WEBLOG:
Recently, I wrote a post in a forum thread that was discussing the chances of today’s makers of short film (including animation) getting picked up by Hollywood and “making it big.” The discussion was a bit of a downer because some people were pointing out that for every person that wins the proverbial lottery, countless others never get anywhere, and despite creating with their blood sweat and tears, entering film festivals, promoting their work online, they remain stuck in obscurity. It made me think of something I’ve been thinking a lot about, and I wrote a post that seemed to have resonated with others who feel the same way.
The following is what I wrote:
In all the storytelling mediums–be it novels, comic books, songwriting, indie filmmaking, theater, etc, the general advice has always been to create something for the sake of creating it, and if you do it with the sole intention of getting picked up by Hollywood (or a big record company), then you’ll likely end up disappointed and feeling like you’ve wasted your time, energy, and money. But if you create for the love of creating, then it wouldn’t matter if the result ended up becoming a runaway commercial success and gained huge popularity, or only a small group of people supported it. Success would just be icing on the cake.
I was at the bookstore with my wife yesterday, and I was telling her that every time I look down the long aisles of novels, shelf after shelf, literally thousands of titles, I couldn’t help but think that there’s a lot of dreams that turned into ashes on those shelves. Each and every one of those novels took a damn long time to write (well, there are a tiny minority of writers who are absurdly fast–like a novel every few months, but they are not human. Most writers take years to write a book). Many of those writers had dreams of becoming popular and making the top selling lists, or winning literary awards, or getting picked up by Hollywood and made into movies, TV shows, or even video game adaptations. But none of it ever happened. Their books just wither into obscurity on the shelves until the bookstores don’t even stock the titles anymore and printing stops altogether. And many of those books are actually quite good–good enough to be on some people’s list of favorite books of all-time. In the end, all that remains are used copies circulating in used books stores, and second printings are never made. Those authors never even were able to make a living as writers–they all kept working day-jobs. They might have a dozen books published, but they still can’t make a living with just writing, and some had to stop writing because their day job takes up all of their time.
Imagine how that feels.
If you create solely for the sake of wanting to make it big, then you’re already damning yourself to a very high possibility of disappointment and heartbreak–even bitterness and depression. Maybe it’ll even kill your desire to create altogether. But if you create for the love of it, and for the sake of expressing your heart and soul, telling stories that have meaning to you, then you are doing it for the sake of creating.
One analogy I always give my students is the “guy singing in the shower.” A guy can thoroughly enjoy himself every time he belts out tunes at the top of his lungs while in the shower. There’s no other distractions and complications to detract from his joy of expressing himself and having a blast. He doesn’t care if anyone heard him and thought he sucked. He doesn’t care if record companies or American Idol comes knocking on his door wanting to give him more exposure. He doesn’t even need to make Youtube videos to share his singing with the world. He’s just doing it for the love of it. And you know what? He’s probably much happier in the purity of his love for what he’s doing. But the minute he starts to complicate things and wanting this and that for his singing, the happiness and joy he once felt could very easily be replaced by anxiety, disappointment, self-loathing, anger, depression, and multitudes of other negative/destructive emotions that come with being rejected, ignored, unappreciated, and criticized.
Obviously, if you want success and fame, then you have to endure the pressure and face possible disappointments, but I think what’s tragic is that many people lose sight of what it’s all about–that original love and passion. In the end, it all goes back to the love of creating and expressing yourself. If you never allow others to destroy the purity of the love you have for what you do, then the rest doesn’t matter all that much. You go on creating and expressing yourself simply because it brings you joy, and because it’s as natural and as necessary as breathing to you.
Any great novel you like and think no one else knows about?
Well, my favorite novel is one written in Chinese by a Taiwanese author (titled “Journey.” The author’s name is Yun Chin), and it’s never been translated to English. It was fairly well-known in Taiwan during the 80’s, but it’s been out of print for decades.