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| Neil Gaiman's good advice |
FINISHING THINGS
For me, writing is its own reward. This is what keeps me
writing day in and day out, but once I commit to a character or set of
characters and to their story, it’s important to see at least a draft of that
story through to the end.
Simply writing all the way to the end – even if it’s the
wrong ending and I end up replacing it – has taught me to emotionally commit to
a story. Almost everything I write falls on tough times somewhere in the
middle. Committing to finishing also forces me to come up with solutions that I
wouldn’t have discovered if I’d given up.
After drafting it, resting it, revising it and giving it
a final polish, I assess the story. I might see a soft spot in the logic, or a
sentence that could maybe be tweaked one more time. But, if I feel that this is
the best I can do with this story where I am today as a writer, then it’s time
to let it go and move on to the next one.
LETTING THEM GO
You can only grow as a writer to a point if you never send your
work out into the world. When I started writing, I would hold onto my stories
working them over and over. I think I labored under the misconception that one
day, in the future, my understanding of the craft would be complete. One day I
would be a journeyman writer and the next day I would cross some
invisible threshold to become a fully-fledged Writer. Of
course in all truly creative pursuits, we are all always journeymen.
I know now that I have to put myself out there as I am with
the full knowledge that tomorrow I might very well look back at today’s efforts
and find them sophomoric. I’ve discovered that getting a story published is
more than just a feather in my cap. It’s a kind of letting go that frees me to
pursue the next level in my own development.
PROGRESS
I am continually pursuing mastery, striving to become a
better storyteller, and I can see now that any productive artist comes to
understand their creative development as a progression.
Painters don’t slave over one canvas for years, sculptors
don’t carve only one figure. Artists keep producing until they have enough photographs
or drawings or sculptures to fill a coffee shop or gallery. Musicians don’t work
on one song or album endlessly; they make song after song, album after album.
They go on tour then it’s back to the studio to record the next set of songs. What
filmmakers (that you’ve heard of) only made one “perfect” film?
People working in creative arts may focus intensely on a
particular work for a discrete amount of time, but they know that they’re
playing a long game. Look at any artist’s body of work, whether its pop songs,
etchings, or television shows, and you can see them try out new ideas, you can trace
their beliefs as they become solidified or change direction. You can watch them
explore new techniques, master them, and find their idiom. Each piece or song
or novel is a record of his or her creative progression as a human being.
I feel vulnerable putting work out there when I
know that I’ll be a better writer tomorrow. I want the world to see a perfect
artist, but I’ve found it’s better to let people see me as I am today. There’s
no such thing as a perfect artist just as there is no perfect work of art. Each
story, painting or album is simply another link in the chain of an artist’s
creative life. It’s the autobiography we all write without knowing the ending.
I don’t know who I will become, but if I keep on writing,
finishing things, and sending them out into the world, one day ten, twenty, or thirty
years from now, future me will be able to look back and see the steps I took to
arrive at that day.
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