The case for the creative ‘heat check’

I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of creatively coasting, particularly within the arena I’m active in--writing.
Can an author end up coasting? Why would they coast? What does that look like?

The best place to start is to understand what I think it is to be ‘creatively coasting’. To put it simply I see it as:

the process of consistent artistic creation without challenging oneself. Creatively coasting means the creator uses, but does not build on what they’ve done before.

But why shouldn’t you use what you’ve done before? Especially if it was successful? Good question. I’m all for that and when done in moderation, it’s great. It ensures you’re playing to your strengths. It’s the smart thing to do.

The key word is ‘moderation’. It’s one thing to have signature elements in your work, it’s an entirely different thing for the entirety of your work to always and only be made of those signature elements. It breeds predictability, and complacency, and dare I say it, apathy. My suggestion? Embrace the creative heat check.

“What’s a heat-check?” you ask. Well a heat-check is a term often used in the context of basketball. Generally it's when a player takes a shot considered audacious, but acceptable because the player taking the shot has made their last several.

via Gfycat

Attempting to pull this into a creative context, think of this: you’ve written your first contemporary novel with a 3-act structure; then you write another novel—same genre, same structure, and similar premise—but in a different location; then you write another, but this time you use a new character archetype. The outcome? Your readership love your stories and their familiarity.

Which is great. Your decisions have been astute and subtle and ultimately have paid off. You’re feeling like you’re hitting a groove. Understanding who you are as a writer. So you decide the next book you write will be in a different genre with a different narrative structure. That’s the heat check. It’s an internal check to see if you’re figuratively hot. If you find joy in it, you keep on. And keep on. And keep on. Until it doesn’t quite land for you and you rein it in and make more astute decisions. The idea is once you ‘heat-check’, each creative decision you make from that point onwards is just as exciting and intriguing to you as the last. Key words are 'to you'.

I want to be clear: I don’t believe there is a prescribed, or right way to heat check. For instance, the first novel I finished was a YA high fantasy. With my next novel, I heat checked. I changed tense, POV, and genre to try something completely new. But for someone else in the same creative sphere, their heat check might look more subtle i.e. writing a story with an open ending when previously they’ve enamoured readers with perfectly tied-up endings.

That is to say:

Some creatives heat check as soon as they can, intending to push themselves from day one and never stop. Walt Disney comes to mind. He once said, “Around here...we keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths”. Kanye West—no matter what you think of him— also comes to mind.

Some heat check deep into their creative endeavours when they’ve honed their craft and established themselves. The effect is often iconic. Look no further than Jason Bateman whose Ozark heat check was immense... or Beyoncé and her surprise album. Still one of the most important moments in music.

Some fall between these two poles.

But there is a rare type of creative. Their heat-check never arrives because they see no need for it. Tyler Perry is the only illustration I can conjure. Can anyone name a heat check moment in his career? (I’d love to know!). When the heat check never comes, I call that coasting.

So, creatives, the next time you create, have a think—when was the last time you heat checked? And is one due? ■