"I have never found... an enjoyment equal to sitting at my writing desk with a clean new page, a new theme, and a mind awake." - Washington Irving
I have had the pleasure of working in an intensely creative environment these past few months. I make no bones about the talent I am currently encountering in my daily work. It is fun, exasperating, inspiring, exhausting work. I am fortunate and blessed to be doing what I do.
Since last March and more specifically since the middle of November, when the funding finally came in, I have been part of developing a creative property originally called Technosaurs and more recently called the C.I.E. or the Central Institute for Exploration. The project is a creative property that invites tweens to join a secret "kids only" society that is dedicated to exploring the world around them.
One of my favourite tenets we came up with was "seek your own proof." This is such a cool idea and so important to kids growing up in a world that is more and more subtle shades of grey. By combining that tenet with "be respectful of everyone and everything," we are able to encourage our community to not just seek, but also pay attention to everyone around them.
While I enjoy waxing poetic about the ideals behind our project, I also can't emphasize how much FUN it is. The games and the stories we are planning to unleash are cool! I know they are cool because the little kid in me (who is well nurtured, as my wife often remarks) keeps thinking "Oh cool!" I also have two very capable litmus tests who tell me straight up whether something is lame or not. My daughters are both tweens who are merciless in their assessments. I can tell immediately if our team has hit the mark with an idea or not.
Time and again, though, I must take a step back from all of it and think, "does this all make sense?" Sure we are doing cool stuff, but is the world we are creating something our discerning and impatient audience will believe? Is our audience going to suspend their disbelief and buy-in? That moment in Peter Pan when Pan turns to the audience to get them to participate in bringing back Tink is a do or die moment. I think this is the kind of anticipatory anxiety that I have too. Is our audience going to buy-in? I hope so... it is so much fun to play in this place.
