For writers and artists, it's always a balancing act between wanting to be the center of attention and wanting to be invisible and watch what's going on.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There are so many different things out there trying to hook our attention, we writers have to be very selective and make certain that it is coming from inside out, not outside in.
If I've done my work well, I vanish completely from the scene. I believe it is invasive of the work when you know too much about the writer.
Writers are socially observant. We find people endlessly fascinating, and real life is mysterious. Sometimes it's hard to stop staring at the strut and squawk of my fellow man. They can be quite inspiring. Sometimes it's hard to stop talking to them to see what in the world they're thinking.
I think that's why often people in creative fields can feel so alone is because there's a constant third eye, that constant watcher.
Out of all artists, authors are the least trained for the spotlight. Wanting attention isn't a requisite part of the package.
I wrote for so many years in a bubble, the way everyone does, and there were large swaths of time where you think you're doing this for nothing. An audience is crucial, a back and forth with the invisible readers.
I think most writers feel like they're on the outside looking in much of the time. All of us feel, to a certain extent, alienated from the stuff going on around us.
That's the motivation of an artist - to seek attention of some kind.
I wanted to be as invisible as possible as an artist. I wanted to differentiate between myself and who I'm writing about.
As artists, we are so not in control most of the time of the content or the narrative of our characters, and sometimes writing takes a turn and it's not something we necessarily have control over. It's just a lot of random dumb luck, so when things click, you've just got to enjoy it.
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