Writing is Hard: Letting go
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In his most recent Newsarama column, Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief and artist Joe Quesada said something about the act of creating that got my attention.
When a fan asked him how he stores his comic collection, Joe used the question to seque into another topic: “I have next to nothing of the comics created over my tenure in my collection. I remember an artist once telling me that you will never be able to do your best work until you lose reverence for the work that you do. I found that to be an incredible truth about creation, if you hold it too dear you tend to focus on the tree and not the forest. It’s the same with what I do as EIC. While I love the books that we’re currently producing and feel that we get better with every issue, I don’t hold any of it in reverence or permanence. Spend too much time admiring any accomplishment or holding onto one for too long, don’t be surprised if you never have any more.”
I’ve written some stuff that I’m pretty proud of, but I’m green enough that I haven’t really been tempted to fall in love with my own work yet. It’s an interesting, potential pitfall though that kind of goes along with the concept of “killing your darlings.” I can see how getting emotionally attached to your work could cause you to lose the objectivity you need to know when it needs to be better. Something to keep in mind for later.
