Can guidelines for young artists apply to young (and not so young) writers as well? A recent post features a short video about artist John Baldessari, narrated by Tom Waits. It end with three things Baldessari thinks young artists should know. Let’s look how at the third applies to writers:
"Being at the right place at the right time"
Maybe in the 20’s, Paris was the right place for a writer. Most of the rest of the time, perhaps New York and London.
Since the advent of the internet, geography doesn’t matter as much, although having a supportive and challenging local community still counts for a lot. It’s hard to go drinking with an avatar.
The art world is small, the actions of one or two collectors can suddenly propel you into the stratosphere. If the right rich collector or the right influential gallery decides your dots or your pickled shark or your unmade bad is great art, your life changes the next day.
Certainly the right endorsement (e.g. Oprah, until recently) could propel a book onto the best-seller list but there is also the possibility of a more organic success such as Harry Potter and there isn’t one writing world but many.
So what’s the right place at the right time for a writer? My guess is that the writers who land there have several characteristics:
- Being open to, and early to adopt, new ways to tell and deliver stories
- Telling the stories which matter to them, rather than trying to copy current trends or anticipate future ones
- Having a personal story to tell, something dramatic in some way (but also true)
- Having a champion
- Not being discouraged by setbacks
- Writing, lots of writing
The rest may be down to luck.
(It can be illuminating to learn how the greatest writers went about their work and you can do that by reading "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nichoals Brealey and available from Amazon and ohter booksellers now.)
