So, the musical [Title of Show] (which is a musical about two people writing a musical about two people writing a musical) remains a really powerful and important reflection on creative work. I like the whole of the soundtrack well enough, but there's two songs that I turn to and listen most frequently.
Die Vampire, Die is _incredibly important_ in terms of mental health and creativity. It is a take-no shit battle anthem and I love it without qualifications.
Nine People's Favourite Thing is...more complex. It's framed (more or less) as the climax of the show, as the declaration around which all their work has been building to and all they have achieved.
I'd rather be nine people's favourite thing, than a hundred people's ninth favourite thing.
It dovetails very nicely with my favourite-ever quote about fame, something Tailsteak said offhand to me at one point and I have proceeded to share with everyone everywhere ever since --"Andy Warhol got it wrong. In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people." It's the idea that sure, you could keep yourself meek and mild and have broad appeal but what your goal really should be is to just DO YOUR THING as loud and proud and dramatic and strong as you can, and hope that you find those other little sparks of light in the world that are people who look at YOUR THING and find themselves hopelessly entranced. Find your nine people, your fifteen, and they will give you all the creative fulfillment you need!
Nowwww, realistically, that's...not quite right. Who would I consider myself in the nine people for? Well, Tailsteak obviously. SJ Tucker. Seanan McGuire. I consume _everything_ they do, or I at least try to
1. But what about, say Shaenon Garrity? I've contributed to every Skin Horse kickstarter so far (or mom has in my name) and own two copies of the Complete Narbonic. But I don't follow her monster of the week, I don't buy CousCous collections with her work, I've never gotten around to Trucktown or Smithson
2.
Or moreso, what about Jeph Jacques? I own a couple of the Questionable Content books, and I've been reading it for approximately 3758
3 straight comics. But I don't own _all_ the books, and I've never bothered to get into his music. I don't even subscribe to his Patreon.
I read a wonderful essay for creators about one point, about the importance of recognizing your different levels and types of fans. Your nine people are incredibly significant! They're the ones who will do that wild and crazy high level kickstarter level
4 that you threw on there on whim.
But those hundred people for whom you're the ninth favourite thing...don't forget that's _significant_. You can't pop a kickstarter on nine hundred-level pledges alone. You need that bread and butter of 200 people paying thirty bucks for the book and another 500 paying ten dollars for a PDF. They're not your superfans but they are still fans, and they will tell their friends about you in passing, and add to your view count and your ad revenue, and get your books checked out in the library, and throw you a buck a month on patreon.
And all of that is well and good to wank about as someone who doesn't have a nine, and doesn't really have any fans
5 at all. I'm not a creative professional, hell, I'm unfortunately not even a creative amateur. But what happens when I take that nine-people sentence and my slightly cynical outlook on it, and apply it to the thing I *am* creating every day.
Ah.
I would rather be nine students favourite teacher than a hundred students ninth favourite teacher.
Any day of the week.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: *looks wistfully at the seven unread books on their shelf, the whole of Alleykat Jones, and the fifteen monthly downloads unlistened.
2: Although I honestly may be the only person in the world with a L'il Mell strip hanging on their wall...
3: I could probably do some research and find exactly where I started, but it was in the early 200s.
4: Okay, so like, several of my Skin Horse books have marginalia of the characters answering questions for me, and okay that is amazing and I love it so maybe I am also one of Shaenon's nine after all, or at least one of the Narboniverse's nine.
5: My biggest fan is my friend Valarie, who is the nicest human in the world, and was so genuinely happy for me when I got my dream job I thought she would pop. I love her, so much!
Okay, yes, also my sister and Veronica and mom and Har and mek. Fine.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}