Humans are Supposed to Create - episode 264
So today marks our five year anniversary. If you’ve been along for any of this ride, my heartfelt gratitude, truly. You have made it possible to be in the top 3% of podcasts, supported 264 episodes and blogs, heard in 98 countries with well over 200 guests covering many subjects. This has all been about serving you with inspiration and encouragement to be you in all its fullness. Don’t settle. Don’t miss out. Please do the thing that only you can do. We have a new tagline that I think better represents what we’ve been about these past five years: “Belief, Purpose and Silver Linings. Less fear. More you.” Thanks for making this third act spark come true.
Now on with the show…
He didn’t know he would find creativity in writing until he was a senior in college. That became a huge pivot as Shaun Conde found all kinds of characters, lands and stories to create. Always moving, always with whimsy, always with a surprise you didn’t see coming, these are the hallmarks of his tales. Shaun believes humans are made to create so we ought to find something that speaks to us, do it, and then share it. Shaun is our guest this week for Thinking Through My Fingers - a Writers Series.
You can find Shaun at shaunconde.com or on Instagram shauncondeinstagram.
Shaun has been on the podcast before in Shaun and the Family Stone, Check in on Your People, A Thanksgiving Treat, A Christmas Treat, Endurance has Taught Me, The Pinch Hitter Man, Treat Every Day Like Christmas, Celebrating UY’s 100th, The Celebration Continues with Amanda and Priscilla, Time to Pivot, A Chronic Health Challenge, Trivia and Gratitude, and Christmas Movies with Shaun.
It calls to me, I feel fulfilled. It’s primal and a raw form of creation.
Shaun Conde on why he writes
An Antihero Walking into a Breakfast Diner
Thoughts from Humans are Supposed to Create
An excerpt by Shaun Conde
Premise: A snippet of a story that plays with the conventions of the antihero that permeates so many western/fantasy tropes. And how appearances can be deceiving.
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy
Characters:
- Dark Drifter (our anithero. Mysterious, clad in all black...and actually very shy)
- Filch and Nabber (brigands, twin brothers. Currently in a tavern when the Dark Drifter shows up. And gossip/their wild imaginations get away from them.)
Cruk! (Double doors swing open.)
Tension. Everyone stops to take a look.
A dark silhouette stands at the doorway (DARK DRIFTER)
Patrons share bewildered looks and whispers.
Crack of lightning illuminates the newcomer. Thunder.
(Dark Drifter, a witchy desperado. Mixing both feminine and masculine. The angst and brooding in our antihero is in actuality social awkwardness.)
Clunk, clunk, clunk. They walk in. Boots of impending doom.
Dark Drifter heads to the furthest corner booth.
Everyone returns to their business.
Nabber and Filch sit at the ‘thieves table’ with some others. Nabber watches disdainfully.
NABBER
Who's the cosplayer?
Filch's and his cup of orange juice shake from fear.
FILCH
That's the Dark Drifter.
Nabber spit takes.
NABBER
No way! You sure?
They both look over. We focus on Dark Drifter.
NABBER
I heard the Dark Drifter was born without a soul.
FILCH
Yeah, born from the unholy union of a hag and a paladin.
They both shudder.
FILCH
(disgusted sfx) Gross.
NABBER
Super yuck.
FILCH
And that they eat the souls of...drink the souls?
NABBER
Souls are like mashed potatoes. You can eat or drink them.
This is not the end of the story but just a peek into what these hooligans are up to. These tales and others are in the process of being fleshed out by Shaun, animated and uploaded to YouTube. Stay tuned for more and remember to get your own creative juices flowing!
Writing is rewriting - it’s not going to be great the first time.
‘Don’t get it right, get it written.’
Shaun Conde, advice on writing
