If our words are to have depth of meaning, we have to pay close attention to detail. Look closely at paintings and drawings, images that move you. You’ll see they dissolve into thousands of blobs, marks and scratches, each a deliberate placement by their creator. These marks may be firm or delicate, but they will have been carefully considered, worked and reworked.
This is the craft behind the creation. And it comes less from technique than it does from care. The best advice to give writers starting out, is that they should pay attention to the detail. That doesn’t mean checking for typos, it means being precise. Take care with your words, use the best ones, listen to the shape of their sounds, remove superfluous words and phrases. Do this to the point of exhaustion if necessary.
How long do you think it took to write the paragraphs above? How many edits would you guess I've made?
If you look on youtube you’ll find a video where Damian Hurst is looking at Bacon’s paintings. He draws attention to the image of an ear that's been overpainted so often the layers of pigment have congealed into sculpture. You can also find footage (again on youtube)of the Beatles in the recording studio, throwing ideas at each other, trying different instrumental sections, different lyrics, building on top of what they already have, ditching what they’re not happy with or trying something else.
I believe that all art comes into being in this manner, a combination of creativity and craft. Creativity is something we’re aware of but can't pin down. Craft, on the other hand, we can all see and learn, and through long practice, possibly even master. I used to be disdainful about the notion of reworking my writing, believing my muse-delivered ‘inspiration' was the vital ingredient. But this is naive; a misunderstanding of what craft is, and the role it plays.
I suspect many of us have been present when aspiring writers have received ‘suggestions for improvement’ on a piece of writing they have submitted for feedback. Sometimes their response is along the lines of, “But that’s my work, the way I write. If I changed it, I would be betraying my inspiration/muse/talent/artistry. If I took on board such suggestions it wouldn’t be my work anymore.”
Such a response is, surprisingly, quite common. It suggests they believe good work always arrives fully formed and cannot be improved (by craft).
If we see craft as a caring process, we gain a different perspective. We also learn that 'process' is a necessary part of communicating our ideas and can be an impetus to creativity itself.
Editing, re-drafting, call it what you will, to me this process of refinement is critical. Early drafts seem endless, building from first ideas, at times slow to take form and always temperamental. But to refine, to sense a story’s shape emerging, and to build and mould the text in response. That is the ultimate challenge and the greatest joy in writing.
This is the craft behind the creation. And it comes less from technique than it does from care. The best advice to give writers starting out, is that they should pay attention to the detail. That doesn’t mean checking for typos, it means being precise. Take care with your words, use the best ones, listen to the shape of their sounds, remove superfluous words and phrases. Do this to the point of exhaustion if necessary.
How long do you think it took to write the paragraphs above? How many edits would you guess I've made?
If you look on youtube you’ll find a video where Damian Hurst is looking at Bacon’s paintings. He draws attention to the image of an ear that's been overpainted so often the layers of pigment have congealed into sculpture. You can also find footage (again on youtube)of the Beatles in the recording studio, throwing ideas at each other, trying different instrumental sections, different lyrics, building on top of what they already have, ditching what they’re not happy with or trying something else.
I believe that all art comes into being in this manner, a combination of creativity and craft. Creativity is something we’re aware of but can't pin down. Craft, on the other hand, we can all see and learn, and through long practice, possibly even master. I used to be disdainful about the notion of reworking my writing, believing my muse-delivered ‘inspiration' was the vital ingredient. But this is naive; a misunderstanding of what craft is, and the role it plays.
I suspect many of us have been present when aspiring writers have received ‘suggestions for improvement’ on a piece of writing they have submitted for feedback. Sometimes their response is along the lines of, “But that’s my work, the way I write. If I changed it, I would be betraying my inspiration/muse/talent/artistry. If I took on board such suggestions it wouldn’t be my work anymore.”
Such a response is, surprisingly, quite common. It suggests they believe good work always arrives fully formed and cannot be improved (by craft).
If we see craft as a caring process, we gain a different perspective. We also learn that 'process' is a necessary part of communicating our ideas and can be an impetus to creativity itself.
Editing, re-drafting, call it what you will, to me this process of refinement is critical. Early drafts seem endless, building from first ideas, at times slow to take form and always temperamental. But to refine, to sense a story’s shape emerging, and to build and mould the text in response. That is the ultimate challenge and the greatest joy in writing.
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