From
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bubblesbrnaid:
Not that I have anything against needlepoint, of course, conspicuous or otherwise, but it gets very tiring watching teenyboppers' heads explode at the idea of somebody making something.A LJ comment would not properly encompass how much I read that and thought, "THIS!!!" So here I am actually discussing it in a LJ post.
It's not just teenyboppers, though. I tend to find that I get what I consider to be an inordinate amount of fuss and shock and awe (and no, I'm not exaggerating) whenever I tell people what I do with my spare time. I tell them about the writing, particularly about the podcast novel and so on, and I get gasps of pleased shock and comments like, "You must be so
talented!"
...Why must I be so talented? I'm not saying that I'm
not talented (people would hit me if I tried that) but surely the proof of the pudding is in the eating? I know of people who work just as hard as I do on writing or fan fiction or fan sites or any number of other creative endeavours and the results of their endeavours really aren't anything to write home about. Doing a thing does not make you talented; it makes you driven. Doing a thing
well makes you talented. However, the assumption is that I must be some raving talent just because I actually make the time and put in the effort and
do the thing, as if it isn't worth doing if I couldn't do it well. Please; half the time, I think what I'm writing is crap on a stick. I write it anyway because to not do so would make my head explode with frustrated creative endeavour.
Then there's the fact that I'm getting this kind of gasping awestruck reaction at all. For me, this is not a big deal. Okay, the sound editing is a pain and I always feel a combination of relief and pride when I get a chapter done, and I wouldn't talk about what I do if I wasn't proud of it, but ... until it actually stands to pay me, technically it's just a hobby. I work nearly as hard on my FFXI character as I do on my writing, and you can bet I wouldn't get that kind of comment if I just told them that I played video games in my spare time. But if I tell them about the writing ... or I told them that I played guitar or did photography or any other creative endeavour ... well, 'I must be so talented!' I don't really get it.
Maybe it says more about them than it does about me. Maybe they're frustrated creative types in their own lives and can't imagine how I could keep plugging away at it when they gave up their dreams of actually doing something creative and be, if not paid, then at least lauded for it. Maybe when they say "You must be so talented!" they mean, "You must be so brave!" Which ... okay, that one I'll give them. It takes guts to go out there with anything you've created and show it to the masses. I think I have bloody-mindedness as a substitute for 'guts' but it works just as well.
It does occur, though, that the people who give me these kudos without even having seen or heard of what I'm doing are the same ones as usually take writers for granted. You know; the ones who don't much think about the writers of the books or newspaper articles they read, the ones who are only vaguely aware that TV shows and movies
have writers and tend to lump the whole issue of dialogue together as a product of the actors and maybe the director. If you're getting paid for it, you're unmemorable; if you're not getting paid for it and give up your free time to do it, you're "so talented". Does that make sense to anyone else?
Note to the world: Forgive me for not being overly excited and grateful when you talk about my talent without actually having even seen or heard what I've actually created. It's just that you've mistaken ambition and creative drive for talent, and they don't always go hand in hand.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}