10 questions and answers with Daedalus Howell.

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in storytelling and media, and how has your journey evolved over the years?

My mom was studying James Joyce in college when I was tiny and she would read Finnegan’s Wake to me, which might account for my lifelong fascination with the dynamism of language and expression — and occasional nonsensical babbling. As with any storyteller, craft and its practice have helped hone my voice so I can sound convincingly like myself most days. Now, I’m working on having a point of view.

2. How do you integrate your diverse pursuits as a writer, filmmaker, and performer into a cohesive brand?

If there’s any coherency to my personal brand it’s likely the result of maintaining a consistent sense of humor throughout my projects and an alignment with my interests, which tend to cluster around predictable themes. I think about identity and its evolution in personal experience quite a bit. Who are we when subjected to so much change? What remains immutable is the Self with a capital S, which is the core of any brand, personal or otherwise.

3. Can you tell us about a particularly challenging project and how you overcame those challenges?

Independent filmmaking is particularly challenging given the array of inherent challenges, but that’s also the thrill. Every element presents a problem needing a creative solution, which can be anything from the money and securing locations to getting your PA not to smoke on set. These may not seem like creative problems on par with fixing a plot hole or fine-tuning a performance, but they are — it’s all creative, which can be exhilarating and exhausting. Making our film Pill Head was interesting — it was our first feature and very much a learning process in managing how to collaborate at a larger scale, particularly when roles on indie flicks can be so fluid, and there are often disparities in experience or even enthusiasm between participants. Developing forbearance and fortitude became key takeaways that definitely benefited our next film, Werewolf Serenade. Of course, this contrasts with writing books, in which autonomy and self-reliance may seem like a tonic after marshaling a big group effort. Still, then I’m confronting my frailties as a person — from procrastination and distraction to serving myself before the reader and audience and actually producing the work.

4. How has your experience as an editor for North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun influenced your approach to your creative projects?

I’ve become adept at finding efficiencies and delegating effectively. Moreover, my approach is focused on what’s important about conveying the story—first, you serve the reader, then the subject, then—maybe—the writer.

5. What role does humor play in your work, and how do you balance it with the more serious themes you explore?

Humor is the organic sugar substitute that helps the meds go down. I tend toward bathos, which aligns with my simultaneously absurd but romantic worldview. As Bogie said in Casablanca, “…it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” Unless you’re those three people. Or the hill or beans. It’s about scale and keeping one eye on the macro picture and the other on the micro picture of any moment.

6. What inspired the creation of Werewolf Serenade, and what message do you hope audiences take away from it?

Werewolf Serenade is the direct result of turning 50 and reflecting on Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, which is also about a guy turning 50 and taking a Jungian tour of his unconscious, which includes his Shadow, a.k.a., the wolf of the steppes. I merely made the metaphor more explicit, tied it to some beloved genre tropes, and drenched it in wine for some indicting self-parody. The takeaway I hope resonates with audiences is that change is inevitable, so make it good — even if you’re changing into a werewolf.

7. How do you stay motivated and inspired during the more difficult phases of your creative process?

This is where collaboration is essential to me on big projects. When you’re the only responsible party, like when writing a novel, it’s easier to give up, which is why so many unfinished novels are floating around in the cloud. The more hands on deck, the more responsibility there is to deliver the final result. A good team will drag you to the finish line if they have to. Accountability is a good motivator. Add a deadline to that, and it becomes easier to make the hard choices, which is a large part of any creative process.

8. What do you consider your greatest achievement in your career so far, and why?

It’s not any particular work but how I work or that I work at all. I’m one of the last of my cohorts who are still committed to The Dream. Perhaps I’m a case of arrested development or delusional about achieving a modicum of success. Still, I’m particularly proud of my Quixotic drive to continue creating my work, be it in the face of failure or fortune. Whether the world wants it or not, offering the choice is good.

9. How do you envision the future of your brand and the projects you want to tackle next?

There is no perfect incarnation of one’s self—ditto one’s creative brand. Interests evolve, deepen, or are abandoned altogether. What’s essential to me in regard to the prospect of my future storytelling is depicting the possibilities of transformative human moments that either transgress or transcend the script we’ve all inherited and remind us that no matter what happens to us, we are ultimately authors of our life stories.

10. What advice would you give aspiring creatives who want to build a multifaceted career like yours?

In the end, it’s just work. Talent and taste are trivial compared to the time and effort creative works requires. Talent and taste are really just the finishing touches.