A Masterclass in Riding the Waves of Life — “The School for Good and Evil” Creator Soman Chainani

TL;DR

Soman Chainani’s approach to riding life’s creative waves is to let major decisions emerge naturally while treating himself as the manager of creativity who consistently shows up. After writing the six-book “The School for Good and Evil” series over 10 years, he says his planned next novel repeatedly gives way to a different project when writing begins. Read on for his distinction between consciously executing work and discovering its creative direction.

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Questions & Answers

Q: What does Soman Chainani mean by “follow the flow”?

He means allowing the next creative direction or major decision to come naturally instead of forcing it consciously. He says the novel he plans for years is never the book he ultimately writes next.

Q: Who is Soman Chainani?

Soman Chainani describes himself as a specialist in the teenage mind and an author of young adult fantasy. He says he connects with young people and fantasy lovers through novels.

Q: What is “The School for Good and Evil”?

“The School for Good and Evil” is a series that Soman Chainani wrote over 10 years. It contains six books, and Netflix made it into a movie that had come out the previous year.

Q: How does Soman Chainani choose his next novel?

He may tell his agent and publisher about a planned book for a couple of years, but that project changes when he begins writing. He believes the next creative force must emerge naturally rather than be solved entirely by the conscious mind.

Q: What can the conscious mind do in Soman Chainani’s creative process?

Chainani says the conscious mind can execute and deliver on a promise. He does not believe it can determine the next creative force or make the biggest creative decisions by itself.

Q: Why does Soman Chainani call himself the manager of his creativity?

He sees himself as responsible for showing up and managing the work rather than generating every idea deliberately. He playfully calls his underlying creative forces “the elves,” saying they reveal the next book and even its chapter titles.

Q: How long does Soman Chainani expect to work on a novel?

He says he will obviously spend two or three years working on a novel. Because that commitment is substantial, he believes his brain will not let him work on a project unless it has settled on that project.

Q: What conversation format does Tim Ferriss propose for the episode?

Ferriss initially describes five things Chainani is excited about, five things he has changed his mind about, and five absurd things he still does. He then proposes a “Four by Four” version with four items in each category plus four people Chainani follows or thinks others should know about.

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