“Feel” Project Part 1: A New Project About “Feel”

I will be sharing progress and notes on this project as it develops, to get an authentic journal of what happens as it happens. This is like a behind-the-scenes look as I try to make this next project happen, even if it mutates into something else entirely. I have a general sense of where this might go but any definitive statements at this point would be premature.

This blog entry exists as the following sections: Origin Story, Title, Content, Process, Publishing, Questions, and Research.

Origin Story

It started with a jotting a list down in Evernote of different “feel” phrases:

• Feeling some type of way
• I like the feel of it
• So many feels
• Gives me feels
• It’s an abstract kind of feel
• That feel when

This “feel” concept stuck with me for a few days. I wasn’t sure what form they’d take or even if anything would happen with it; around the same time “warm” and “charm” caught and lost me almost immediately. I thought: Are these designs I share on Instagram? Are these a visual book? Are these short stories? The only thing that was clear to me was that these phrases had that special quality to them that usually means the beginnings of a new creative writing project.

As detailed in a journal entry on October 9:

“Will I be able to write poetry anymore? Or am I fully into design? Obviously go with the flow. Is my voice actually locked inside CAPS LOCK content? Let’s give something a try.

Feeling some type of way
(affection)

[RAW WRITTEN CONTENT EDITED OUT]

Oddly getting some raw material out of this. What if I tried in lower case?”

I got raw material for some of these phrases. It sucked and I didn’t include about 95% of it in the next iteration but it was nice to finally get some direction and body to these phrases.

On October 10:

“it’s funny how i had these ‘feel’ ideas written down, uncertain about what it would be, and then last night feeling agitated and insecure that i couldn’t write poetry, or creatively, anymore, and then give it a shot and now  i have some decent starting material and a name change for the ‘book’ or ‘booklet’ or whatever thing it will be. maybe i should do an 800px by 800px image to pair with each piece and upload it to my website? should i try to send it to an indie press for co-publication? could i try to get a sponsor for it? what would be in it for them? why would i want this sponsored? can i even really classify this as poetry when it’s really just this confessional, bloggy, repetition leading device thing? after doing that though i feel more open. more conversational and somewhat light-hearted. i should be gearing up for sleep, and kind of am, but i am definitely feeling good and energized from this. create first, edit later. no judgement or self-doubt or ‘is this actually poetry’ type nonsense right now. right now it’s in the stage of getting material out to work with. and from there the shaping begins.”

Not much concern for tense, grammar, or coherence in this entry but I’m sharing this unedited so you can get an authentic view into the process which will definitely include lots of questioning and chaos.

Title

Names I’ve run through so far: Feel, The Feel Collection, Feel Feelings, Feelings Feel, Feel Feelings While Feelings Feel, Feeling Feel Feels, Feeling Feels Feel.

I’m currently sticking with Feeling Feel Feels.

Content

Here’s the current list of pieces:

1. Feeling some type of way
2. I just feel like
3. I like the feel of it
4. I’m feeling feelings
5. So many feels
6. Gives me feels
7. It’s an abstract kind of feel
8. I know that feel
9. That feel when
10. Feeling it
11. I feel like I feel
12. I’m sorry you feel that way
13. How I feel about how I feel
14. There’s no better feeling
15. How does it feel
16. How does that make you feel?
17. You don’t know how it feels
18. How do you feel?
19. There’s a feeling in the air
20. It doesn’t feel like anything
21. I feel you
22. The feeling is mutual
23. F E E L
24. What is this feeling?
25. You Won’t Feel a Thing

Note: Bolding indicates pieces with raw written material and strikethrough indicates pieces that were cut as I made this post

Process

• Evernote (phone and laptop) for writing and developing “raw” material
• Evernote (phone and laptop) for writing and developing the blog post
• Google Docs to store the “master content” to update with whatever new material I have in Evernote and to work on when I have time for concentrated writing and editing

Publishing

After texting a friend for advice, the working plan is to publish this as a collection on this website.

I have some thoughts about having a section for contributions for content and maybe ways to support the work financially. I want memes tied into this somehow. I mean “that feel when” is a meme and this is a very “internet-culture” friendly list: So many feels, Gives me feels, It’s an abstract kind of feel, I know that feel, That feel when, F E E L.

Questions

• Do I want to write these pieces entirely in first person?
• How will blogging during this creative process affect the process itself?
• What is it that was so interesting to me about that initial set of phrases?
• What do I want to continue doing that I did in my last project?
• What do I want to do differently than I did with my last project? (process blogging is already one example)

Research

Some reading and research I’ve done so far that have some influence on the work.

• List of feelings
• Another list of feelings
• Reddit discussion about hauntology in vaporwave
• Psychology Today article about feeling two feelings about once
• TV Tropes search for “feel” tropes

Fun little note: I experienced a frequency illusion as I was listening to Tyler, the Creator, then Lupe Fiasco, then Pharrell in which I discovered a Pharell song called “How Does it Feel?” Feel is a very common word and a natural topic for a number of areas in which humans create things, especially artistic and expressive mediums, so I expect this to happen a lot during the course of this project.

This is Part 1 of “Feel” Project Behind-the-Scenes Blog.