I saw this interesting tweet on twitter that asked the question ” how does a writer frame from being mediocre? ” I can bet some would say “well you read other work of literature.” or ” you let a writing group give you feedback and let them tell you where to make adjustments.” To both of these I say, I rather have a rabid Bear rip my balls off.
I don’t find either of those methods helpful, in fact they’re pointless. I 100% guarantee you’ll be mediocre in someone’s eyes, and no amount of reading or asking is going to change that. The mere notion of perfection lies in the eye of the beholder.
Take the work of Hunter S Thompson ” Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas ” it was bashed, it was given the worst reviews you can think of, but in the end it became one of the classics.
In the New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt told readers to not “even bother” with the novel, and that “what goes on in these pages make[s] Lenny Bruce seem angelic”;
So the thought of being mediocre is just pointless for any author to dwell on, you just ignore what other says and do as you please.
Of course my ” radical thinking ” which isn’t much radical, but more of ” get your head out of your ass and just write what you want.” is very much frowned upon by many authors that have bumped paths with me on #writechat on twitter every Sunday at 12 PM PST/3PM EST. They see my view as downright blasphemy, and that it has no place in art, of course they view writing as not a true artistic form, instead they want authors to fall into the rut of ” Do as I as I do.”
That type of thinking is utter bullshit with a cherry on top, in a way it’s the reason for casting doubt on so many young up coming authors who think there’s a ” How To Guide ” there is none, you just write what matters to you, what you give a damn about, you don’t worry about the readers, you don’t worry if they’ll like it or not. It all falls on you, do you like it, is this what you want to doing right now.
Having the thought bounce in your head ” Well I be mediocre ?” is just a good way of never getting anything done and letting others think for you. In the true aspect of it all mediocre is just a simple tool to keep artist out of the water.
JESSE Novels 