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Exploring writing as an artistic outlet and thoughts from our creative minds in Meow Wolf on how to begin this creative expedition.
Illustration by Zac Lux.
Contributing authors: Erin Barnes, Dave Jasmon, Steve Borst
My friends, we’re back with another article in this series of Approachable Art. With the help of some lovely Meow Wolf-ers, we’ve looked at how to get started with installation art and painting, but now we trek onwards to writing as art.
Often used for person-to-person communication, writing has many artistic opportunities for us humans. In Meow Wolf itself, our writing creates the stories of our worlds, what makes an Omega Mart product so absurdly perfect, and what helps you discover all of the hidden multiversal secrets within.
To give us some baseline knowledge in the writing world, you have four main styles to choose from: Persuasive (“I’m definitely an authority on peanut butter and it’s great.”), Narrative (“The little sentient jar of peanut butter was getting worried about the big feelings it was having.”), Expository (“Peanut butter is made from peanuts.”), and Descriptive (“Peanut butter spreads / Like a receding ocean wave / Jam splashes your face.”).
Within these styles, some give you more room to be openly creative with the words you’re putting on the paper/screen. But these categories can be given a creative twist – why not write a scientific paper about the Yawlp? Why not write an op-ed from a grocery store owner from another universe? We may or may not have done these things…
Speaking of things we’ve done, let us hear from some Meow Wolf artists on their experiences and advice with writing and how to make it your next artful adventure:
Ever since I first visited House of Eternal Return years ago, I knew that I needed to be involved with Meow Wolf. It took me years to find a job here but since being hired on as the Denver PR Manager in July 2021, I’ve moved up to Director of Public Relations.
We frequently hear from fans that Meow Wolf is “indescribable.” I love the challenge of communicating something so mysterious to the world. I remember working with the Denver media before we were allowed to share anything about the exhibition theme, opening date, or name of Convergence Station. The level of creativity it took for all of us to tease out this mysterious “sleepy pizza” building and what’s inside – like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – was absurd.
As a former journalist, I love the creative side of storytelling and thinking about what the world might like to read about within our company – which has so many fascinating angles. I get inspired by something within our company, like a process or a sound or a story or a technique, and then if it makes sense, I get to work towards seeing that article in the world by pitching journalists and sharing these secrets with them. One of the latest topics I’ve loved delving into is our sound, which I wrote a BLOB about recently, while also working with Garrett Martin from Paste to get him interviews and tours to write his own masterpiece that talks about our audio angle.
I started writing little books when I was a kid. The first book I remember finishing was about the origins of Halloween, and it involved a literal hellmouth where demons climbed out to ravage society once a year on October 31. I guess you could say that I’ve always had a flair for being morbid and weird. I’d write and illustrate these books, and I still have many of them – my kids like to laugh at the one I wrote about chickens when I was a toddler. It’s about a chicken party and they’re all making bread?
At age 19, I decided to go to college for writing – I know, dumb idea. But hey, I’m using my degree! I started freelancing for Westword and the Denver Post when I turned 20. So I’ve been writing professionally for a very long time, but the IRS still considers it a “hobby.”
During my college years, I was into Kerouac and the Beats. I’d wander the campus of MSU in the middle of the city, and ride the city bus, imagining Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady at Charlie Brown’s. I’m not a very scholarly writer; some of the inspirations for Glory Guitars, the book I last published, were the teen drama Skins and that really messed up movie, Kids. People have also compared my book to Rock’N’Roll Babes From Outer Space. I used to struggle with not feeling like I was academic enough for the literary world. I got bored in classic lit classes and didn’t do my reading. Now, I understand that there are as many ways to be a writer as there are other artistic expressions – infinite.
I used to be unstoppably prolific; I couldn’t shut up (on paper). I just desperately needed to contribute to the collective realm of knowledge. Now having published two books (and written countless others that haven’t been good enough to publish), I am careful with my time. I understand the cost with every cell in my body, and so the value has gone up. I’m not willing to go through that for any middling idea.
Turn off the editor in your head. Approach writing like an art form, like painting. Writers tend to get in their own heads and overly analyze every word before it goes onto the page – comparing themselves to literary greats, imagining their pretend audience, and wondering why they even bother. We all suffer from wondering what the point is, but I like to remind myself that there are literally millions of love songs in the world and each one is different because of the person writing or singing it.
I also love the advice one of my college professors gave: don’t be too heavy handed with messaging or causes. If you set out to write a play about an issue that’s close to your heart, it’s going to read like a PSA. Instead, focus on the characters or something more universal. Your message will naturally come out of you in a way that’s more subtle and human.
Don’t be surprised if your writing offends people. Out of all of the art forms, it might be the easiest way to offend others because everything is so clearly spelled out, thus there is more for people to disagree with.
When I was in my hyper-prolific writing phase, I was really trying to make it as a writer. I was pitching freelance articles to national outlets and being rejected constantly. I was being rejected because I was trying to be someone other than myself. In my failure to get these high profile think pieces in outlets like The Atlantic, I decided I needed a fun little side project to blow off steam - just for me. That side project was the book I’m most proud of writing, Glory Guitars, which won three indie awards. There’s that famous quote from Toni Morrison, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” I didn’t even want to admit to myself that I secretly wanted to read dramatic teenage trash. But then I wrote it, and some unexpectedly profound things came out of it. Truly good writing can come from a place of self indulgence. Just write what you want to write, and your messages will shine through in a way that’s so beautifully human, joyful, and authentic.
Let’s all create the world that we want to live in. We need to fight the terrible things that are happening in the world, but we also need to save some energy for the creation of the good stuff. If we’re only rejecting the bad stuff, even if we succeed, we’ll just be left with a void. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the world doesn’t reward creativity – we need creatives more than ever right now, even if the world has developed a temporary blindness to it. Creativity is literal magic.
Why does everyone keep asking me that? *Laughs until cries* All joking aside, I am a Creative Director in the Brand Creative department, but I started here as a copywriter. I write words for videos, billboards, emails, ads, signs, posters, fake products in fake totally real grocery stores, and I think of ways to translate the Meow Wolf experience into something our audience can understand.
The more annoying description is: If you think of Meow Wolf as an entity, I help create its voice (among many others).
I think it started as a means to an end with world-building. I’ve always had my head in the clouds, and I’m a terrible visual artist, so writing has been the only way for me to bring the worlds I want to experience to life. That and music. When you have a hard time focusing, writing lyrics, poetry, scribbles in your notebooks…these are all great ways to write for fun when longer forms feel daunting.
As a kid, I liked fantasy. Again, big worlds. As I got older, writers like Cormac McCarthy appealed to me because of how strongly I could feel their scenery. I remember getting obsessed with a dystopian surrealist novel called Lanark as a young adult. That was written by Alisdair Gray, who most Americans probably know for the film based on his book, Poor Things. Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts was another one that captivated me. Richard Brautigan. Those latter two really embrace writing as a visual medium, which appeals to me as someone who can’t “art” any other way.
I love the idea of experimenting with and distorting the ways we’re expected to read. There are so many ways to tell a story. Why follow a template?
I used to edit as I was writing, and that leads to a lot of unfinished work. I learned that you have to really barf out the whole idea before going back with tweezers and sifting through what’s worth keeping, what needs adding, and what needs editing.
I’ve also learned to embrace The Walk. Literally, going on a walk. When you spend all night with your head buried in your work there’s a time limit for seeing it clearly. Step away and return with fresh eyes. That doesn’t mean everyone benefits from a walk. That’s just the thing that gives my body the feel-goods and allows me to reset. It could be meditation, picking up an instrument, going to the movies…ultimately, I guess it boils down to making a different part of your brain take the wheel for a stretch. I have a foolproof method for defeating the hiccups that’s based on a similar methodology.
Write stuff that’s bad. See if you can make it good, or better. Let someone else read your writing and prepare to have your ego destroyed. If you have the resources, write for a class or a group that reads your writing OUT LOUD. There’s nothing more humbling and nothing more rewarding than the authentic reactions that occur when your words become a part of something bigger than your headspace.
Other approaches that have helped me:
In short, the more tools you have and the better shape they’re in the more fun you’re likely to have.
Being dishonest with my writing. You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Write what you know.” I think that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I’ve found that trying too hard to write like somebody else—or to portray an experience you don’t fully understand—it’s a recipe for humility. That’s not a bad thing, to be humbled, but it’s never a mistake to simply let the truth pour out of you. If anything, it’s therapeutic.
Oof. I don’t presume to know what the world needs, but I do know that words are powerful. Choose yours carefully and with intention.
The realms of Meow Wolf are overflowing with creativity, mind-bending art, and delightful chaos — all that energy cannot (and will not!) be contained solely within the physical walls of the exhibits themselves. My job is to help that energy escape into projects that extend our worlds beyond these dimensional boundaries so that fans can explore our universes in new ways.
The Meow Wolf App is a great example. Featured in the app is the Psychic Sensor, an esoteric tool of unknown origins that visitors can use at Meow Wolf exhibits to detect and collect psychic traces, helping them piece together the mysteries of each installation. When visitors leave the exhibit, they can review all the content they’ve collected to continue exploring the narrative at home.
In addition to curating and creating content for the app, I also help shepherd Meow Wolf’s digital comics from initial concept through development and production. Our first series, Confessions of a Taver, picks up where the story of Houston’s Radio Tave leaves off—following Robin on his adventures through the universes after leaving the Glen.
There are other projects I’m working on too, all very exciting, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy by [REDACTED INTERDIMENSIONAL AGENCY]. Rest assured, all will be revealed in due time...
I got hooked on writing through reading fantasy novels and playing Dungeons & Dragons. When I was a kid, the Dragonlance series and Forgotten Realms books captured my imagination early on, eventually leading me to classics like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (though I drew the line at The Silmarillion).
I was captivated by these fantastical realms and found myself dreaming of uncovering secret passages that would let me step directly into those adventures. Writing and storytelling became my way of transporting myself to these places I wanted so desperately to experience in real life. Looking back, it makes a lot of sense that I ended up working at Meow Wolf, where we specialize in crafting portals to extraordinary realities. My childhood passion for imaginary worlds seems to have manifested itself in my professional life – somewhere along the way I must have rolled a natural 20.
When I was younger, I saw writing as a deeply personal, solitary craft – something I did alone, in my own head. Now I thrive on collaboration, where each person’s contribution transforms and elevates the work beyond what any of us could create alone. During my time as a showrunner on Nickelodeon’s Breadwinners, I got to experience this firsthand, working alongside talented directors and artists who brought perspectives I couldn’t have accessed on my own. The same is now true at Meow Wolf! These collaborative relationships have taught me to stay flexible. If one approach hits a dead end, there’s always another route—or twenty-five other routes if you need them. The creative process is much more fluid than I once believed.
Just write a minimum of five minutes today.
One time I wrote this completely ridiculous script that centers on an Ewok named Cheb Cheb and his unlikely friendship with Elon Musk. Cheb Cheb is just a humble young slug farmer, feeling a little lonely and alienated from his community, when this billionaire entrepreneur shows up from another galaxy and befriends him. Everything seems pretty cool at first, and Elon even introduces the village to some new technology. But slowly the technocrat’s true intentions emerge—he’s just there to extract the village’s most valuable natural resource: slug milk.
I actually submitted this script to Disney as a writing sample when I was being considered for a position on one of their shows. Unfortunately (and perhaps unsurprisingly), the script did not “resonate” with them. So I suppose it was a mistake to share it. But it’s my best mistake because it amuses me every time I think about having shared it. I do think it’s important to find enjoyment from your writing, and for me that means sometimes writing something completely ridiculous and totally unproducible with less-than-zero market value. Also, if I had gotten that job, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up at Meow Wolf. When one portal closes, another one opens.
I’m not sure, but I’ll know it when I hear it… unless it’s never written because the person who was meant to write it doesn’t because they’re just too busy or too full of self-doubt or just don’t know where to begin. That would be too bad. Wait… what if that person is YOU?! What if YOU’RE the one with the message that needs to be heard right now?! I’m gonna need you to sit down, grab a pencil or a pen or a keyboard… and start writing.
You heard Steve, get to writing! Really though, writing is what you make of it. It is using that brain of yours and formulating the ideas and concepts you want to put out in the world using whichever words you like. As our interviewees have said, there are a multitude of ways you can create your artful writing pieces and imagine your own worlds, all it takes is a start.
We often have writing workshops in our locations, if that floats your writing boat! Take a look into our Meow Wolf Makers events in Denver and various workshops in Santa Fe, and best of luck on your creative adventures!
