Letter 37: September 15, 2008
My Muse was set free the day they invented password-protected word processing files. And when I handwrite first drafts I find myself using even worse writing than usual. Why? - that's right, it's because the first draft is always a pile of cabbages, and what if my draft was to fall into the hands of a non-writer who didn't know that?
I thought I would stay on the topic of the Four Ps of Creativity from last week, by saying more about the Press... the pressure, if you like, of our surroundings and of society.
Last time, I was saying that during the writing phase of a project (as distinct from planning or editing) you don't have to do much about the "press." I meant that you can just sit there and write.
But of course writing is a social act.
(It has other uses: it can be a way of keeping records, of organizing your thoughts, of triggering new thoughts as I've described before, and also there are certainly people who write without ever sharing the work, like Sylvia Plath; but Today I Write is not about any of that.)
A social act. The "real" purposes of writing are communicating information, and having an emotional effect. Communicating information" includes disinformation, and it includes fiction (which is where you agree to tell a lie and I agree to pretend to believe it). "Emotional effect" is very much the purpose of many novels, most movies and all poems.
So this is all about other people.
We know that the creative person is likely to be introverted, and several other interesting things. Introverted isn't a dirty word. I just mean people who are more interested in ideas than they are in people. I just mean people who will tell you what they achieved today rather than whose lives they touched. I just mean 25% of the population.
Given that the creative person is (typically - must be careful not to pigeonhole anyone) inward looking, is turned towards the world of ideas, then we can see why writing would become so important. It's a way to be in contact with others without having to make small talk.
And it's all about that contact. You write an article, a poem, a book, a play, a movie and one of your thoughts is, what will people think of me? Will I be famous, will I be rich? Should I use a pen name? (why would you, personally, do that? - take a moment to wonder, and then another moment to wonder if the first answer that comes up isn't just an excuse). Yes, and that old writer's block favorite What if I die and someone sees this first draft. But behind all that is the real question - am I making contact with other human beings and can I make something happen inside their skulls.
It's all about other people.
Something you can try today: write as if nobody else was ever going to read it. And observe, what difference does that make, for you, personally? Freedom and flow? Futility? It's worth finding out.
David
David Jung McGarva
+1 (818) 707 1871
Write me: david at todayiwrite dot com
To get this newsletter every week, enter your email address below.
Privacy policy: I'll send you nothing but the weekly letter, and I'll never voluntarily share your address with anyone.