When Best to Consider What the “Audience” Might Think?

You’re working on a creative project. Or, you’re thinking about a creative project. When is it best to consider what the audience for the result of that creative project might think?

How ’bout “never”?

Allow me to conjecture that only solo stand-up comedians (and, maybe, improvisational jazz musicians playing in a small club) are involved in a creative project, on the spot, who might be in the position to consider what might be efficacious in eliciting the present audience’s positive response. The rest of us, we get to wonder and stew about it.

So, as we will wonder what our “audience” will think (in the future) about the project we’re creating today, when is it best to think about what the audience might think?

How ’bout when the creator completes the project?

When a creative project is completed, the creator can show it, or not. Whether the creator shows or not is a separate concern from whether the project ever gets completed (and even assuming that it is dangerous to show a project not fully realized). Creators need to show (because it’s a necessary part of the responsibility in creating art). Fine if creators only create for themselves–all creators have done that, to a certain extent. Nevertheless, show me evidence of a creator who never shared a work, ever. Creators (even misanthropes) want to make sense of their efficacy as living beings. Showing is the most traditional way.

How ’bout when the creator is “in the middle” of the project or has the project “just about done”?

Good luck with that. If the creator is open to comments, criticism, and suggestions during the creative process, she or he is different from most creators. If the creator trusts his or her audience that much, all good. Sometimes, though, eliciting input on a project reeks of the creator’s own doubt about the project. When was the last time that a creator resuscitated a troublesome project by getting someone else’s comment on it?

How ’bout when the creator has “the best fucking idea ever” for a creative project?

Invite me to the party when the creator talks about the idea that hasn’t been worked on. I’ll be in the “audience” for that one.