A Metric for Merit

Once free to construct, an imagination serves as the primary source of potential for whatever the writer desires to put forth into the public domain. Yet in this freedom, the creative aspect must operate within constraints of coherence, tone & ideally theme. Writers do not sit at their desks to permit the mind to spin wild & reckless. We are required to work within strict boundaries; intelligence must maintain established structure & this guiding intelligence is honed by experience.

In private worlds we sense what will not work. Experience & a threshold of tolerance will determine boundaries needed for coherence. Through the mechanics of imagination & critical judgment, creative work is brought into manifestation. This tandem of sensibilities, this co-operation bridging different hemisphere of the brain is essential if we do not wish to waste time or energy on indulgence. Concentration filters content which has no place in a developing work.

Writing requires sacrifice. This offering is expected in many varying forms: in time, with focus & perhaps mostly: the scope of concentration. Why is it that imagination will only loosen-up when it knows we are providing its contents our full attention?

With sacrifice comes expectation. Once we have met the inflexible demands of a waiting Muse, it is natural to believe we shall be rewarded. Confidence is born so we begin to write; if ambitious & persistent, several pages of worthy merit may be captured.

There is a sense of relief in this release; our compromises have been worth the loss endemic to them. Yet there is no guarantee that these dribs & drabs will be of any literary worth every time we activate the effort. They might perhaps be the gunk which needs to be drained as the sacred well primes cleaner material.

Feelings of attachment are fragile towards fresh material; a wash of pride can dissolve into a drain of shame in one sitting. These emotions are a major handicap in assembling work of enduring quality. The rush of joy which accompanies perceived quality is no guarantee of overall viability.

There is neither a proportional relationship, nor an inverse one, between a writer’s estimation of a work in progress & its actual  quality. The feeling that the work is magnificent, & the feeling that is abominable are both mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged.
                             — Annie Dillard

{Paintings by Leonora Carrington}

                 

The Leap

We so often hear writers exalt “Discipline” as the mitigating factor for whether they meet with success or disappointment in their craft. It is the power of a will activated that facilitates an act of writing—this is the primary engine driving the power of a pen. Yet is it not trust which ultimately leads to the treasure of work that is joyous & surprising? Is it not the leap we take in pursuing what cannot be known for certain?

If imagination is to inspire, then guide us through the process of creating lucid writing, we must give it the trust required to not only build a foundations but also the form & structure of design.
It is this trust in a process which proves to sharpen with experience; it is imagination fueled by faith.

Trust can prove a demanding mindset. If inter-woven with the expectations of doubt, it might wander. As imagination begins to unravel pieces of a compelling narrative, all we are required to do is believe this will continue. We must relyon inevitability yet are so often compelled to impose upon this process.

Painters understand this trust, this working backwards to fill negative space with shape & colour. Though an overall impression may not have emerged, they continue plodding & applying material, confident in eventual coherence. Painters can cheat no more than writers. Doubt will cause the impulse to manufacture random connections & this can spoil the purity of what might be accomplished if patience is sustained.

Trust is the secret ingredient which enables the exceptional.

{Images by Dilcia Giron }

The Impact of Sacrifice

When we consciously examine the role imagination plays in generating the myriad functions needed to construct a manuscript, some awe is sure to follow. Not only is the creative mind required to generate detailed images & realistic scenes, often woven from unique experience & sense memory, we also require these pieces fit together. Only creative necessity could be so vast & cunning.

A successful writer's imagination provides uniformity in tone & theme; in sequence & the logic of continuity. For the working writer, a hidden loom of potential must operate through conscious will, so often motivated by fickle whims of ego yet required to distinguish a difference; so often forced to survive on the barest nourishment for inspiration—what else would be so loyal to an overall vision of the world?

Is the power of imagination enhanced by acknowledging sacrifices made to release the mysterious currents? Does it factor that we shun family & friends, forgo social engagements or isolate through boredom & disappointment?

Probably not.

We deny life excitement in order to build a more intimate relationship with this baffling mechanism, housed somewhere in the depths of creative ambition. These sacrifices are the obligation which permits access. Sometimes, when I have really struggled to get some good writing down, I am tempted to cherish that work beyond the merits it possesses. I suspect this is because it has cost me something from reserves to create yet this is no guarantee of quality or applicability.

The ego demands recompense & if I do not watch for these indulgences, I will saturate & clutter the text with superfluous guilt of compromise.


{Painting by Marzena Lavrilleux }

The Perils of Editing

When writers sit to work, we soon discover that a great deal can happen in one day. An activated imaginations can lead into places impossible to reach through a simple shift in physical geography. We can be pulled through deeply rooted personal memories, unattainable by regular reflection; we can be placed before emotional consequence we feel entirely unprepared to negotiate.

What informs the path of writing so carefully assembled through choice of words? How can writers remain confident that one series of scenes or notions, followed through imagination, will benefit the story we endeavour to tell? We devise the opportunity to work, reducing distractions & any potential conflict to writing time, so how can we guarantee the language captured will fit into the vague, overall conception which is understood through occasional glimpses?

How we manage to edit as we create will assist in this mysterious process of intuitively recognizing the useful strands of an overall vision. The threshold of experience is critical in detecting differences.

Imagination may be of use in this grading of quality: fragments offering no merit will become easily obstructed & resist inspection from different viewpoints within the narrative. These obtuse sections are what must be sacrificed & even though beautifully constructed, if they serve no purpose to overall coherence, they must be sacrificed. Their elimination requires a type of ruthlessness that effective writers administer with a combination of regret for what-must-go & the hope that something more supportive will emerge to replace what has been deleted.

Still—this instinct to cull the superfluous or misleading might be influenced by disappointment. Judgment can be confused under the evaporating effects of guiding vision. Is it better to axe-out what we suspect is extraneous immediately or wait to see if a place emerges further into the work? If we risk loading down a story with beautiful-yet-incongruous sections, we might find ourselves unable to build the narrative we suspect.

Uncertainty prevails: if material is discarded too soon, there is a risk of whittling down potential of the initial vision which first compelled. The dilemma pits protective instincts against jurisprudence & a desire to be tacit.

Can a compromise be settled somewhere between these polarized instincts? Can we build a relationship between a firing imagination & the conscious part which needs to assemble what has been surfaced?

{Images by Jonathan Meese}

Rhapsody

To so accidentally touch upon this notion of wisdom, these streams of perfection rendered into the written word is a humbling transformation. The mind has spun; I practically weep once surrounded by the silence of true expression.

Is it possible to memorize signs for the advent of this state of engaged awareness & activated imagination? Is this once time suspends & all that can be seen are images needing to be translated by some magic into words? Is it when language flows like water through a rushing creek bed? When description & exposition & the steady drive of a coherent narrative begin to spell-out  broader intentions? Or is when I struggle for an ideal phrase, searching the vaults of vocabulary for the perfect word to articulate an event or concept?

When under this spell of love & the expansion which accompanies elevated creative states, all resistance & fear spread, I am finally free to see.

This love suspends me in a cocoon of potentiality; it is the vehicle for all future endeavour.

{Images by Willem de Kooning}

                                         

On a Good Day

Writers ask so much from imagination. We require this factory of creation to operate at will. We ask it remember where it left-off during the inter-play of unfolding narratives. We ask it to adapt to fresh direction, then match & include additional layers into what has already been established. There is a sense of accomplishment which accompanies the mastering of these basic writing techniques. We begin to feel confident in continued ability & often there is a powerful attachment towards the material we have collected. Morale activates by a well-functioning creative process & the artist feels very much alive.

Once fatigue, any anxiety & many combinations of dread begins to recede, we permit this fresh assurance, exhilarated by solid accomplishment, to emerge. Instead of those influences coming from lower vibrational frequencies,a  clean stream of inspiration jettisons. The act of writing in this state energizes, then inflates estimation of sacrifice & disciple. We realize we have been successful in creative aspiration. This rising tide lends to thoughts of promise & victory.

Still—is what feels like well-deserved celebration of ability, once inflated into the foreground of awareness, is this rush of ego a potentially unbalancing influence? Once the cup of self-satisfaction has been filled to overflowing, what then?

Love sails me around the house. I walk two steps on the ground & four steps in the air. It is love. It is consolation.                           ~ Thomas Merton

Elation triumphs: I remain euphoric because there has been an act of creating something from a deep point of engagement. For this once, I got it. The mind has spun & letters have formed in a jettison of poetic language, apt & concise. Disciplined work has managed to reflect in harmony, visions of the mind’s eye.

Some muse has permitted a sacred transference of vassal; I have been entrusted with insight. Pulse quickens, the senses feel as though they are flirting with a full range of potentiality.

I can taste the air; smell the colour blue.

{All images by Hannah Hoch}

In Preparation for Something Sacred

First things first: We find solitude in a comfortable work space; we might apply concentrative meditation techniques to calm & focus thinking into that critical point of fixity; we permit a shell of silence to descend. Yet is this enough to enhance opportunity for the creativity yearned to express? Are artists required to move outside the obvious to achieve excellence?

We sense the glow of a sacred muse. When inspiration is active & focused, what can writers eager to maximize a heightened state of awareness do? How might we better facilitate this delicate transference? The golden zones of clean, effective creative performance are not as common as we might have once believe at the advent of discovering writing's nuances. Sensible folk take advantage of opportunity yet as writers, are we capable of influencing what is so consciously vague in understanding?

Can self-imposed expectation limit the depth of communication between imagination, flourishing in fascinating content & the more mechanical, conscious part of the mind? Tasked with recording glorious mental activity, is this expectation, plus the frustration which arises from having notions confounded, is this rational part of the writing process creating obstacles to the functional joy we might experience in a purer stream of craft? Would it help if we approached this exchange in a more complete state of surrender?

The infinity of imaginative possibility requires a state of trust, perfected harmony, warmth & deep gratitude.

When we consciously employ techniques which factor the sacred, we enter a new form of common sense. By interacting with a logic different from the mode of thinking demanded to master daily affairs, the bondage of time & peculiarities of place become plastic. If capable of the required concentration, we might arrange the details of these conditions.

We ask imagination what could never be expressed to those we love in friendship or family. Writers demand instant change, a spontaneous adaption to conceptions formulated through former disclose; we make imagination explain itself. Creativity can only operate in what is understood. To interpret this back in clear, lucid writing, we ask for worlds.

{Artwork by Antonio Mora}