David Lynch’s 8 creative rules

Sometimes it seems that nature has given some people more — it is easier for them to find answers to complex questions, they understand people better and can easily navigate in difficult situations. In fact, we are all initially on an equal footing — the main thing is to correctly dispose of the opportunities and skills that are inherent in us.

1. Desire

The desire to find a new idea is like bait. When you fish, you need to be patient. You hook the worm and wait. Desire is the bait for luring ideas.

Surprisingly, when you finally fish out an idea that you like, even if it is a very small crucian, a fragment of an image, it calls for the remnants of the joint. And you can hit the road. Along the way, you will come across other fragments, and now you see the whole thing. However, it all starts with a simple desire.

2. Intuition

Life is full of abstractions, and it is often necessary to understand it with the help of intuition. Intuition is a vision of a solution, an understanding of it. It is a combination of intelligence and emotion that is indispensable for a director.

How can you know that you are doing the right thing? We all have the same tools: we have the camera, the film, the world, and the actors. However, each person assembles the mosaic differently. This is where intuition comes to the rescue.

Personally, I believe that intuition can be developed and sharpened through meditation, plunging into oneself. Within each of us there is an ocean of awareness, an ocean of decisions. Diving into it, you make a choice.

You are not looking for a specific solution. You simply strengthen your intuition and already on the surface you see that something is wrong, but everything can be corrected. Over time, this ability grows, and things move quickly.

3. Dreams

I love the logic of dreams. I like where they can take us. But I never once got an idea in a dream. I found images in music, even in ordinary walks.

While working on Blue Velvet, however, I struggled a lot with the script. I wrote four different versions. But the problems continued until the very end of filming. Then one day I went to a meeting.

I went to the office, there was a secretary. I asked her to give me a piece of paper because I suddenly remembered that I had a special dream last night. And it turned out to be the three missing pieces of the puzzle. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened to me again.

4. Suffering

It is important for an artist to understand suffering and stress. You can get ideas from them. But I can only say one thing with certainty: if there are too many difficulties, you will not be able to create. Conflict situations will simply get in the way of your creativity. You should understand adversity, but it is better not to live in them.

The more an artist suffers, the less inspiration he experiences. Most likely, he will not enjoy the work and will not be able to perform it at a truly high level.

It may be pointed out to me that Vincent van Gogh painted beautiful pictures in spite of or even because of his torments. I think that he would have painted many more pictures and become an even greater artist if he had not been dominated by all these terrible things. I don’t think pain made him unique — on the contrary, painting was one of the few enjoyable moments in his life.

Some people find that anger, depression, and other negative things add a certain zest to their work. They think they have to hold on to fear and anger just to put it to work. They don’t like the idea of ​​happiness. They are simply sick of the idea that happiness will deprive them of their uniqueness or power.

If you are an artist, you must be aware of anger, but you must not feel the limitations that it brings with it. To create, you need energy, you need clarity. You must be able to catch ideas. You must be a strong person to deal with the incredible pressure and stress of this vast world.

5. Inner light

Negative emotions are like darkness. What is darkness? You look at it and realize that it is nothing. It is the absence of something. You turn on the light. Darkness recedes.

But the sun’s rays do not help get rid of the negative mood. They drive away the darkness. What kind of light should be turned on in this case? Of course, the light of pure consciousness, the light of oneself, the light of unity.

Don’t fight darkness. Don’t worry about her. Turn on the light and the darkness will recede. Release the light of pure consciousness — the negative mood will also go away.

You can say: fresh tradition. But this is the real truth.

6. Limitations

Sometimes it is the limitations that make the mind work. If you have a lot of money, you can relax and solve any problem with their help. You do not need to think much and hard. But when you face limits, you have to come up with creative and inexpensive solutions.

My friend Gary D’Amico works in special effects. He loves to blow things up. It was he who destroyed the house in the movie Lost Highway. And he didn’t even have the necessary funds! And I had no idea that we were going to blow up the house. The production manager asked me if we were going to demolish it, if we needed anything from the set. And I asked: «Demolish?» This is where the thought process kicked in. I approached Gary: «What happens if I want to blow up the house?» His face lit up.

He replied: “It would be nice if you told me earlier. I don’t know what I have left in stock. Although… yes. Yes, we will do it!” He went inside and used whatever was left in his stash. It was just wonderful. If he had known in advance, we would not have had such an effect. The explosion was soft. Things flew hundreds of feet away. And then we put the shots in reverse order. It came out wonderful.

7. Beauty

When you see an old building or a rusty bridge, you are witnessing the process of cooperation between man and nature. If you paint the building, the magic will disappear. However, if he is allowed to grow old, then both man and nature are involved in the process. It’s so natural.

However, this does not occur to people. The exception is rare decorators.

8. Keep the rhythm

This is a very difficult matter. You want to make art, but you need something to live on. Therefore, you have a job, and sometimes there is no energy left for art.

But if you truly love him, you will carry on no matter what. I was very lucky. Along the way, I met people who wanted to help. You are getting help because you have achieved something, and it is very important not to stop.

Yes, I was lucky. But here’s what I’ll say: find a job that leaves you time, sleep, eat and work. There is so much joy in doing what you love. Perhaps doors will open for you and you will find a way to create on an ongoing basis. I hope so it will be.