Why make things?
Since 2009 both brothers have said they make things for the love of it and as gifts to others, ideally together with people they like. John adds that writing lets him escape himself, and in 2024 he admitted doubt whether his work helps anyone. In 2026 he said making art is fun whether or not anyone experiences it.
Axis: for others / connection ... for oneself / money
Positions by date: 81 records in 79 videos. shift and revise mean the position moved; tension — disagreement with the other speaker.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-02-23 | first on record | John thinks most writers would rather have an audience than countless riches; writing is not the way to get rich. | Brotherhood 2.0: February 23, 2007: Books 00:02:27 |
| 2009-08-25 | restate | John argues people should not make things for money or fame, which never feel like enough, but as gifts, responsible to the gift itself. | The Gift of Gary Busey 00:02:09 |
| 2010-07-14 | restate | John endorses Ze Frank's keynote: we make and watch videos not for money, subscribers or views but to feel what it's like to be other people and let others feel what it's like to be us. | Top 10 VIDCON MOMENTS 00:01:39 |
| 2010-07-20 (said on 2010-07-19, implied) | restate | John says he makes videos, writes books and travels because he likes doing awesome stuff with awesome people. | I Like Balls 00:01:43 |
| 2011-06-15 (said on 2011-06-14, implied) | restate | John says he writes books and makes videos because Nerdfighters inspire him to tell them interesting, hopefully helpful stories, as books changed his life. | Question Tuesday! Paula Deen Riding Me (and critical reading) 00:02:47 |
| 2011-08-17 | restate | John: making stuff is fulfilling in itself; the brothers love making awesome stuff with awesome people and feel lucky to be part of a community where that happens. | Hank's Question Tuesday DEBUT! 00:03:30 |
| 2014-03-25 | restate | John: people make things by building on their influences, in the hope of making things helpful to others. | I Gotta Go: Signing Off and Thinking about Inspiration 00:02:58 |
| 2016-01-12 | refine | John says creators keep a responsibility to their creations, but once they've done their best and the work is out in the world, they have to let it go. | Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things 00:03:18 |
| 2016-03-29 | refine | John says he loves writing because it is his number one way of escaping the prison of his consciousness. | My New Book, Marriage Advice, and Hamilton: 50 Snapchat Questions Answered! 00:00:21 |
| 2017-04-11 | restate | John says you add your coat of paint, hoping you made the world more beautiful; you will eventually be painted over, but you still matter. | Making the World's Largest Ball of Paint 00:02:45 |
| 2017-06-13 | restate | John finds Cheyenne fun: his main complaint about human life is being stuck in one slowly decaying body, and living in a made-up world frees him from the twin prisons of consciousness and body. | Cheyenne, Wyoming 00:00:38 |
| 2017-09-12 | refine | John compares this to building: wood and carpenter are always imperfect, so all buildings fall short of how they were imagined, yet they can still give us shelter. | How Will the World End? Why Even Get Out of Bed? It's Question Tuesday. 00:03:17 |
| 2018-11-02 | restate | John says time spent trying to do or make something beautiful never feels wasted to him. | Let Us Now Praise the Panda Person 00:03:33 |
| 2019-01-15 | restate | Eventually John worked on Looking for Alaska as a gift for other people rather than a document of his attempted cleverness. | On Burning Resentment 00:02:55 |
| 2019-01-29 | restate | The urge to find and share hope is why John writes books, makes videos, gardens and sponsors AFC Wimbledon, the third-tier English team wearing DFTBA on their shorts. | Do You Believe in Miracles? 00:01:55 |
| 2019-06-11 | restate | John says writing stories has always been a way out of himself: inhabiting other people's consciousnesses gives him a break from his own. | Why I Haven't Written a New Book 00:01:45 |
| 2019-06-11 | refine | John says publishing is something else: a mess of wanting to be liked and successful, hoping his stories are useful, and passing on gifts other people's stories gave him. | Why I Haven't Written a New Book 00:01:53 |
| 2019-07-12 | restate | John says they have not done it for money for a long time; the main reason is the one from 2007: making stuff with people they like, each other and Nerdfighteria. | Why Are We Still Doing This? - Reunion Video! 00:02:33 |
| 2019-09-10 | restate | John says other people's creative work fuels yours and vice versa, something he learned from Sarah. | Another Contender in the Room 00:01:56 |
| 2019-11-01 | restate | John says he learned that books exist not to make authors famous or successful but for the people who read them; his only job after writing is gratitude to readers who find them meaningful. | On Looking Up to Your Little Brother 00:00:58 |
| 2020-04-07 | restate | John says art-making is neither optional for humans nor reserved for certain people: we made art in every crisis and deprivation, painted walls before building them, and made art before farming. | I am an artist. 00:01:20 |
| 2021-05-18 | restate | John wrote the book to write his way back to wonder, hope and sustained attention; it gave him that gift, and he hopes it gives readers some of it too. | Saying What I've Needed to Say to Hank for a While 00:02:39 |
| 2021-09-14 | restate | In a comment John says consistency drained his deadline struggles, and that creative work exists not to build a legacy or last forever but to be useful to the people who find it. | I do this every. single. tuesday. |
| 2021-12-14 | restate | John thinks we want what we don't have; what he lacks is calm, and writing makes him calm the way puzzling or crafting might. | MAKE. BELIEVE. 00:00:58 |
| 2023-09-05 | restate | John says piecing things together into sense is fulfilling, but what he loves most about writing is that it is something to think about: escaping himself and worrying about something else for a while. | I Ain't Even Here, Sergeant. I'm in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 00:02:23 |
| 2023-10-17 | restate | John knows there is no massive audience waiting for a new book about tuberculosis but doesn't care much: he writes about what he wants and is passionate about. | My Next Book 00:03:16 |
| 2024-02-06 | restate | With Hollywood not chasing The Anthropocene Reviewed or his forthcoming tuberculosis book, John says this may be his last time seeing hundreds of people make something wonderful together. | The Truth of How Books Become Movies 00:04:52 |
| 2024-04-23 | restate | John's second reason for making stuff when overwhelmed is that he likes making stuff: being creative doesn't exactly make him happy, it makes him feel conscious of being alive. | Full Hank 00:00:58 |
| 2024-05-28 | restate | John says writing is his greatest, deepest professional passion and where he feels the deepest fulfillment, but it has become a smaller and smaller part of his professional life. | A Midlife Crisis 00:02:26 |
| 2024-06-25 | refine | John genuinely doesn't know whether he should be making anything, or whether his work helps anyone or only raises the level of the toxic lake. | taking a break 00:01:56 |
| 2024-07-09 | restate | John relates to Evan Puschak's point in his book that writing is his way of having thoughts: John doesn't have a complete thought until he has written it down. | Is the Inside of Your Mouth a Soup? (a vidcon reunion video) 00:02:07 |
| 2024-08-06 | restate | For John, pottery feels productive enough to be meaningful without feeling like pressure, which was perfect in the pits of depression. | What Helped Through Depression 00:00:29 |
| 2024-11-05 | restate | John enjoys writing and editing videos but doesn't need to make them, unlike novels: he would write stories even if no one read them, an imperative part of being alive. | Why Do I Still Make YouTube Videos? 00:03:24 |
| 2024-11-05 | refine | John thinks he goes on partly out of obligation, which should not have a negative connotation: being part of a mutually obligated web of humanity is good news. | Why Do I Still Make YouTube Videos? 00:03:24 |
| 2024-12-10 | restate | John defines writing as an attempt to reach across the infinite divide between him and the reader, making something within him that might matter within them. | On Writing 00:01:58 |
| 2025-06-03 | restate | John loves writing fiction because it lets him escape himself: nonfiction articulates his own perspective, fiction tries to imagine the world through someone else's eyes. | My Lies 00:02:49 |
| 2025-10-03 | restate | John's main reason to keep making YouTube videos is not to be in the public eye but that the community still has awesome things it can do together. | Is It Time to Retire? 00:02:51 |
| 2025-10-07 | restate | John finds joy and meaning in the work of writing itself, because it lets him visit rooms in his mind that nothing else does. | Luck vs. Work vs. Skill vs. Privilege 00:04:14 |
| 2026-01-13 | restate | More importantly, John says that view misses that there is pleasure and meaning in making art regardless of whether anyone experiences it: making art is fun, and that is part of why we do it. | why we make art 00:01:56 |
| 2026-01-20 | restate | John says it is also the job of the story to be useful to him, and it has been. | Am I ... Good? 00:03:38 |
| 2026-02-10 | restate | John tells Hank the channel, the Project for Awesome and everything grown from them exist because he wanted to get closer to Hank through a shared project, which has worked for almost 20 years. | I Was a Teenage Dirtbag 00:03:47 |
| 2026-02-15 | shift | John says the last seven years of working on his novel taught him that writing, like art, is done for others but also for one's own clarity and fulfillment: it need not be read to be fulfilling. He used to think it was only for other people. | Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! 02:37:14 |
| 2026-03-31 | restate | John was reminded that writing is child's play, something he has done for fun since he was eight; he loves writing and loved writing this book. | I've Been Keeping a Secret… 00:02:55 |
| 2026-09-30 | restate | John spent eight years writing Hollywood, Ending hoping it would reach people and pay bills, but primarily it was fun: in Zadie Smith's words, a thing to do, imagining a bit and making it real. | The Point of Life 00:02:47 |
| 2026-10-02 | restate | John does not really want to be in the content creation business, but in the business of making and engaging with art, content as activism and reclaiming attention. | the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world 00:03:25 |
| 2026-10-06 | restate | John does not care whether your art is sweaters, YouTube videos, home-cooked meals, soccer commentary or Tumblr fanfiction, only that you make it and share it despite the costs. | Make Your Art. 00:02:42 |
| 2026-10-13 | restate | John says his favorite poem right now is Berryman by W.S. Merwin, which ends with the advice that a writer can never be sure the work is any good and dies without knowing: if you have to be sure, do not write; better to be unsure than to not write. | My Lungs Are on the Outside of the Body 00:05:19 |
| 2026-10-27 | restate | John does not think he will ever Salinger: he enjoys making Dear Hank and John and vlogbrothers videos and does not really see the obligations of his professional life as bad things. | Should I Salinger… 00:02:40 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-09-03 (said on 2009-09-02, implied) | first on record | Hank argues the only real reason to do something is that it excites you and you love it, not fame, belief or money; creating awesome things is good for your future. | WTF IS GOING ON!!! 00:00:29 |
| 2011-09-14 (said on 2011-09-15, implied) | restate | Hank says he very much enjoys making things, as most people do: taking things inside their heads and making them real. | How to Make Ideas Real: Readit1st.com 00:00:01 |
| 2012-06-08 | restate | Hank says he just likes making things; it is one of the things that make him excited about life. | How to be More Productive...With Hank! 00:02:32 |
| 2012-11-16 | restate | Hank says the only answer to the fear of creation is to create, in spite of fear and constantly, including consciously creating yourself every day. | We're all Scared 00:03:12 |
| 2012-12-21 | restate | Hank says he just loves to create and to help people create, and is starting to feel that is his mission in life. | Meet the Team: The Missoula Office (And P4A and TheBrainScoop) 00:03:01 |
| 2015-02-06 | restate | Hank says lasting satisfaction and joy come from solving problems and making things, often without recognition. | You Will Be Forgotten ...And That's OK 00:02:14 |
| 2016-10-07 | restate | Hank says appreciation of the world's complexity is what he wants to make; projects without it he doesn't want to do. | Changing Our Business a Bit 00:02:27 |
| 2017-03-31 | restate | Hank says one obligation is to a new idea he can uniquely pull off: almost an obligation to the idea or the universe to make it exist, which drives his art, SciShow and Crash Course. | No Cut Confessional: Priorities 00:00:50 |
| 2018-01-26 | restate | Hank says 'I've always wanted to write a book' is a lie: more accurately, for a long time he has wanted people to read a book he wrote. | I Wrote a Book. I WROTE A BOOK. How did I do that? 00:00:21 |
| 2018-02-09 | restate | Hank likes it when people create things knowing and intending that they will keep serving a purpose after their makers are gone. | This is Going to Seem Dumb, but Stick with Me 00:03:04 |
| 2018-05-11 | restate | A Hulu series is very cool and happens to basically no one, but Hank tells John nothing they have done beats finding joy in making stuff, a great community to make it in, and maybe some faith in humanity. | Looking for Alaska Movie (BUT BETTER) and YouTuber Things 00:03:31 |
| 2018-08-31 | restate | Hank wrote the book because he wanted to talk about things he hadn't found good ways to, and it was a good way to tell a story he was excited about. | Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne 00:02:54 |
| 2018-10-12 | restate | Hank says the responses and works people have made from his book are the most interesting part of creation. | Hank Reads from 'An Absolutely Remarkable Thing' 00:19:26 |
| 2019-01-18 | tension | Against John's point that he couldn't write the good parts of Looking for Alaska until he found a healthier fuel, Hank thinks it is possible to do good things with unhealthy fuels. → refers to On Burning Resentment | Should You Burn Dirty Fuel? 00:02:26 |
| 2019-10-31 | restate | Hank says part of why he likes making any art is thinking hard about it, learning how it works, watching others do it well, knowing he'll never do it that well, and trying anyway. | Book News! 00:03:00 |
| 2020-01-10 | restate | Hank says a great thing about creative work is that you are forced to an end; he is lucky to have a job with many little 'I did it' moments, from books to videos. | The Thing I would Like to End 00:03:25 |
| 2022-10-14 | restate | Hank thinks doing things is never about doing the best thing, but about doing things, ideally with people you like a lot who are cool. | The Surprise Revelation of NerdfArters 00:02:50 |
| 2023-09-01 | restate | Wondering what posthumous videos are trying to say, Hank suggests they may say that the things we make aren't really about us. | The Weirdest Post-Chemo Symptoms 00:06:10 |
| 2023-10-13 | restate | Hank didn't realise how much work stand-up is: part of the work is making it look effortless, and honing the craft needs a reason other than money, which doesn't come. | Cancer Made me Do It. 00:01:27 |
| 2023-10-27 | restate | Hank says that although educational media differs from pop songs, everybody can learn from Taylor Swift: making things that give positive rather than negative emotions is harder but better. | I Keep Thinking About Taylor Swift 00:02:20 |
| 2023-11-10 | restate | Hank says that, cancer aside, he generally feels much better when he feels he can create things. | My Final Chemo Secret 00:00:56 |
| 2024-01-26 | restate | Hank says they now make Vlogbrothers because it is creatively rewarding, though the inspiring part is creating the project and the community, not the videos. | On YouTuber Retirement 00:02:45 |
| 2024-02-02 | restate | Hank never thinks of himself as an artist, though maybe he should, but he loves it when two artists make a thing together and felt he got to be one of them for a moment. | The Weirdest Thing I Did in LA 00:01:57 |
| 2024-06-21 | restate | Hank's second reason: after a while he wanted nothing; he wants to want things, and questioning whether wanting is okay drives him back toward a bad place where he did no good. | I Was So Sad that I Did Comedy 00:06:00 |
| 2024-11-03 | restate | Hank thinks it is easier to keep going because creators' self-worth is invested in their creator identity, and their tools (money, an audience) bring ideas they never would have had. | Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… 00:03:57 |
| 2024-11-22 | restate | Hank, glad not to be a politician, says his job is making things that help people understand things, since impenetrably complex systems are easier to attack. | Populism, Media Revolutions, and Our Terrible Moment 00:28:09 |
| 2024-11-29 | restate | Hank is grateful to those people because he doesn't think it is interesting unless they are trying to do something cool and good together. | I am Grateful for My Worry 00:01:40 |
| 2025-05-09 | restate | Hank says he thinks he and John just want to do something really weird, interesting, different and creative in a new way. | OK, I MESSED UP. 00:04:37 |
| 2025-06-20 | restate | Hank says for some creators the job is working for advertisers, and that is fine, but mostly the job is to make things for people. | 'Influencer' Must Die. 00:01:33 |
| 2026-08-07 | restate | Hank likes making videos, but wants to be sure he likes making them, not just having them done. | Just Trying to Figure Out My Job 00:04:23 |
| 2026-10-09 | restate | Hank produces things not because productivity matters to him but because Pizzamas, Nerdfighteria, John, cancer treatment, Crash Course, SciShow, 4x3 and the media environment do. | The Productivity Lie 00:09:38 |
| 2026-10-16 | refine | Hank says making brings satisfaction: a feeling of flow, of knowing he is needed and doing something where he is effective and talented. | Is Happiness the Goal? 00:03:48 |
| 2026-10-23 | restate | Hank says people are where each other's meaning comes from, not statuettes. | The Best Email I Ever Got 00:06:06 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).