Beginning artists — all who create for a living — must first recognize that their starting work is not as good as the work they admire, the mature product made by others. To heighten this perception — and to replenish the drive to improve throughout a career — writers must keep writing. And they must read.
Photo: Ivan Ives. Reader, Reading Room, Mitchell Building, State Library of New South Wales, 29.10.1943, Pix Magazine, part of the ACP Magazines Ltd. photographic archive, ON 388 / Box 006 / Item 091
Recounting his journey as a storyteller, Ira Glass says:
All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. The first couple of years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. Okay? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has the ambition to be good, but it’s not that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you … You can tell that it’s still sort of crappy. A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people, at that point, they quit.
In her book on the business of writing, Jane Friedman advises:
If you can’t perceive the gap — or if you haven’t gone through the “phase” — you probably aren’t reading enough. Writers can develop good taste and understand what quality work is by reading writers they admire and want to emulate.
In his memoir, Stephen King describes a typical day — intense writing and editing in the morning, followed by reading in the afternoon and evenings, when he hones his sense for language and character. Reading fuels his writing. He admonishes the young writer: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or tools) to write.”
For creators, the gap is persistent. The skill of the masters is elusive. The old work continues to arouse and enlighten — to enrich the new work. It cannot be attained or surpassed.
As we improve in our craft, our taste improves too. The finishing tape keeps moving, and we can never break through it. Someday, we might finally think our work is no longer “sort of crappy.” But we’ll never be satisfied either. That’s what keeps us learning.