Thursday, May 20, 2010

A friend asked me

"Which is the greater tragedy; the writer who no longer wants to seek, or the seeker who no longer dares to write?"

To which I replied

"ok, in order to answer that, here are some concepts.

Imagine that probably everyone experiences things that are insightful and interesting and beautiful and (to an extent) unique, things that are worth writing down, and would make great raw material for different forms of art (writing, painting, photography, music, etc etc etc).

Then, imagine that probably some fraction of everyone actually believe that what they experience would make art worth making ("worth making" meaning that the person believes they should make it).

Then, imagine that probably some fraction of that fraction actually attempt to make art.

Then imagine some fraction of that fraction of that fraction make art that at least generally represents the experience he had in a way that makes sense to that person

Then imagine some fraction of that fraction of that fraction of that fraction make some kind of art that at least generally represents the experience he had in a way that makes sense (or "resonates") with that person AND other people.

And, finally, imagine some fraction of that fraction of that fraction of that fraction of that fraction also find that a LOT of people appreciate ("resonate" with) what he did, and he can therefore make a living off of it.

Ok, now to actually answer your question. I dont think that experiences people have that COULD make great art that end up not becoming great art is a tragedy. If I believed that, I would be expecting people who experience beautiful stuff to go out and turn it into art, and that would probably mean that I also believed that people who are capable of turning an experience they have in to art actually experience more (or are more "in tune" with what they experience), which is (as far as I can tell) not only NOT TRUE but also pretty unhealthy to think about other people.

TL;DR: Writers who dont seek and seekers who dont write arent tragic. Not everyone needs to share their experiences, and those who dont could be experiencing stuff just as intensely/artistically/whatever. And those who DO share it arent actually experiencing more intensely if they happen to be more effective at writing it down in a way that resonates with people. "