Does anyone else treat their articles like pieces of art?

1. 62

   Jessie L Watsonposted 7 years ago

   Does anyone else treat their articles like pieces of art?
   
   Sometimes there's this immutable feeling of dissatisfaction that comes along with creating articles not unlike how most artists feel about their paintings. Everyone else barely notices the flaws while but I can't help but feel a sense of incompleteness. It's hard enough to write about a topic without wanting to drag the rest of the universe down into it. Can't do that, obviously, because nothing would ever get done. Thoughts?

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2. 82

   tsmogposted 7 years ago

   I think at times I feel that way about most all work that I complete. This type of question can open doors to different rooms. Trying to be succinct 'at this time I think' the answer for me is an artist replicates a vision in the mind. Yet, in a sense there is a trap. The mind does not stop creating the vision until 'the end' is declared. Done.
   
   A lesson I learned once was as a middle school student in drafting class we specified a tolerance for dimensions. I accepted that, although I really did not understand it until I took a shop class. When I made parts for a project I learned everything did not have to be perfect to fit. They only had to be within tolerance . . .

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3. 79

   alancaster149posted 7 years ago

   We all get the feeling we could have done better when we've created something. It's part of the human psyche to be self-critical when others barely notice flaws.
   Creative writing is just that, creative. We can write factually, convince ourselves and others of the validity of our arguments, description, analysis or whatever. If we write creatively we're in charge of what we put down, and that's when the self-critical part of our brain kicks in.
   Can we convince ourselves that what we've written is our best effort? Or maybe we could do better, as if we were 'in class' as Tim Mitchell points out we instinctively regress to the school room when we're meant to look outward. We've got to forget the constraints of writing essays to gain marks out of 10 or 100 or whatever.
   What teacher told us no longer applies in creative writing. We're writing for an audience, to entertain - maybe inform - and put an image into the reader's mind of what we've created. The best instances of that are in horror or science fiction, where the writer either brings an alien environment out of the everyday, or conjures up something for the reader they've never before encountered, like 'The Pit And The.Pendulum', 'Frankenstein's Monster' or 'The Time Machine'. If the writers had stuck to the classroom principle their writing would have been boring. As they'd introduced a new concept to the reader, the eye kept going and the mind followed. That's the job the creative writer is 'charged' with, to bring the reader's mind into their world..

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