CWatson
Not in a band.
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2003
- Posts
- 1,653
I'm turning into Joska.
For those who are lost by the reference, Laszlo Joska is a character from Nick Scipio's Summer Camp series (which doesn't get posted here due to underage content). Main character Paul Hughes runs into him starting in Book 3, where he (Joska) is a professor with major influence in the Architecture Department where Paul studies. This is a boot in the rear for Paul, because Joska is an unrelenting perfectionist and unwilling to let Paul slide by on native talent (which he has heretofore done). He expects Paul to not only have talent, but to supplement that with hard work--which Paul, who like any sane human being avoids what work he can, doesn't take to this well. Add to this a razor-sharp tongue and unrelenting perfectionism, and Paul has himself a nemesis. His evolution from Joska-hater into Joska-appreciator is a major journey across Book 3, not to mention a hallmark along his bildungsromun (which is really what Summer Camp is all about).
Now we move over to me. I do some peer editing here, and I post stories here and at SOL and on my ASSTR site, and I'm involved in a vocal band that does a lot of singing and not a lot of instrument-playing (or rather, was involved before I graduated, and hope to found a new one). I have high standards. While I post here, I consider my ultimate goal to be print publication, and I hold myself to those standards even when I'm "just" posting here. When I make music with my bandmates, I expect them to give their best and commit fully to the music (which by and large they are good about doing, but not always). And when I'm editing... Well, that's when the questionable practices start. Because the writer I'm editing for--whoever he is--does not necessarily hold himself to the standards I expect.
It took me a long time to realize that. A bad sign. And, even though I now know it, it's hard for me to hold myself to the standard of not expecting other people to meet my standards. Also a bad sign.
The good news is, I'm not as snippy as Joska. ...But that isn't saying much.
The truth is, I don't understand the mindset of "good enough". --I mean, yes, I do understand it, and have partaken of it on numerous occasions, particularly when handing in schoolwork. "Enh, that's good enough." My parents would always dig at me over that. "How come you're okay with B's?" There was actually an efficiency answer to that: if I study X hours, I get 85%. To get another 10% onto the score would require an additional X hours, which (for obvious reasons) I wasn't very keen on. Double my effort for only a 10% improvement on the score? Forget it! To me, a B was "good enough," because doing better wasn't something I wanted to spend time on.
But that's my point.
If writing is something you want to do, then why are you satisfied with "good enough"? If you're in this for the story, for the characters, for the plot--if you're doing this for the joy of it, because God calls you to, because you need to, because you're passionate about it--because you wanna, with that same unstoppable urgency that makes you breathe and eat and have sex--then why the hell are you settling for less? If you are being driven to do this, why aren't you letting that drive carry you as far as you can bloody well go? Because, I assure you, it will take you way further than just "good enough". It will take you past that. It will take you to "excellent". It will take you to "brilliant". It will take you to "good".
And if writing isn't something you wanna do--if it's something you have to force yourself to turn in, like it was homework--then why the hell are you doing it in the first place? Nobody's making you. This is your own time and effort you're putting in. Why are you wasting it on something you don't want to do, instead of wasting it on something you do wanna do, like plant runner beans or eat Cheetos or masturbate? Why are you, voluntarily, forcing yourself to do something you don't enjoy?
So when I see stories that are only "good enough"--bad characterization, bad plot, spelling/punctuation/grammar out the wazoo--I always wonder. And when I get those stories to edit, I always give their writers weird looks, and I always kind of nudge them or try to nudge in the direction of passion. Because that's the thing, that's something Joska knows but Paul is only just beginning to glimpse: that God is in the details. That when you are passionate about something, you naturally work your ass off. That passion and perfectionism are identical features, are two sides of the same coin. That you can't have one without the other.
And so when I see a story where The Writer isn't passionate & perfectionistic about his art and his craft, I always wonder. Actually, that's not true. I don't bother wondering. I don't know, but I don't care. I don't need to know the Why of it to already know my proper course of action.
When I see the work of a non-passionate writer, I hit the Back button. If he doesn't care enough to get it right, I sure as hell don't.
Of course, I am a passionate, perfectionist asshole.
(God is in the details. But the Devil is in the details too. Shouldn't we be avoiding details like the plague?)
For those who are lost by the reference, Laszlo Joska is a character from Nick Scipio's Summer Camp series (which doesn't get posted here due to underage content). Main character Paul Hughes runs into him starting in Book 3, where he (Joska) is a professor with major influence in the Architecture Department where Paul studies. This is a boot in the rear for Paul, because Joska is an unrelenting perfectionist and unwilling to let Paul slide by on native talent (which he has heretofore done). He expects Paul to not only have talent, but to supplement that with hard work--which Paul, who like any sane human being avoids what work he can, doesn't take to this well. Add to this a razor-sharp tongue and unrelenting perfectionism, and Paul has himself a nemesis. His evolution from Joska-hater into Joska-appreciator is a major journey across Book 3, not to mention a hallmark along his bildungsromun (which is really what Summer Camp is all about).
Now we move over to me. I do some peer editing here, and I post stories here and at SOL and on my ASSTR site, and I'm involved in a vocal band that does a lot of singing and not a lot of instrument-playing (or rather, was involved before I graduated, and hope to found a new one). I have high standards. While I post here, I consider my ultimate goal to be print publication, and I hold myself to those standards even when I'm "just" posting here. When I make music with my bandmates, I expect them to give their best and commit fully to the music (which by and large they are good about doing, but not always). And when I'm editing... Well, that's when the questionable practices start. Because the writer I'm editing for--whoever he is--does not necessarily hold himself to the standards I expect.
It took me a long time to realize that. A bad sign. And, even though I now know it, it's hard for me to hold myself to the standard of not expecting other people to meet my standards. Also a bad sign.
The good news is, I'm not as snippy as Joska. ...But that isn't saying much.
The truth is, I don't understand the mindset of "good enough". --I mean, yes, I do understand it, and have partaken of it on numerous occasions, particularly when handing in schoolwork. "Enh, that's good enough." My parents would always dig at me over that. "How come you're okay with B's?" There was actually an efficiency answer to that: if I study X hours, I get 85%. To get another 10% onto the score would require an additional X hours, which (for obvious reasons) I wasn't very keen on. Double my effort for only a 10% improvement on the score? Forget it! To me, a B was "good enough," because doing better wasn't something I wanted to spend time on.
But that's my point.
If writing is something you want to do, then why are you satisfied with "good enough"? If you're in this for the story, for the characters, for the plot--if you're doing this for the joy of it, because God calls you to, because you need to, because you're passionate about it--because you wanna, with that same unstoppable urgency that makes you breathe and eat and have sex--then why the hell are you settling for less? If you are being driven to do this, why aren't you letting that drive carry you as far as you can bloody well go? Because, I assure you, it will take you way further than just "good enough". It will take you past that. It will take you to "excellent". It will take you to "brilliant". It will take you to "good".
And if writing isn't something you wanna do--if it's something you have to force yourself to turn in, like it was homework--then why the hell are you doing it in the first place? Nobody's making you. This is your own time and effort you're putting in. Why are you wasting it on something you don't want to do, instead of wasting it on something you do wanna do, like plant runner beans or eat Cheetos or masturbate? Why are you, voluntarily, forcing yourself to do something you don't enjoy?
So when I see stories that are only "good enough"--bad characterization, bad plot, spelling/punctuation/grammar out the wazoo--I always wonder. And when I get those stories to edit, I always give their writers weird looks, and I always kind of nudge them or try to nudge in the direction of passion. Because that's the thing, that's something Joska knows but Paul is only just beginning to glimpse: that God is in the details. That when you are passionate about something, you naturally work your ass off. That passion and perfectionism are identical features, are two sides of the same coin. That you can't have one without the other.
And so when I see a story where The Writer isn't passionate & perfectionistic about his art and his craft, I always wonder. Actually, that's not true. I don't bother wondering. I don't know, but I don't care. I don't need to know the Why of it to already know my proper course of action.
When I see the work of a non-passionate writer, I hit the Back button. If he doesn't care enough to get it right, I sure as hell don't.
Of course, I am a passionate, perfectionist asshole.
(God is in the details. But the Devil is in the details too. Shouldn't we be avoiding details like the plague?)
