| A Little More Blue... |
| Monday, 20 July 2009 |
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Does process or product drive the work? Kyle (@Jordre) and I had this conversation not long ago. We talked about the give and take between our will and the life of the work – when does the work lead, and when does the artist? We have such great crazy conversations when we’re both exhausted and in need of a break. “Do you work toward product or are you entirely process driven?” I asked him. “Do you know what you want a painting to look like before you start, or after you’ve started, and moreover, how do you know when you’re done?” Kyle definitely looked like he wanted an Orange Crush when he said, “I don’t know…” I glared; he continued. He described going through a kind of process vs. product battle with a particular painting. As he rounded the canvas, taking in both the structure and chaos of his work, he thought, “A little more blue would look good right… there.” After he added the blue, he knew he had to rework the piece. In our conversation, Kyle wondered if the conscious thought to take control of the piece constituted a break from process. Making a deal with the final product. I have these questions in writing too. I’m working through a very difficult story structure for this new play. I have two characters, one setting, three plot lines, one problem, and a bus. I also have time issues - the passage of time on stage is less than the total run time of the play. Process tells me to just start. Start writing. Get it all out there in broad strokes. Let the colors bleed together or repel each other. Product tells me to outline the story arc. Know where I am headed and precisely how to get there. Generally I shake out somewhere in the middle – I know my characters, I know what the problem is, and I know how the story ends. Then I write the first draft beginning to end as fast as I can. The difference, is that this time I find myself focusing on the prescribed run time of the play, obsessing on how many pages I should spend with each plot line, and already deciding that a little more blue would look good right…there! Like Kyle, I’m wondering if I’m breaking with process to make a deal with product. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll look at my nicely drafted outline of the story arc – once upon a time, and then, and then one day – put some blue paint on it, and ask my two gals, “What color comes next?” I’ll close TweetDeck and Gmail, and turn off my phone (okay I probably won’t turn off my phone) and I’ll type as fast as I can. When I need a break, I’ll knock on Kyle’s door, hand him an Orange Crush, and ask him to talk to me about process… again. |
