me to my first tip, do what method works best for you. Here are some of the methods I have tried in the pass:

Mood board for the novel - works very well if your a visual person. Whether it be you are using scenery images to get you feeling the atmosphere for your book or you want to use key personality traits for your characters, even the colours and tone or mood that bring to your story. This is one of my favourite methods to this day as it allows me to have a vague plan without restricting me to feel I have to follow it word for word but also a chance to be creative with my traditional art.

Roller coaster planning - this works well for those that like to plan the finer details. It is a effectively a mind map of your story board using key events during your book as a way to tracker and plan your progress. Those that are more of in the moment writers and like to let the story be more of a in the moment piece don't really tend to enjoy these as much as this is effectively a road map. So you like thrill of never knowing the outcome of the pieces journey or would you prefer to have a map of your characters journey ahead?

Timed sessions - If you work better with short bursts of writing or even intense bursts of writing this is a good method and one I found works really well for me. I set myself 5 minutes then add 5 minutes on every round I do from there. I have found this works great when I am exploding with ideas in particularly because I naturally want to write as much as I can so just start. It doesn't have to make sense to everyone then I can look back at it and pick a sentence that stands out. Then start the next round with that sentence in mind and feel you have already achieved something building motivation. This also means less time to be distracted.

Carrot and stick - for those that can stick (no pun intended) to this one I take my hats off to you. This method takes some self-control and commitment. The method is effectively a form of reward chart. You set yourself a target for example a set number of word you want to hit and a time frame. If you bet or hit this target you allow yourself some type of carrot which is reward effectively. If you don't you have to get something done from your to do list you have been putting off or don't enjoy.

The aim is to still give yourself targets that will challenge you and push you forward even if its by a bit at a time.

Examples

Target

• By 4pm I will have 1 chapter revised and a plan for 2nd draft.
• I will have 1,000 words wrote by 4pm.
• 500 words written within 20 minute session

Carrot

• Treat myself to takeaway
• watch an episode of a show you like
• explore somewhere new with the dogs
• have a bubble bath instead of a shower

Stick

• Get the ironing done
• Get the hovering done
• Sort the loose socks (This the worse job in the world if you ask me. The machine 100% eats them to annoy you.)

Creative block surprise stack - This something I recommend for everyone which is just a stack of prompts, writing challenge, word crawl title and inspiration quotes. Anything that can really start to the mind working and just anything written on paper. You may come out with something completely random that never get used again or you may develop a new book idea all together. The point is your getting into the habit of writing and your sharping your skills as you do. It is a breathe of fresh air to have something you can just pull out of when you need that nudge of motivation and sense of progression even if it's small.

Joining a writing group - if you find you need feedback from others or need to have more competitive sprits writing groups can offer this. During Nanowriomo I have had plenty of fun and even just little wellbeing checks and it can be the difference that stops you from sinking on such an intense month. The truth is a writer is their own worse hater so setting back and seeing the whole picture is something we can easily overlook.

Just hit post - Seems simple I know, but is one of the most procrastination points of our craft. Even, if just a draft start building that confidence in yourself and at the same time allow yourself to hear from the readers to ready polish elements you have been blind sided by. Yes, it happens we spend so much time just looking over the same draft. We are all human. Doing this on Wattpad is what actually got me offered 3 book deals as someone generally though I was worth taking a chance on. As you all know from reading this to this point I also now use Vocal Media for shorter pieces and reviews of products I try.

If any one wants to give me your feedback on them its always welcome. They are available on Webnovel and are the following titles:

• Flood Of An Autistic Mind by NicholePRiley (Short story Collection, Mixed Genred inside)
• Slave For The Birth Family by N.P.Riley (Fantasy Genre)
• Killer's Lair by N.P.Riley (Thriller Genre)

My traditional art side of things and love of creating new pieces started with the standard traditional drawing and painting to give myself a release from the world. This is very much still its purpose don't get me wrong however, I also have took on some commissions along the way, some this directly from people contacting me through my Instagram @ArtistNRiley others from a platform called Upwork under Nichole R. This has been things from t-shirt designs to personalised cookie cutters. It was been great to keep this as a more occasion top up source so it can allow me to be more choosy about which projects I take on. My favourite media is still oil painting but it likes to take its sweet time drying between layers, talking about watching paint dry. Currently, most of my piece requests are more based on digital work and social media due to the world we live in. So if you want a piece on my social media journey just let me know below.

What journey has the traditional arts taken you on? Let me know in the comments and lets celebrate your self-discoveries together!