Episode 4: Why aliens make great writers + the inspiration that’s wherever you are (with Nate’Eya Kahsai)
My generous and brilliant guest Nate’Eya Kahsai shares the writing powers that come from feeling like a space alien, the personal benefits of centering yourself as the main character in your life (a main character who fuels up by writing a poem a day, to be specific), and offers expansive views of collaboration, cross-medium exploration, and how to get inspired. We talk personal creative practice: how to do it, why it matters, and how it’s different from creating for a market or with a product in mind.
“I have to somehow tap into ME, and unravel the day. We all have the day that sits on us, and you were like smiling in Zoom meetings, and having to deal with your boss, and all these things, that like we have the day on us! So you have to shake that off, not to quote Taylor Swift, but you do! You have to get it off of ya to be able to process your emotions on the page and be honest to your audience and to yourself.” - Nate’Eya Kahsai
Writer/director Nate'Eya Kahsai fights for a wide range of voices in front of and behind the camera while managing her fun day job as a video editor at the Film Detective and Fandor. By the time Nate’Eya reached film school at UCLA, she knew she had something to say, both as a black queer woman and as an outsider. Since then, Nate’Eya has written and directed six short films, four music videos and partnered with countless diverse voices to bring their stories to screen. Nate’Eya crafts and contributes to projects across platforms--as writer and director.
ASK MOLLY
What suggestions do you have for someone having a hard time getting back into writing? Sometimes it's hard to take that first step! I've got 3 strategies for you, so hopefully you'll enjoy one of these:
Change of Scenery: Take yourself on a writing date or just move to the other side of the table to get a fresh perspective.
Buddy Up: Have someone you know co-work with you virtually, or meet in person if you can!
Ask For An Assignment: If you're not sure what you want to write about, try asking someone for a writing prompt.
DISCUSSION
OUTSIDERS MAKE SENSE, THROUGH WRITING
When it comes to writing, feeling a bit different than those around us, (or even a lot different), can be a huge influence on our writing. It may even be why we write at all: to try to understand ourselves, the people around us, our environments. We may use writing to process or even to revise or imagine a second chance at a conversation that already happened. Writing can support us through a general sense of being an outsider, as well as through times of healing, and be an ally for self-understanding and self-care for mental and emotional wellbeing.
WRITING ALONE, WRITING TOGETHER
For those of us who come to writing as journalers, private story writers, or just out of English class or the literary community—it’s easy to get stuck in a narrow view of writing that’s mostly done alone, and where everyone’s project is JUST theirs. It’s kind of amazing when you stop to think about how many different types of art and communication utilize writing, and how many different ways that words written for the page can be used for another medium. Nate’Eya occupies creative world ranging from poetry to film, and has opportunities to collaborate and cross pollinate between projects, people, mediums, and modes of making.
PRODUCTIVITY VS. CREATIVITY
Our generation, and maybe our whole societal moment, is centered on efficiency. We are constantly bombarded with messages that value optimization and productivity. We’re supposed to follow life hacks until we’ve hacked our lives into tiny robotic modules we can execute efficiently day in and day out. These types of motivation lead us to blocks in our creativity. Trying to optimize, to get a good product in one shot, to reach completion quickly, to produce for a particular market or audience that’s hot NOW often sets us up for failure. We’re trying so hard to skip to the end and to smush our process and ideas into such a narrow box, we often stifle our whole process along the way. To counter these tendencies and the tough feelings they leave us with, we deserve and need time to process, create, and write without purpose or destination.
RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS
THE very important Cinderella with Brandy & Whitney Houston
“If you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong.” and other writing advice from Jordan Peele
Visit CAAM Museum or take a Virtual Museum Tour in New York, Paris, Mexico City, and more
Watch (or Just Dance!) to a Lady Gaga music video to kick off your writing time
Creative Writing Exercise from Nate’Eya: Create a playlist for a character that you are writing and have fun with it, and listen to it, and dance to it, and think about how your character would be reacting to songs on this soundtrack, and in what environments they would be hearing it. Try listening to it as you write this character as well.