Balancing Your Creative Tendencies
Some advice from the late, great William Faulkner
I just recently read an interview that the Paris Review conducted with William Faulkner (in 1956!). I’m not usually a huge Faulkner fan, but he is certainly a titan of the literary world and an undeniable talent.
The interview is absolutely phenomenal, too. It’s a peek into some of his own work, his time writing films, and (what is always my favorite part of interviews) a look into his favorite authors and books.
But one of my favorite parts of the interview is this quote: “A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination—any two of which, at times any one of which—can supply the lack of the others.”
Obviously, it’s just good policy to listen to icons. But I also related to this quote on a personal level. I feel like I always write from observation, sometimes write from experience, and very rarely write from imagination. I always felt strange, feeling like I couldn’t create from my imagination.
It’s incredibly reassuring to me to hear someone so prolific admit you don’t always need to be the whole package, and in fact, rarely have them all at once.
Only after reading the quote did I even consider I might have certain creative tendencies. I wanted to have it all, in equal amounts. But now that I have, for lack of a better phrase, self-diagnosed my creative strengths and weaknesses, I feel like I have reclaimed some agency.
No longer do I feel the absolute grind of trying to cultivate some more imaginative poems, or, even more helpful, I no longer need to spend my time feeling…inadequate. It’s hard to admit, honestly, feeling that way.
Practicing art should never make you feel inadequate. But this is a tale as old as time, baby. It’s easy to forget why you started making art in the first place.
So remember: You don’t need to have it all; you don’t need to do it all, at least not all the time. Sharpen your observation, live more fulfilling experiences, cultivate your imagination, but never feel like they’re not enough.
It was an important lesson to me, learned perhaps just when I needed to hear it most. Big shoutout William Faulkner, and the Paris Review (and the absolute icon who archived it).
And big shoutout to you for reading! Good luck and remember, Art is Easy, you just have to try.