On Creating

The Internet can make creating seem meaningless. Information is consumed instantaneously, making it hard for art to keep up. Even though songs and stories and pictures and comics are able to reach others without any regard to time and distance, they are still created at the same rate. There might be more stuff out there, but as far as instantaneous creation is concerned, that’s something that doesn’t exist.

But sometimes, every moment becomes art. There’s an unexplained feeling of perfection and beauty to life that cannot be replicated. A story or film could never replace that, only hope to reach perfection within itself.

Nothing ever works out the way it is imagined. In striving for perfection, one winds up with something unexpected. But that is what creating is about: finding the “perfect in perfect,” seeing that in perceived mistakes, one creates something else entirely.

I sometimes wonder about my drive to create, whether it is founded in genuineness or pursued for some other reason. Part of me wants to have something to show others, something to seek approval with. But most people are always drawing a line that says this is where you end and where I begin. It’s how we create our identity.

For some reason, I have always felt a considerable amount of guilt from this notion. Other pursuits tend to benefit more people; creative ones only benefit myself.

But here’s where that other idea comes up, the one that goes something like, “I create only for myself and don’t care if anybody likes what I make.” While I see the logic behind this statement, it rings untrue. People create in the hopes that someone will enjoy their work as much as they do. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now.