Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.
Interpretation
Writers often cope with their struggles either through substance or by seeking validation from their audiences.
In this quote, Gore Vidal reflects on the diverse ways in which writers handle the pressures and challenges of their craft. Some may turn to alcohol as a form of escape, while others may seek affirmation and engagement from their audiences, suggesting that both are means of dealing with the emotional weight of writing.
In practice
In a discussion about the challenges of being a writer during a workshop.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
A living is made, Mr Kemper, by selling something that everybody needs at least once a year.Yes, sir! And a million ismade by producing something that everybody needs every day.You artists produce something that nobody needs at any time.
Storytelling is ultimately a creative act of pattern recognition. Through characters, plot and setting, a writer creates places where previously invisible truths become visible. Or the storyteller posits a series of dots that the reader can connect.
Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century.
A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.
Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're mostly smoking the residue of all that material you absorbed over time.
There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
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