Comments on: A Great Book, and one writer’s fear of getting a job.

By: Risa Dickens

Risa Dickens — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:55:49 +0000

Hey Check out Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk on Creativity and the ways our culture “encourages” it (A! think about it!)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

By: sarah pearson

sarah pearson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:56:54 +0000

So true! And it takes such courage in our culture to cut everything out and boldly commit to one single, solitary project. For sure day jobs can do wonders for creativity, insofar as they keep the mind and body active, but can also be wonderful excuses out of the harder work.

Something every artist has to decide for themselves, right?

By: Risa Dickens

Risa Dickens — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:17:40 +0000

thanks for this comment luke, because i think that is so true and interesting – sometimes art does absolutely require you to strip everything else away to fight those mental demons and get a handle on it – especially if it’s something like a book where you need to create a whole world.

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:38:44 +0000

I absolutely loved your piece. I can relate to it as oxygen is to air. Loved it. I honestly believe that all artists go through this at some point or another. O used to work 50 hour weeks until I gave it all up to write and become my interesting self.

I think the lady in the story could be replaced with my name.

In time as all of us dream I will launch my piece and live happily ever after. Until I become frustrated and want to immerse myself in my next piece.

Its alot of hard work, and many mental demons to fight. But it does pay off in so many ways.

Loved the article. I wrote my book 15 times before I was happy with the result.

If I had never got ill and quit all my jobs and began to master my passion that book I believe would of taken a lifetime or never to fruition.

By: sarah pearson

sarah pearson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:56:43 +0000

Well, “A”, this is the reality for working artists. If you want to write a novel, or become a great musician, or actor, or master any kind of art, the question has to come up: are you going to cloister yourself and write/train/study full time? Or bus tables while going to auditions and taking evening monologue workshops? The question is not condescending, it’s realistic; if you want to master something, should you devote yourself to it full-time?
Having a “day-job” can be looked down upon by some artistic communities. It calls into question your devotion to the craft. So many of us struggle over whether to take on a “career” while pursuing our artistic ambitions after-hours, as a side-project or hobby.
This question is particularly relevant to our generation of twenty/thirtysomethings who hold university degrees and who live pretty middle-class lives, despite many of us carrying lots of student debt. We’re accused of being a generation refusing to grow up (precisely what The Emperor’s Children is arguing: the characters are SUPPOSED to be like children, that’s the whole POINT…hello, the title!!). We’re a generation taught that we should strive for greatness and settle for nothing, but that often results in us feeling terrified of getting real jobs. In short, we’re taught that passionless work is NOT necessary.
When we enter our adult years with ambitions to be great novelists, playwrights, musicians, etc., and when our parents and academic institutions have given us a sense of being important, it can be very scary to have to get a boring desk job in order to pay the bills. It can feel like selling out. Other options feel safer: going to Grad school on yet another loan, or living in the red while we home-record an EP…
You seem to have missed the point of the novel, and particuarly the passage I quoted. Marina expresses fear of being “ordinary” – and you are right, she must indeed realize that everyone is ordinary – but the point is she DOES NOT realize this, because she is of a generation that is spoiled and afraid of getting a real job.
I think many of us CAN and should try to rest on our artistic laurels. And those of us who want careers as artists should feel entitled to pursue them. But the fear that Marina faces is genuine: will getting a day job distract her from her oeuvre, or will it make her a better artist? I fall into the latter belief, but there’s certainly an argument for devoting yourself whole-heartedly to your craft. I for one found I let go of a lot of creative blocks simply by taking on some good old minimum wage jobs, stuff I was probably far to educated for. That’s the argument I’m making. No matter how much you must cloister yourself to produce good art, try to keep a balance by keeping some foot in the physical world. That’s not condescending at all. These are ideas about the artistic process.

By: A.

A. — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:09:23 +0000

Do you have any idea how condescending you sound? “We can never be too good for the real world – especially since it is for the world that we make art!” Good God – if you even have to write about not being too good for the real world, you’ve clearly thought it at some point. And forget “good honest work” being necessary for creative output – for the vast majority of the world – the world you make art for, mind – work is utterly necessary. Few can rest on their artistic laurels, or count on Marina’s daddy to ge them through the rough patches. I quite disliked The Emperor’s Children, mostly because the characters were all children: selfish, self-absorbed, and utterly disconnected from real life. If you want to make good art, or – let’s start with the basics – be a decent human being, try connecting with the real world instead of treating it like a freaking diorama at the museum. Believe me – the adoring world won’t thank you for that, artist or not. And grow up, for God’s sake: everyone is ordinary – and that’s what makes everyone extrordinary.