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Simple question this week: What is the purpose or goal of your art?
Put another way: Why do you create and what do you hope to achieve with that work?
For me, the purpose of my art is threefold: to exorcise that inside me which would have no other escape route, to explore aspects of our existence and culture I don’t understand well enough, and, if I’m lucky, to provoke some kind of response/change in my audience regarding how they see/experience their lives and our shared world.
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My purpose is to create unique fictional worlds and characters, as well as to write non-fiction that examines popular culture with a critical but respectful eye.
Please don't be respectful - popular culture needs more disrespectful criticism, as far as I'm concerned. At least if it's intelligent. The internet made everyone a critic, and art suffered for that. The ability to tweet does not a thoughtful mind make. But that said, I see you refer to your work as speculative fiction. It's a term that gets applied to my own, but I simultaneously embrace science-fiction as a label. Do you draw a distinction between the two in what you create?
I write for the high I get from finding a way to get what’s going on inside me, out. Especially if I can find the path to it being about much much more than just me. I write because the world needs stories to become better and I like telling them. And I write for the performance and attention - which I adore. Used to be music now it’s writing. In any case it has to be something creative or I don’t feel good.
I think my work interrogates who I am, versus who I think I am. With each new project, I feel like I'm peeling off another layer of myself. I should probably just go to therapy. LOL.
Yes, but therapy doesn't pay your bills (I mean, unless you're a therapist). I think this is very true of me, too, though I don't know if enough writers I talk to spend enough time discussing it. It takes a certain degree of self-awareness and a willingness/courage to look at your work and make connections and unravel truths you might not otherwise want to find. Thanks for articulating this!
My purpose is to exorcise the feelings within me about this world that I cannot express in every day interaction. Another is to explore my obsessions and send messages into this world to others who are down to receive them. And another is to live vicariously through the words I write.
as a kid, i always had the impression that something was horribly wrong. After many sleepless nights, semi-traumatic deep dives, and oceans of caffeine flowing through my veins, i’ve come closer to answering what exactly that is.
my goal of writing is to both figure that out and share it with others.
this kinda thing is definitely not for everyone, but i find it deeply meaningful and that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.
You described the basic internal motivation of one of the lead characters of my debut novel who was, in a way, a partial surrogate for my own anxieties. It's an unanswerable mystery, but one I can't help trying to answer.
To shine a light on things - whether that's aspects of the human condition or social issues or... whatever is driving me with that particular story/project? And to bring a bit of joy into the world. I think people are generally good, and that we're all trying our best - so I want to put that worldview, to put some optimism, warmth, compassion into the world, I guess..?
"I guess...?" I love that. I find my mental state is constantly impacting my work. Every day, I think, "We're all fucked. What's the point?" I set out to write something that captures that anxiety...and by the end, it's a defiantly hopeful thing. I think I'm probably in some kind of terrible, unacknowledged conflict. But yes, I very much relate to your first combo ambition!
I love "defiantly hopeful", aww. I think that speaks to the idea of our MO, our worldview, that aspect of us as humans and how we see the world that can't help but spill out through our work. Have you heard the recent Desert Island Discs episode with Greta Gerwig? Aside from it being generally lovely, she talks about this, about her belief in people somehow always shining through her work.
For me the purpose of my art is for the joy/fun of writing about arts and culture. Also to encourage readers to think differently (and enjoy the arts and culture in all their infinite variety). =)
Yes- a very broad distinction, even though they draw from similar sources.
And by "respectful", I'm talking more about taking an objective assessment, which can be disrespectful if the work is clearly not doing the job it was intended to do. It should involve a lot of deep thought and consideration beyond simply saying "this sucks".
Thanks for articulating that. One and two make a lot of sense to me here. Re: #3, I don't feel any special obligation myself. I just want to find out what they're going to do next. I get as wrapped up in their lives as I would while reading a book or watching a TV series.
I totally get being wrapped up in the lives of characters, I love that aspect of writing, discovering things about the characters as the story develops, watching, sometimes in complete surprise as they do something unexpected, but I do feel a responsibility to them too. It's a bit strange, and it could well be argued that they don't exist independent of me, but to me, they really do. I don't feel like the author, it's more like I'm the characters' sponsor.
My purpose is to create unique fictional worlds and characters, as well as to write non-fiction that examines popular culture with a critical but respectful eye.
Please don't be respectful - popular culture needs more disrespectful criticism, as far as I'm concerned. At least if it's intelligent. The internet made everyone a critic, and art suffered for that. The ability to tweet does not a thoughtful mind make. But that said, I see you refer to your work as speculative fiction. It's a term that gets applied to my own, but I simultaneously embrace science-fiction as a label. Do you draw a distinction between the two in what you create?
I write for the high I get from finding a way to get what’s going on inside me, out. Especially if I can find the path to it being about much much more than just me. I write because the world needs stories to become better and I like telling them. And I write for the performance and attention - which I adore. Used to be music now it’s writing. In any case it has to be something creative or I don’t feel good.
I like the description of writing for the high you get from it! But also, the parallel of performance/attention in music and publishing.
I think my work interrogates who I am, versus who I think I am. With each new project, I feel like I'm peeling off another layer of myself. I should probably just go to therapy. LOL.
Yes, but therapy doesn't pay your bills (I mean, unless you're a therapist). I think this is very true of me, too, though I don't know if enough writers I talk to spend enough time discussing it. It takes a certain degree of self-awareness and a willingness/courage to look at your work and make connections and unravel truths you might not otherwise want to find. Thanks for articulating this!
My purpose is to exorcise the feelings within me about this world that I cannot express in every day interaction. Another is to explore my obsessions and send messages into this world to others who are down to receive them. And another is to live vicariously through the words I write.
These are all powerful reasons, I think. The first very much drives me, too.
as a kid, i always had the impression that something was horribly wrong. After many sleepless nights, semi-traumatic deep dives, and oceans of caffeine flowing through my veins, i’ve come closer to answering what exactly that is.
my goal of writing is to both figure that out and share it with others.
this kinda thing is definitely not for everyone, but i find it deeply meaningful and that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.
You described the basic internal motivation of one of the lead characters of my debut novel who was, in a way, a partial surrogate for my own anxieties. It's an unanswerable mystery, but one I can't help trying to answer.
To shine a light on things - whether that's aspects of the human condition or social issues or... whatever is driving me with that particular story/project? And to bring a bit of joy into the world. I think people are generally good, and that we're all trying our best - so I want to put that worldview, to put some optimism, warmth, compassion into the world, I guess..?
"I guess...?" I love that. I find my mental state is constantly impacting my work. Every day, I think, "We're all fucked. What's the point?" I set out to write something that captures that anxiety...and by the end, it's a defiantly hopeful thing. I think I'm probably in some kind of terrible, unacknowledged conflict. But yes, I very much relate to your first combo ambition!
I love "defiantly hopeful", aww. I think that speaks to the idea of our MO, our worldview, that aspect of us as humans and how we see the world that can't help but spill out through our work. Have you heard the recent Desert Island Discs episode with Greta Gerwig? Aside from it being generally lovely, she talks about this, about her belief in people somehow always shining through her work.
I haven't heard it. I'm going to have to look it up now. Thanks for the tip!
Hope is such a defiant discipline these days. Isn’t it the best kind of defiance!?
I actually have an essay posting tomorrow in large part about this!
For me the purpose of my art is for the joy/fun of writing about arts and culture. Also to encourage readers to think differently (and enjoy the arts and culture in all their infinite variety). =)
It's an approach that defines this Substack - I just want to help readers look at and think about art in different, new ways.
Yes- a very broad distinction, even though they draw from similar sources.
And by "respectful", I'm talking more about taking an objective assessment, which can be disrespectful if the work is clearly not doing the job it was intended to do. It should involve a lot of deep thought and consideration beyond simply saying "this sucks".
I think if you can do something that might make other folks happy, even a little, you have to do it. This is what I can do.
Art is an idea with many purposes, and one of them is to add light to people's lives. It's an admirable pursuit.
1. I write because I'm compelled to. 2. I write to make sense of the world. 3. I write because of my obligation to the characters in the stories.
Thanks for articulating that. One and two make a lot of sense to me here. Re: #3, I don't feel any special obligation myself. I just want to find out what they're going to do next. I get as wrapped up in their lives as I would while reading a book or watching a TV series.
I totally get being wrapped up in the lives of characters, I love that aspect of writing, discovering things about the characters as the story develops, watching, sometimes in complete surprise as they do something unexpected, but I do feel a responsibility to them too. It's a bit strange, and it could well be argued that they don't exist independent of me, but to me, they really do. I don't feel like the author, it's more like I'm the characters' sponsor.