Rules for Mavericks: A Manifesto for Dissident Creatives

by Phil Beadle

Rules for A Manifesto for Dissident Creatives by Phil Beadle is a guidebook to leading a creative life, to being a renaissance dilettante, to infesting your art form with other art forms, to taking a stand against mediocrity, to rejecting bloodless orthodoxies, to embracing your own pretension and, most of all, to dealing with your failure(s). If you make any stand against power, then power will stand against and on you. And it will do so with centuries of experience and techniques in how to do so you will be painted as barbaric, dismissed as stupid and insane, be told to know your place. Most of all, you will be termed maverick. This genre-flouting manifesto is written by someone who has achieved and has failed in more than one field. As a Guardian columnist, award-winning teacher, award-winning broadcaster, author, editor, singer, songwriter, producer and public speaker, Phil Beadle knows a bit about leading a life producing good work across a variety of platforms. In this elegantly written book he glides and riffs around the idea of maverick nature, examines the processes of producing good work in creative fields and broaches the techniques that orthodoxies use to silence dissident voices. It is a how to dream book, a how to create book, a how to work book and a how to fail productively book; it is an examination of the many accusations that any dissident creative will face over a long career stirring things up, a guide to dealing with these with grace and a study in how to make creativity work for you. Rules for Mavericks is for anyone who wants to live and work more creatively and successfully.

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 27, 2017

Reviews

[Leanna Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t overtly hate this book and I honestly picked it up at the library because the cover was sparkly, and I considered myself a “dissident creative,” who might be able to glean from this self proclaimed manifesto. I guess I should have listened to the age old advice, “never judge a book by its cover,” because the beauty outside doesn’t necessarily mean any of that inside. The layout was interesting and there were a few worthwhile quotes, but overall I have learned nothing new about myself. I understand what he was trying to attempt with this book, but I don’t quite think he hit the mark. Also the last two pages was an unwelcome reminder of how meaningless he finds life. To quote the book, “Spirit don’t reach...”

[David Oates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most helpful.

Would recommend this to anyone in education or writing. Phil Beadle has an amazingly distinctive style that is so easy to read.

[Amandine Drx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a while to read because I needed to digest the chapters and reflect upon it. Brilliant ton support my introspection and needed creative change

[Thais Gobbi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was ok. Some parts good some parts eh