The HEA Cafe

I’m a writer. Does that make me an artist? Or is the term confined to sculptors, painters, music, dance and drama? I think not. I think it includes writers. So I am a writer AND an artist. Or at least I’ve thought so on occasion.

However, I’ve been working on a fairly major revision and it’s forcing me to deal with the limitations of my ‘talent’. It brings me full face with the question am I an artist or a hack? (I haven’t answered that and don’t need an answer from anyone else, thanks.)

Creating is hard. Or at least, I can attest that creating story is hard for me at times. How do you take an idea, some imaginary characters and shepherd them on a satisfying journey? It might look easy to some, but give it a try and you might well change your mind. What I see in my head, how I hear my characters and watch them act and react falls flat on the paper. Where are the words that paint the picture? How can I make the story dance and vibrate like it does in my head? Is there a way to do it better?

In an attempt to learn how to make my writing closer to what I want it, I take courses. I read. I get critiques. I listen and read and watch in order to learn the craft but there’s so much to learn and learn and learn. And the more I learn, the more I see there is to know and understand about the whole process. It’s gone from simply writing down a story to thinking about Aristotle’s 3 act structure, the mythical Hero’s Journey, enneagram types, scene and sequel, motivational-reaction units, yada, yada.

The mechanical stuff is great and I need it, but the challenge is still to find a way to combine it with the creative part of story telling. Some say lock the internal editor away until the first draft is done. But no one has told me how. Besides, I appreciate that annoying little voice that whispers, ‘you really think she’d do that?’ It keeps me from chasing down paths in the wrong direction.

So I simply do the best I can. Never quite satisfied. Knowing I haven’t told the story as well as I wanted to. But there is something that gives me courage—I am not alone. Many artists (writers too) share the same frustration. In fact, Leonardo da Vinci said on his deathbed, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not achieve the quality it should have.” It’s nice to know I’m in good company.