We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ZiCheng Li a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
ZiCheng, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I’ve always viewed creativity as something similar to how the human body functions. We need to constantly intake food and water so that we have the essential nutrition to maintain a healthy and functional body. To keep my creativity alive, I also need to take in and consume things in life to have the essential nutrients to create art. I like to keep myself open and always be conscious about my emotions, whether it’s happiness and joy or poignancy and somber. To me, emotions are the core of my work. Being excited about an upcoming trip, being sorrowful for losing a dear friend, or being disappointed by not seeing my effort paid off – these can all become motivations to keep the engine for my creativity running. I never overlook my emotions and never reject feeling a certain way, which I guess is the key to being active and alive in creating art and the overall experience of life in general.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a freelance screenwriter, focusing primarily on feature and short films. I’ve always been excited about writing stories and characters that reflect what I think about life at various stages in my life. Character-driven dramas, intimate relationships, and stories about characters from the Asian American and LGBTQ communities are the majority of signatures in my writings.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Being open to experiences, ability to be detail-oriented and observe, and having a borderless imagination or sometimes “daydreaming” are the three things that I treasure the most in my journey as a creative. Although it can sometimes be a little troubling when I’m thinking too much, I still like to keep it that way since it is something essential when I’m writing a story or thinking about the next steps my characters should take.
Everyone has unique methods and preferences to create art, so I don’t think I’m in a position to give any advice. If there has to be one given, I think it would be to open yourself up and experience life and the world as much as possible. Experience different cultures in the world, experience love and hate, good and bad – everything will eventually come back and contribute to your creativity.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I can never be grateful enough that they have been supporting me to be who I really am and what I want to do for my life. My family consists of mostly scholars and educators, so the idea that I want to be an artist and filmmaker is absolutely a challenging one for them because no one in my family knows anything about it. Instead of rejecting my passion and trying to talk me out of it, they saw my dedication and gave me their full support.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zicheng-lithium.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hysteria_li23/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zicheng-li-24159a93/
Image Credits
Huazhang Dai, Lameng Bei
