I'm at the stage where I need to decide a career path, what degree to do, what profession to go into etc.
I've decided that if possible I want to do something creative. I want to create something meaningful. I want to write a TV Show, direct a film, write a novel, start a comic book series, design a video game, anything like that. What do I do to pursue this?
Get into filmmaking?
Your options are really broad, but it seems like youre into writing/drawing. I'd look up some examples of careers in those fields and pick one
You don't necessarily need a degree to do any of those. Loads of people write and publish their own novel or produce their own movies and video or make their own video game and whatever. You just need to learn the skills and theory obviously and then just go out and do it. If you're gonna go get a degree you'd obviously need to focus and narrow it down on one or two things.
Another thing OP, a lot of people that become successful in these lines of work don't start out by doing them. They work some other job and write or paint or something in their spare time. After a while, they work up a portfolio of material that can potentially get them to where it can support them
I'm shit at drawing but I got a good brain. How do I make such a monumentous decision by picking my future career on a whim? What if it goes wrong? I have a safe option of just doing an engineering degree but I'm not really passionate about that kind of thing, I just don't mind doing it and I like some of the mathematical aspects.
Ok this is a really helpful perspective. So maybe I'll do that engineering degree to at least ensure a way of making decent money and then I can pursue creative outlets in my spare time. But what if I don't have enough spare time and what if I'm so drained from my work that I don't have the energy to do anything productive in my spare time so I just stay working a job that I'm indifferent towards until I die? An engineering degree sounds like such incredibly hard work and I don't want to sacrifice things like my hobbies and relationships for something I'm not passionate about.
If it goes wrong you can always become a technician
>I've decided that if possible I want to do something creative. I want to create something meaningful. I want to write a TV Show, direct a film, write a novel, start a comic book series, design a video game, anything like that. What do I do to pursue this?
Start jotting down ideas, make a "mental map", maybe get your friends and family to help you with ideas.
Once you feel like you have a good foundation, either pitch it to somebody or start it on your own. I guarantee that whatever you make will be mediocre at best, but stick with it. You will eventually get better and better
> pic related
That's exactly what I don't want, stuck working a shitty job because I tried and failed to pursue an idealistic vision of a career.
Thanks for the advice user. How do you even find an opportunity to pitch something like a TV show, film or novel to someone with no history in that field though?
Also based Isayama, can't wait for next chapter.
You have to go out and find it, talk to a publisher, a producer, anybody your family might have connections to.
If you can't do that then just take the route that ONE took, strike out into the unknown on your own. Create your own website and/or social media to promote yourself.
One thing to know is that you WILL get rejected the first few times around. Even people that we perceive as great today started out as nobodies who got rejected over and over again
OKay, thanks for the advice user!
You're welcome, glad I could help
Here's a little secret: don't do what you enjoy the most for a living, but try to enjoy what you do for a living.
You could turn out a wonderful full-time artist, in a fairy tale. In real life you'll have to make some compensations, and let creativity take the backseat, especially if you intend to grow old and/or have a family. If you're ~18, remember that the next few years won't be as critical as boomers describe, but for many they pass by too quickly resulting in a mid-20s sort of crisis. Play your moves right from early on and you'll be comfier in the future. Get some work experience, meet some people, and whenever it feels right you can take a small break, without the uncertainty of having done so straight out of high school.
You figure out what you like by taking action and learning from that, not the other way around. Make a script for a show, shoot a pilot episode, try drawing, whatever you think you wanna do first. Do that and then decide from that action if you like it or didn't like it and what aspects you can take away from it:
>enjoyed editing, didn't like writing the script
and refine your choice based on the new information you have and take another step from there. The way you're raised to make choices in school is based on desires and intangible things but the real way of sorting out your career is by doing something and seeing if you both can and enjoy doing it.
like when you say:
>How do I make such a monumentous decision by picking my future career on a whim? What if it goes wrong?
You don't reeeeally have to do that, except for maybe your choice of degree. But even if you went into engineering, you would still have to do the whole "dipping toes into the water" thing with the different fields within that field, and you might fail at some points but the important thing is to learn. It's not about whether or not you might fail, you will. It's that you learn from those experiences and recover. But with art you can always build up a portfolio, keep in mind.
>Here's a little secret: don't do what you enjoy the most for a living, but try to enjoy what you do for a living. You could turn out a wonderful full-time artist, in a fairy tale. In real life you'll have to make some compensations, and let creativity take the backseat, especially if you intend to grow old and/or have a family
This is probably sound advice but it still depresses me. Adult life is pretty shitty and disappointing huh.
>Play your moves right from early on and you'll be comfier in the future.
The thing is I don't want to live a "comfy" life. I want to do something that means something, if not to the world then to myself. I feel like if I just lived a comfortable life with a decent salary job until I died I would be disappointed. And I know this sounds naive because it's what I'll almost definitely inevitably end up doing, but I want to live a life that is memorable.
>You figure out what you like by taking action and learning from that, not the other way around.
Thank you, this makes a lot of sense. I just need to motivate myself to and find the time do to things like writing a script, shooting a pilot episode, making music etc. Aaaaaagh I'm sick of living with no real direction I need to start doing stuff like this.
By the way, do you currently have any ideas on a plot or a story?
Also, to help you with your writing, may I recommend these Youtube channels?
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
>Adult life is pretty shitty and disappointing huh
Adult life is what you make it. I'm not telling you to go kick some ass or anything; it's as shitty and disappointing as you think it is. A positive mindset will make it much better. Everyone found turning 18 overwhelming.
Motivation also comes with action by the way, you'll see a lot of posts here about people complaining about not having any motivation to do things. That's because motivation is the force that KEEPS you doing stuff, not the spark that starts things going. It really really sucks but if you can manage to start something you have mechanisms in place (motivation!) to keep it going. The battle is getting started.
If you struggle with that then just use the smallest possible passing goal, like you might not be able to write an entire story in an hour but you can write at least one sentence in that hour. That might sound laughably stupid and silly but that's the point, it has to be something so easy that it'll get your ass to do it.
I don't have any real particular ideas on a plot or story that I've properly thought through, I just know I want to create something profound that has something interesting to say about life, people, relationships, religion, something like that. Thanks for the channels, the Terrible Writing Advice channel in particular looks helpful.
>Everyone found turning 18 overwhelming.
Yeah it sure is.
Interesting take, good advice, thank you.
Maybe you could make something like Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, instead of the Four Elements, the characters use The Four Fundamental Forces of Physics.
Ask anybody else if they have any ideas
>Yeah it sure is
Not contributing much at this point, and you heard it a lot already, but it gets better. You make some money, you're not restrained to shit like school or parents if you don't want to, you become unironically wiser by exposing yourself to the real world and so on. If you stick to the overwhelming aspect you'll never get rid of it. At this point you should know what's good for you; studying, working out, working, being social. When in doubt, do that. From there on don't plan everything years ahead.
You're gonna be fine. Try hard to force yourself to "grow up" as cliche as it sounds.
While we're on this topic, maybe we could do a quick brainstorming session to help OP come up with story ideas. It's the least we could do.
Or how about make a villain who is an eco-fascistic extremist with Chlorokinetic and Mycokinetic powers. He essentially wants to force humanity to return to the old ways or die.
Thoughts?
Appreciate the suggestions, and they are certainly cool ideas, but if I'm going to make something then it will be my own idea, not someone elses.
Good point. Thanks user.
>but if I'm going to make something then it will be my own idea, not someone elses
I don't see why not
You don't even have to give credit to me, just use them, they're for free