Thoughts on your scenius

Yesterday over on Twitter, reader Atom Werewolf (@adamwwolf) touted Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy to his followers and then asked me for advice on building up his scenius.

Before I talk about that, let’s review what a scenius is. I came across the term while researching Lichtenbergianism, and it fit neatly into our precept of AUDIENCE, in which the second of your audiences is “those people right here.” Musican Brian Eno coined the phrase when he was a student in art school to describe those groups of cool kids who all seemed to know each other in the Renaissance, in Elizabethan England, in early-20th-c. Paris, etc. It was meant to evoke the “group genius” who created a vibrant scene that then nourished those who were in its sphere.

Sometimes these sceniuses are recognized only after the fact; sometimes they are actual groups like the Inklings or the Fauves or the Lichtenbergian Society. For our purposes, the “actual group” thing is what we’re looking for.

(Full disclosure: I have never belonged to an actual “writer’s group” where we meet on a regular basis at the coffee shop and talk about our work, much less share it for comment. If I were an actual writer, I might consider it, but I’m not, so I don’t.)

So what advice did I give Atom Werewolf? He actually gave it to himself when he asked if I recommended his reading Bandersnatch, by Diana Pavlac Glyer, which I reference in Lichtenbergianism. I told him yes, do: she ends each chapter with an inset box, DOING WHAT THEY DID, and finishes with an Epilogue that is essentially a blueprint of how to start and maintain your scenius.

To quote from Lichtenbergianism:

She calls members of such groups resonators and says that they “show interest [in the work], give feedback, express praise, offer encouragement, contribute practical help, and promote the work to others.” She then proceeds to give specific examples of how the Inklings did each of these.

In the penultimate chapter, “Leaf-Mould and Memories,” she expands the concept to include our very own STEAL FROM THE BEST: you are wise, she says, to include the great creators of the past in your influences. And her last chapter is an epilogue on How To Do What They Did, i.e., create your own scenius:

• start small

• stay focused

• meet often

• embrace difference

• start early and intervene often

• criticize but don’t silence

• vary feedback

• increase the channels

• try more than one

• think outside the group.

As I said, detailed and complete.

I’ve been fortunate to have been a part of multiple sceniuses in my life: the Newnan Community Theatre Company, the Governor’s Honors Program, the Lichtenbergian Society, Backstreet Arts, the Georgia burner community, and even my old Curriculum Liberation Front (a lot on my mind these days with schools in such trouble.)

Each and every one gave me a group of people who were able to accomplish amazing things by being there for each other, supporting the work, amplifying the work, critiquing the work, assisting the work.

If you don’t already have a scenius, think of this: you probably already know people who are working on the same kinds of things you are, or have the same attitudes towards their work that you do. That’s your scenius. All you have to do is make it one: call the meeting to order.