I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity lately. Photographer and teacher David DuChemin has been writing about it, and my friend Sabrina Henry always has something important to say on the subject. I also turn to writers for their ideas. Writing is a form I admire and have studied, and sometimes writers are able to describe the process of creativity in ways that inspire me or at least make sense.
One of my favorite novelists is Stephen King. He is a master storyteller and careful craftsman who seems unafraid of letting the question “What If?” lead him into the unknown. A man who is serious about his work, but who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He plays in the band The Rock Bottom Remainders for fun. (And, yes, one day I hope to hear them play.) But it is his non-fiction book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft that I recommend to anyone who is curious about creativity and art and process. Part (sometimes harrowing) memoir and part writer’s toolbox, it is both entertaining and thought-provoking. I have read it twice and I’m about to pick it up again. My copy is underlined and starred, with notes in the margins. I was interested specifically in writing when I read it before, but I know there are lessons there for photographers too. I find lots of parallels between written and visual language.
It’s no surprise that King often writes about writers. In Lisey’s Story, the writer character describes his process this way:
He claimed that for him, writing a book was like finding a brilliantly colored string in the grass and following it to see where it might lead. Sometimes the string broke and left you with nothing. But sometimes — if you were lucky, if you were brave, if you persevered — it brought you to a treasure. And the treasure was never the money you got for the book; the treasure was the book.
Whatever our passions, doesn’t it feel that way when you get it right? And don’t you think the bolder you are and the harder you work, the luckier you become?
It’s no fun when the string breaks, but isn’t it thrilling when it leads to something you’re proud of?
Be brave. Persevere.
