A Writer's Notebook, Day Four-Hundred-And-Thirty-One
Recently, I was watching a video in which Adam Savage, the television personality and self-described, "maker", discussed cosplay. To be honest, it was one of many videos on this subject, as this is one of Mr. Savage's passions. In this video, and in others I have watched, he discussed his feeling, having built a costume, that the first time he wears it in public is the actual completion of the work. That is to say, if I may extrapolate towards my own understanding, the costume is only an inert thing, but wearing it adds the final element that brings it to completion. For it to sit around would mean it had not fulfilled the purpose for which it had been created, and thus would leave it incomplete, not physically, but in a conceptual or existential sense.
As a writer, this is also true. I recall one of my earliest experiences in a writing class. One student handed in a piece that was essentially a journal entry, and the teacher commented that it would be impossible to really offer critique of such work. Not in a way that was negative, but that it had not been intended for an audience, and thus did not want one, so the commentary would have no relationship to the works intent. A piece of writing that is aimed at an external audience has a different nature than one which is purely for ones own remembrances or as an exercise for clarifying thought. These can be useful things to do, of course, and they may even end up being of value in the wider world, as can happen (Samuel Pepys is certainly an example). Still, a piece written for an audience has other goals.
The point is, then, that a piece of writing is not ever completed until it is before an audience. It is the ultimate fulfillment of why it has been written: in the same way that a costume is not truly a costume until it is worn, a piece of writing must be read beyond the writer, or else it is nothing yet. The work a writer does is not completed by writing it. It is the reading of that work that fulfills what has been placed down. The ordering of the words is not an act intended to be it's own end, but is instead intended as a way to create something for another person. The language of the writing is only a set of symbols that are intended as instructions for the mind of the reader, so that they may recreate internally what the writer is attempting to share. Writing is quite literally a process of encoding, which is meaningless unless it is decoded.
This is a difficult understanding. While it is up to Adam Savage if he wears a costume to an event, it is not always up to a writer whether others will read what they have written. I'm certain that most of my poems have not yet been read, and most of those that have been read are only shared, right now, with a small handful of people. It is outside my control, for the most part, whether anyone reads my work. Even writing on this blog has a limited circulation for the most part, which is not a complaint, really, but merely a statement that putting work online or doing other kinds of self-publishing is not a way to assure having readers.
Now, of course, I do want to be published, but that is not really what I am considering here. Rather, I am thinking about the relationship between a writer and a reader. This is always an intimate relationship, I believe. The reader is aware of this intimacy, as they are allowing the writer, in a way, to put thoughts inside their mind. It is natural to feel close with a writer, especially when they create something compelling enough for you to feel it is real in some sense. If a writer can whisk you into an experience, so that you move past language and into your imagination, their is an understandable sense of a bond that can develop.
At the same time, I believe that a writer should also be able to recognize the great gift readers bring them. It is not only the rewards one might gain from a career, but rather the actual act of reading itself as a true completion of the writing process. For a person to read my words is for them to do me a great kindness, in many ways. When I am writing, much of the time it is me attempting to express ideas important to me. Putting them on paper is not intended to exorcise them from my mind, but instead is part of, I hope, a conversation, a dialogue. A reader is sharing that interaction with me, and allowing the work to be completed. One cannot complete a phone call without an answer on the other end of the line. It seems important to me to be aware of this, though I do not think I've heard many writers discuss it. I myself only began considering this recently, but I think it is something that has been in the back of my mind in a way for some time. In truth, it is still an idea that is developing, but I have no doubt it is important, at least in how I am considering my work and my relationship with an audience.
As a writer, this is also true. I recall one of my earliest experiences in a writing class. One student handed in a piece that was essentially a journal entry, and the teacher commented that it would be impossible to really offer critique of such work. Not in a way that was negative, but that it had not been intended for an audience, and thus did not want one, so the commentary would have no relationship to the works intent. A piece of writing that is aimed at an external audience has a different nature than one which is purely for ones own remembrances or as an exercise for clarifying thought. These can be useful things to do, of course, and they may even end up being of value in the wider world, as can happen (Samuel Pepys is certainly an example). Still, a piece written for an audience has other goals.
The point is, then, that a piece of writing is not ever completed until it is before an audience. It is the ultimate fulfillment of why it has been written: in the same way that a costume is not truly a costume until it is worn, a piece of writing must be read beyond the writer, or else it is nothing yet. The work a writer does is not completed by writing it. It is the reading of that work that fulfills what has been placed down. The ordering of the words is not an act intended to be it's own end, but is instead intended as a way to create something for another person. The language of the writing is only a set of symbols that are intended as instructions for the mind of the reader, so that they may recreate internally what the writer is attempting to share. Writing is quite literally a process of encoding, which is meaningless unless it is decoded.
This is a difficult understanding. While it is up to Adam Savage if he wears a costume to an event, it is not always up to a writer whether others will read what they have written. I'm certain that most of my poems have not yet been read, and most of those that have been read are only shared, right now, with a small handful of people. It is outside my control, for the most part, whether anyone reads my work. Even writing on this blog has a limited circulation for the most part, which is not a complaint, really, but merely a statement that putting work online or doing other kinds of self-publishing is not a way to assure having readers.
Now, of course, I do want to be published, but that is not really what I am considering here. Rather, I am thinking about the relationship between a writer and a reader. This is always an intimate relationship, I believe. The reader is aware of this intimacy, as they are allowing the writer, in a way, to put thoughts inside their mind. It is natural to feel close with a writer, especially when they create something compelling enough for you to feel it is real in some sense. If a writer can whisk you into an experience, so that you move past language and into your imagination, their is an understandable sense of a bond that can develop.
At the same time, I believe that a writer should also be able to recognize the great gift readers bring them. It is not only the rewards one might gain from a career, but rather the actual act of reading itself as a true completion of the writing process. For a person to read my words is for them to do me a great kindness, in many ways. When I am writing, much of the time it is me attempting to express ideas important to me. Putting them on paper is not intended to exorcise them from my mind, but instead is part of, I hope, a conversation, a dialogue. A reader is sharing that interaction with me, and allowing the work to be completed. One cannot complete a phone call without an answer on the other end of the line. It seems important to me to be aware of this, though I do not think I've heard many writers discuss it. I myself only began considering this recently, but I think it is something that has been in the back of my mind in a way for some time. In truth, it is still an idea that is developing, but I have no doubt it is important, at least in how I am considering my work and my relationship with an audience.
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