OK, Cheerskep, I'll pay attention to King. As for your comment on stamina I tend to agree. I sometimes think that the artists of reputation are simply those who wouldn't give up while others, perhaps more talented, did. I've seen so many young artists give up, maybe eight out of every ten. when they don't get some attention soon enough. I used to say it takes ten years to get a toehold as an artist. But nowadays no-one would accept that. Young artists expect stardom within a year or two post school.
The motivation to be an artist must be fueled by something other than the desire for recognition. Since everyone, even a crook, desires recognition it's perhaps a necessary but certainly not a sufficient condition for any endeavor. Yet we need to be realistic, too. If one works like crazy at some creative task and never receives any encouragement despite seeking it, then some alternative, maybe a closely allied alternative, should not be ignored. The 'serious high art' artworld is jam-packed with people who keep on failing -- always just failing, dimly, unspectacularly -- but who might have succeeded brightly in an allied field they never explored or refused to explore. Somewhere on the Internet is a site devoted to Illustrators. When I went to art school, it was assumed that the lesser talents would go into illustration while the gifted few would pursue 'fine art'. But find that site and see the amazing art made by 19-20-21C illustrators! Hah! Back to King for a second. In 11-22-63 he makes much of a 1950s Daisy Air Gun, saying it didn't fire anything but a puff of air. Not so. I mentioned my BB gun in my Independence Day post. It was a Daisy Red Ryder Air gun and it packed a wallop firing BBs. One BB would fell a sparrow or a chipmunk at 50 feet. I guiltily confess it. In his book, King relies much on his accurate envisioning of 1950s America for the credulity of his story. He errs on the air gun and on several other tidbit references. But I'm hooked anyway and will return to his novel as soon as my Kindle is recharged. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, July 7, 2012 5:47:31 PM Subject: Re: Independence Day I admire Stephen King for a number of reasons. When he was young and strapped for money and time to do what wanted -- write -- he nevertheless hung in there far beyond the stamina of most people, including most of those who early on want to be an "artist" of some kind but don't begin to have the staying power required. King's richness of imagination is colossal, but alas, I'm not a good reader of science fiction, paranormal, horror. I'm quite snooty about "how to" books on writing, nevertheless King's book "On Writing", impressed the hell out of me. It has good practical insights, and no pretentiousness. He sees himself well, no trying to bullshit the reader or himself. I keep my priorities straight, and I have my standards, and here's why I know King must be a good fellow: He's a Red Sox fan.
