Category: Personal Reflections & Creative Process
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Creative Resilience: How Storytelling Teaches Us to Navigate Change
Maybe you’ve felt it too: the sense that change isn’t just seasonal anymore — it’s become the very air we breathe. In a world that shifts beneath our feet, resilience isn’t just a survival skill; it’s a creative one. The best of stories all model resilience: characters face obstacles, reframe their challenges, and emerge changed…
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The Craftsman and the Artist: Holding Both Halves of the Creative Self
There’s a tension many of us carry as creatives—quiet, persistent, and often unspoken. On one side is the artist: intuitive, untamed, guided by feeling, willing to break the rules for the sake of meaning.On the other is the craftsman: disciplined, precise, focused on mastery, structure, and doing things well. For a long time, I didn’t…
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The Visual Key: How Bruce Block Unlocked My Storytelling Structure
This post is part of a short series on the creative books that have shaped how I think about storytelling, structure, and collaboration—especially in animation. These aren’t reviews, but reflections on the tools and truths I’ve carried into my work. I discovered Bruce Block’s The Visual Story during my thesis research in grad school, and…
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The Role of Empathy in Storytelling
(Or, Why I Used to Cry in the Children’s Section of the Bookstore) Before my animation career, I worked in bookstores—first as a researcher, then a lead, and eventually, a children’s book expert. Technically, I sold so many children’s and teen books they stopped rotating my shifts. Even when it was slow, I was asked…
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How Storytelling Helps Me Find Comfort, Process Uncertainty, and Believe in What Comes Next
There are days when the world feels unrelenting. The headlines blur together—climate disasters, politics, violence, uncertainty stacked on uncertainty—and the sense of helplessness creeps in before we can stop it. Even on quiet days, it’s there, humming under the surface. That low-level heaviness. That ache of trying to keep up, stay informed, be “on” all…
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The Power of Narrative: Why We’re Wired for Story
There was a time in my life when I was surrounded by stories—shelving them, recommending them, researching them, watching them fly off the shelves. From 2001 to 2009, I worked in bookstores in various roles—researcher, children’s expert, section lead—and in that time, I was able to wander through thousands of narratives, exploring at my own…
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From Chaos to Magic: The Joy of Creative Collaboration
Some people thrive in order. I thrive in a little chaos—the creative kind. Not the panic kind, or the deadline-is-burning kind, but the kind of chaos that happens when brilliant, wildly different minds collide to make something bigger than any one of us could imagine alone. In creative teams, things rarely go according to plan—and…
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How to Handle Creative Feedback Without Taking It Personally
Let’s be real: creative feedback can sting. Even when it’s kind and constructive, hearing that something needs to change—especially after you’ve poured time and heart into it—can feel personal. It’s hard not to take it that way sometimes. But I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that feedback, when done well, isn’t meant to tear you…
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The Story We Tell Ourselves—How Self-Worth Affects Creativity in Animation & Art
Creativity Isn’t Just About Talent—It’s About Self-Belief We talk about creativity as if it’s just about talent, skill, and experience. But the truth? The most powerful force behind great creative work isn’t external—it’s internal. In animation, games, and any creative field, self-worth and storytelling are deeply linked. When artists, writers, and designers believe their ideas…
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Why Storytelling and Creative Environments Matter (And Why I’m Writing About Both)
If you love animation, games, or any kind of storytelling, you’ve probably felt it—that moment when a story isn’t just a story, it’s an experience. When a world feels real, characters resonate, and something lingers long after the credits roll. But what makes a story great isn’t just the writing, the animation, or the worldbuilding.…
Christy Heyob | Building Worlds, Stories & Creative Teams 