How time capsule houses teach us to celebrate our unique creative voices

To engage readers, be more like yourself

Today I want to share something I have been obsessing over for months, and use this as a metaphor for how to develop your platform as a writer in a manner that feels authentic, and also deeply engages readers.

Let’s dig in…

Time Capsule Houses

Earlier this year I discovered that people were sharing photos of “time capsule houses” online, and I became enamored with them. What is a time capsule house? It is a home that was decorated decades ago in a different era, and never changed. While there are many beautiful examples, I became focused on houses that were stuck in time from the era I grew up: the 1970s, with all of the garish decor that was in fashion then. This is what feels like home to me. The fact that someone has been living with this interior for 50+ years is amazing:

As I began looking at dozens of these houses, I noticed something: the exterior of the home rarely hinted at the wild interiors. The outside was expected, neatly fitting into a row of similar houses. For example, would you ever think that this very average house:

Hid this amazing interior for half a century?

The interiors are so vibrant, filled with polarizing decisions that evoke a specific character and mood. Why am I writing about this today? Because I firmly believe that you have a unique creative voice, and I encourage you to share this voice.

Too often, we tone down our voices to fit in. We try to smooth out the rough edges and align to what is expected. Spending months researching these time capsule houses had me reflecting on the joy of living in a manner that is uniquely you. And as a writer, not being afraid to full realize your creative voice.

Does that mean you have to be confrontational, or stick out? No. But please don’t be a boring copy of a copy of a copy. Not only does it dim your unique voice, but it also does nothing to allow others to discover the magic of your writing and creative work.

Find a way to do this that feels safe to you. You can mimic these homes if you like, expected on the outside, but vibrant on the inside.

What is amazing to me is how these not only survived, but people were actively living in them like this for decades! Someone experienced this living room exactly like this in 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, 2015, and right up until recently:

Or this bedroom from the same house:

I mean, imagine walking into this entryway to your home every single day for decades:

Or how about this one:

Or how this ordinary looking house:

…presents guests with a “choose your own adventure” type decision when they enter: the fiery red of the family room, or the calm blues of formal living room:

For me, this research has certainly been a meditation on how wonderful wallpaper and carpeting are:

Don’t you miss flocked wallpaper? This is the coziest hallway ever:

Or how about matching every element of a room to wallpaper:

I was also reminded how carpeting used to be a common thing in kitchens, which I grew up with as well. And in case you are wondering, the owners put this carpeting in every single room of their home. Because, of course they would, right?

The bathrooms tend to be amazing in these houses — places where the homeowners took even bigger risks:

Wouldn’t you want to wake up in this exact room every single day, for 50+ years?

Compare all of this to houses you often see today. In researching this essay, I have spent months looking at houses for sale in the town I grew up in. Occasionally I find a time capsule house, one whose interior was unchanged since 1970. But mostly I find this: stark white interiors. It is house after house after house that looks like this:

Of course, I understand why people do this. Beyond it being in fashion, it’s easier to sell because any potential buyer can easily “decorate” it to their taste in a simple trip to Target or HomeGoods.

As time capsule houses come to the market, they are invariably updated to a plain interior. Here is a fascinating example: this is a house that Tina Turner lived in during the 1970s, whose interior survived until a couple years ago. The bedroom then:

The exact same bedroom today:

I share this with you today to remind you: you are an experience. There is a world inside of you that is shared in your writing and creative work. Your voice is unique in this world.

Are there times when being the plain room is preferred? Of course. But I know that you have something special that you want to share, something that may stand out, and in doing so, deeply connect with readers. Don’t be afraid to go to that place. To share what you are afraid to share, not because it is threatening, but because it embodies who you are more than anything.

You don’t have to fit in. You can ignore trends and best practices.

That doesn’t mean that you have to walk around as a garishly dressed extrovert. But in how you share, I encourage you to make it feel unique to who you are, and your unique voice in this world.

The difficult thing to navigate in this is often our own sense of other people’s expectations. We may fear that others expect us to fit in, and define us in a simple and clear way that we can’t deviate from.

But you are a multifaceted human being and writer. You are more than one thing at once, and you evolve over time. I simply encourage you to recognize that and not hide that.

Be the best version of you can be, however you define that. That is what will engage readers, and what will make your work and how you share it memorable.

Please let me know in the comments: Do you feel that how you share online is fully representative of the creativity inside of you? If not, what is holding you back?

For my paid subscribers this week, I shared a mini-case study on using video to better connect with readers.

Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan

Kids of the Week: I copied and edited pages of a book he is writing (at his request), and here he is in a moment that many of you will relate to: trying to make sense of it all!