the specificity of language; execution
"it"
waving hands --> jesse kellerman
all that matters is what works
literally, that is all that matters...not rhetorically "if you go for 'what works' you'll capture blah blah"
that is ALL THAT MATTERS
pitching broken because it's about LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE
first time it happened: Maisy on the bridge
now you may point out, "Hey, Slim -- that's subjective! 'What works'. What if you think something works and other people don't?"
Well...in a sense that's a good point. That's a big part of what learning to take feedback is about. You ask yourself: is this criticism coming from a place of someone who gets/is into fundamentally what the piece is about, and whom I as the writer have failed in some way? Or maybe they just don't like the whole thing? Or maybe actually it does kind of 'work' for them, and that's the precise reason they've pointed it out, because there's really just some small aspect of it that doesn't work so I better be careful not to break anything 'fixing' it, or--
"No, no. Slim you're not hearing me. I'm saying your whole frame is solipsistic and subject. 'What works'. You're placing yourself ultimately as an arbiter at the center of all this: a non-objective skewed perspective--your own--and elevating that above everything. You're saying it over and over: 'what works' is all that matters; and your whole 'how it felt' with that scene on the bridge. It's just all about you and your instincts and responses."
Well. Okay. Presumably I share some of those instincts and responses with other humans, though. Right? I'm extremely not-unique.
"Yeah but why not base it on something more external or objective?"
Like what? Crowdsourcing? Sales numbers?
"I don't know...sure why not. Either of those."
Because that's bullshit. That's pretty much exactly how bullshit gets made. There are consensual processes of group work that have great outcomes, but if the artist relinquishes her own sensibility...or if the creator isn't yet an 'artist' at all because she has no sense of her own sensibility...yeah, you get shit.
"What if I think your 'what works' is shit?"
Like, you think that what I think 'works' is shit?
"Yeah."
...dunno. Sorry?
waving hands --> jesse kellerman
all that matters is what works
literally, that is all that matters...not rhetorically "if you go for 'what works' you'll capture blah blah"
that is ALL THAT MATTERS
pitching broken because it's about LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE
first time it happened: Maisy on the bridge
now you may point out, "Hey, Slim -- that's subjective! 'What works'. What if you think something works and other people don't?"
Well...in a sense that's a good point. That's a big part of what learning to take feedback is about. You ask yourself: is this criticism coming from a place of someone who gets/is into fundamentally what the piece is about, and whom I as the writer have failed in some way? Or maybe they just don't like the whole thing? Or maybe actually it does kind of 'work' for them, and that's the precise reason they've pointed it out, because there's really just some small aspect of it that doesn't work so I better be careful not to break anything 'fixing' it, or--
"No, no. Slim you're not hearing me. I'm saying your whole frame is solipsistic and subject. 'What works'. You're placing yourself ultimately as an arbiter at the center of all this: a non-objective skewed perspective--your own--and elevating that above everything. You're saying it over and over: 'what works' is all that matters; and your whole 'how it felt' with that scene on the bridge. It's just all about you and your instincts and responses."
Well. Okay. Presumably I share some of those instincts and responses with other humans, though. Right? I'm extremely not-unique.
"Yeah but why not base it on something more external or objective?"
Like what? Crowdsourcing? Sales numbers?
"I don't know...sure why not. Either of those."
Because that's bullshit. That's pretty much exactly how bullshit gets made. There are consensual processes of group work that have great outcomes, but if the artist relinquishes her own sensibility...or if the creator isn't yet an 'artist' at all because she has no sense of her own sensibility...yeah, you get shit.
"What if I think your 'what works' is shit?"
Like, you think that what I think 'works' is shit?
"Yeah."
...dunno. Sorry?