Paul Auster to Young Writers: Lose the Ego | Big Think
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- Paul Auster to Young Writers: Lose the Ego
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The novelist believes that it’s “the burning need to do it,” not to be praised, that spurs great writing.
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Paul Benjamin:
Paul Benjamin Auster is an author and poet who has gained acclaim over a diverse 30-year career, in which he has published many volumes of poetry and essays as well as 20 novels, now widely translated. His work also extends to the translation of the work of foreign writers, including French writers Stéphane Mallarmé and Joseph Joubert. He is arguably best known for his three experimental detective stories, collectively referred to as The New York Trilogy ("City of Glass," 1985; "Ghosts," 1986; "The Locked Room," 1986). His latest novel, "Invisible," was released by Henry Holt and Co. in October 2009. His first marriage was to the writer Lydia Davis in 1974; his second to the novelist and essayist Siri Hustvedt in 1981. He has two children, Daniel and Sophie, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: How can someone read like a good writer?
Paul Auster: Well, again, we get into very murky territory here because it's all a matter of taste. I mean, I have the writers that I care about most, the writers that I think are the greatest of the past and of the present. But my list would be very different, perhaps, from yours. But I guess the important thing for young writers is to read, read the good ones. And I suppose by that, I mean, the ones who've withstood the test of time. You know, the great ones. Hawthorne, Melville, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka, Dickens, that's where you're going to get the most, I think. And when you see how, you know, brilliantly they do things, Flaubert, you know, all the names that we know. But they're there for a reason, because they really are the best writers. And I think you have to learn from the great ones.
Question: What's the most common trap beginning writers fall into?
Paul Auster: Common trap, I suppose a kind of an egotism, self-importance, inability to look out of themselves, and I think it's important to look very closely at the world, everything happening around you, and sometimes for young people it's difficult to do that.
And the other thing is to, to get too attached to some of the things that you think are clever that you're doing. I think cleverness has its spots, its place in the world, perhaps, but the burning need to do it is what makes for good work. The wish to do it doesn't really help you. It's when it's absolutely necessary.
So when I talk to young writers, I mostly tell them, don't do it. Don't be a writer, it's a terrible way to live your life, there's nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don't expect anything from anybody. The world doesn't owe you anything and no one is asking you to do it. And I suppose it's this feeling of accomplishment that young people feel sometimes is that, "Well, of course my book should be published! Of course I should be able to earn a living out of this." Well, it just doesn't work that way.
Recorded on November 5, 2009
Interviewed by Austin Allen
"the world doesn't owe you anything, and nobody is asking you to do it" probably some of the best advice I have heard for young people going into any profession from writer to Navy SEAL.
"Poverty and obscurity and solitude"
Here I COME
Biggest problem for beginning writers is: Trying to be profound.
Or trying to be profound and sound like an asshole. I know it by experience
- Don't expect anything from anybody, because the world doesn't owe you anything and no one is asking you to do it.
Deal with it.
Elesus true
The best thing about being a writer is being a writer. Rewards are gravy.
"The world does not owe you anything" is very sage advice. I agree with him when he says that writing has to be a need.
The world owes you everything. You should *expect* nothing.
It doesn't, because it has no moral, nor does its nature care even if we die.
Guigley y s
As a creative major I found a sweet spot when I'd start a story or poem with some vague motive or idea--once a single word--and I'd see where it would go. I really wouldn't know. But I'd come up with inspirations as I'd go along. It was the only way I could do it because the fun was in the discovery: I'd get eager to find out how the story would end. It was like I was reading a story I was writing. Hard work, but sometimes magic. But to do it for a living--boy--you really have to have a compulsion.
To me, what makes a great writer is someone who is constantly aspiring to grow and take risk. It is someone who is never satisified with what they have done in the past. And believe they can do better. There are famous writers that are like that and I respect them for that. However, though, there are other famous writers who are not and write the same story and follow the same formulaic rules of their other books. A great writer is one always willing to learn and better themselves.
A suggestion to young writers, including those getting into writing whatever their age, is to rewire their brain by reading folk tales and mythology - ancient Greek myths, Scandinavian folklore and sagas as well as Native American stories. Every culture has its mythological stories ; generally archetypal and often primal. There is a brilliant book, published in the late 70s or 80s by someone Bethel regarding that psychology of those stories we love and know so well. It is well worth a read; probably after you have rewired your brain !
I love writing, creating characters, words and worlds-- therefore I write.
I know there's minimal chance of getting published but I still write.
Not all young writers are ego driven.
***** I felt the need to share because I found this video just a little condescending. Some young writers and driven by ego, some adult writers are driven by ego; some young ones aren't as with some adults.
Caroline Haugh I agree. Me, too. And not all people are like that. Apparently there are many, but not all. I hope you continue writing. ^_^
Agreed, I feel the same way, I write for me and the close friends who enjoy my work. Anything else would just be a bonus.
I write because I love writing. I want to make my life around writing. An almost empty apartment, a computer and enough food to last till the end of the month would be more than enough reward for writing. I may never be famous or well known but to know that I wrote something that I cared about and shared it with the world, that would be awesome.
Guydreaminglife I agree. I'd love to do this as well. I wanna encourage who I'm with and anyone else to do the same. :/ We're determined to write for a reason. :) So even if it's a few people who see- they were meant to see it, and who knows how it can help them! :D
Being marvelled at your own cleverness is a difficult drug to give up. Still working on it. Shit, I did it again!
i have poverty, obscurity and solitude without writing though
I wanted to become a writer, since I was fourteen, but I have never written a word. So I study philosophy now and I write every now and then to an older philosopher and I told him about how I was not happy with my writing, to which he said, that one can not expect to be Tiger Woods, after picking up the club once.
You sound just like me hehe! I want to write just not sure how to start. Three out of four so far not a bad strike rate!
He wasn't talking about whether you have that or not. He's saying, do you want it? Are you so desperate to write that you don't mind getting those things?
And that was profound
May you rest in peace. How brilliant you were, and always will be.
Poverty, obscurity, and solitude? Sign. Me. The fuck. UP.
Very well said!
So motivational. So inspiring. How awesome it is for you to contribute to hopelessness and sadness. Awesome, really, moving.
Amazing straight forward man
RIP Pau Auster😢
Good advice
I'm going to write a novel, you watch me. I know people who enjoy a good book, and I bloody well will make one myself.
***** haha wtf?!
You can get that for free ya know.
well that escalated quickly
How far along are you with that book?
@@LickerOfBumholes Holy shit everyone, be careful not to cut yourself on that e d g e
Writing should be, first and foremost, something a writer does because he/she loves it BUT to say a writer (or any creative artist for that matter) does not deserve to be paid "because no one asked them to do it", is seriously flawed logic. No one would walk into a store to buy a product and expect not to have to pay a fair price for it. No one would expect to go to a sports event and not have to pay to get in because no one in the audience asked the athletes to become athletes. A book is a product like any other product, whether the public "asked" for that product or not. If you are purchasing it, whoever produced it has a right to ask for fair compensation.
For some strange reason people don't seem to think artists have a right to make a living off of something they pour thousands of hours into. How would most people making such comments here feel if their boss told them they would no longer be compensated for showing up to work anymore because, after all, the boss never asked them to walk in looking for a job?
Morgane Oghmanann
Agreed, well said.
Most logical comment of the decade goes to you........
Get off your soap box. Did you actually listen to what he said? At no point did he say that writers don’t deserve to be paid, he said, don’t expect anything from it. In other words, success is elusive and not guaranteed. Creators don’t get remunerated for the act of creation, but for the act of consumption. Artist have the right to be paid for their art that is consumed. If someone spends thousands of hours working on something, and makes no money from it, it is either poor art, a failure of getting it to market, or their is no market for it.
Kiitos
I think this is possible. I think there is a lesson to be learned in how to handle rejection, by persisting
I read a page of Wilbur Smith once. It was sitting the arm of my Dad's recliner at lunchtime. The sun coming through the window. I assumed my Dad read 'good' books, by clever, smart writers. I
was around 19 and as I read the sentences I frowned, my mouth dropped. I learnt two important things at once. My Dad doesn't know/care/notice the quality of writing....and bestellers can be bad!
I love this guy
It's a terrible irony that all the great unknown writers out there in the world today are largely ignored whilst writers like Tom Clancy, Wilbur Smith, Dan Brown, and worst of all, E.L. James sell in their hundreds of thousands and thereby become wealthy.
Sensationalism sells without a doubt, but worse still, it shows that the average literacy in the world is not as good as it should be - if popular culture is the measuring stick in which to think of these things.
Hired as editor of a large outdoor (fish/hunt) periodical, I found one of my staff writers produced what I felt was terrible copy. His grammar sucked, he refused to spellcheck his contributions, and he didn't arrange his comments in a sensible manner. "Worst outdoor writer ever" I thought. A trip afield made me reconsider what makes good writing though, as I talked to reader after reader singing the man's praises. Good writing is that which the target audience enjoys reading. Simple as that.
+Rabid - Writing is communication. If a person writes something that may not be considered "literary", but can grab people by the heart, then THAT is what readers respond to. That is true communication. Does good, quality writing count? It absolutely should - every time.
But what a lot of critics choose to overlook in their frequent obsession with good writing technique is that page after page can be written in a way that would make a literature professor dance around with glee, but if it doesn't touch a reader's heart, then all that technical precision isn't enough to hold most readers. If someone picks up a book and is grabbed by the heart by the story, then that is what people want. When I find a great story that is also well-written, I am in reader heaven. But if I am reading to be entertained (and with novels I am), then I want a good story first.
I endured 40 pp. of a novel about two years ago written by someone who obviously was so obsessed with beating the reader in the eyes with his mastery of the English language that it kept pulling me out of the story. After forty pages, I simply gave up and threw the book across the room. I would have liked for him to simply tell the damned story.
I think he offers excellent advice, most artists plug away at the art out of a burning desire or need, success or a living is secondary and shouldn't be a consideration and certainily not an expectation, if it is for you, you may find yourself extremely dissapointed oneday, when you realise there is no living to be got out of what you do. you do it because you need to do it not for money.
and the truth is, as auster says, writing or any artistic endeavour is a lonely boring existence
Can be lonely and boring sometimes, but if we always find it to be so, better stop doing it.
Auster didn’t say it was boring.
His stuff is a lot of fun
The same thing can be said basically about any other type of imaginary creation, i.e. music, comic books, visual art, drawings... They should be all created because of yearning simple desire to create out of fun and joy!
+Panter Ametal100 - So anybody who holds a job should be compensated for it - except artists? You think they don't have to pay rent? You think they get to fill their gas tank for free because they are artists? If someone is producing a product, they deserve to be compensated for it. A book or a painting or an music album is a product, whether it was requested or not. If someone is going to buy a product, the creator/company/business deserves to be fairly compensated. Does anyone here truly believe they shouldn't have to pay to see a movie, attend a music concert, or a sports event? After all, who asked any professional athletes to become such? Try telling someone like Michael Jordan he shouldn't be compensated for what he does. He should do it for the love and fun of it. I would LOVE to hear his response!
Well take poetry f.e. NO ONE ever got rich writing poems. You might make some bucks here and there, but by and large, it's a labor of love, done for its own sake. There is indeed satisfaction to be had, giving our best to an art form. "Follow your bliss," per Joseph Campbell. Get money out of the equation.
Pmsl! My dad is the same! He's read tons of trash novels as he is an avid reader, but then he is mistaken in saying that he is 'well read'. Being well read means reading selectively; sometimes things which you don't like and take a bit of intellectual work to understand - James Joyce for example.
I love literature and I love writing and it would be a dream to get published & make a living that way. But it has to be something that rremains a hobby. Don't give up your day job and all that Jazz!
Dear Paul, my need to be a writer os burning Desire and ir ese places in my Herat by. You , ny noble brother
Advice to "young writers". I guess if you're a new writer over forty, this advice does not apply to you - you're too old? Interesting statistics: There are more adults (40-55) starting their first book in the U.S., than "young writers" (10-25).
Anyone just starting a craft can be considered young at that craft. For example, a guitarist who decides to take up singing after decades of playing guitar could be considered a young vocalist and a seasoned guitarist. I'm not entirely sure that this is the sense in which they meant "young writers," but it could have been.
+surearrow Well said.
Guess what, the US is not the world, it's just a small part of it - just full of egoistic people who think US = world. US ≠ world. Deal with it.
I think he meant young in years as well as in the craft. "I think it's important to look very closely at the world, everything happening around you, and sometimes for young people it's difficult to do that." I think most people who have dealt with those aged 25 and below (maybe even 27?) would echo these words.
Well put neil73.
If what you are doing is boring, then you are doing the wrong thing.
yup.
The problem stands that, in a society where everyone can become a published author in the wake of the World Wide Web, how can great unknown writers ever fathom to be known? Also in the case of Clancy, Smith, Brown, etc, these would never be called great writers. They are the Summer blockbusters of literature. If somebody wants to find a great Indie feature, all they need do is look.
Oops! It's really hot here and I keep making typo's!
*Dad's.
not
ad's
That's kind of sad... "The world doesn't owe you anything" "The wish alone doesn't help" ... what if we just do it?
Yes! Just do it, for the experience, no expectations.
You need to read the bad ones too, to see what not to do. Learn on other people's mistakes. That can be just as useful.
Ah! One of the rare, very good, comments in these threads!
Auster gave me a writing block years ago. He was just too good and my young ego could not handle it xD
I can see myself acting like him in a few years, if I am successful! Saying those things. Oh dear. =(
Jack London is a great writer. I only sold one copy to a friend. People will read me for free. At least I don't have to pay them.
Too me having my stories read means more than making money. Sure, it would be amazing if I could make a living doing what I love, but if not, that's fine. I just want people to read and enjoy my work.
how does one look out of itself
mooi dat slissen! haha
.
⚘🕊
Heheheh! How do ad's cast a spell of respect over us like that? So that we assume have become selective from 30 years of reading books every day!
I am interested in reading the novelists that have 'stood the test of time' as this guy puts it. But unfortunately I stick to the Bronte's because I know I always enjoy the ride. And going to the library takes time, when you are fairly poor and can't buy books... .
So I'd like to give James Joyce, Dickens, a go... =)
This guys is rich
he wasn't always, he went through a lot of heartbreak which he wrote about later and a lot of pain
didn't think he'd be that scared that the next generation is going to kick him into literature's forgotten corner :)
Considering some of the stinkers Auster has inflicted on the reading public...
どうも！
Abandon ship!
How discouraging. I can't say he's wrong, I don't know. But he doesn't know either.(Who will have an easy ride into sucess or not. It happens. Look at Stephanie Meyer. Her writing isn't complitcated or profound, yet success came easily.
I think what he's saying is he has come across too many young people in *his* life, and his really sick of the ego's floating around. But there are ego's in every industry. Isn't there difficulty entering any industry aswell? Yes
Zlatan Ibrahimović has a bestselling biografi, So if you have an big ego, get someone else to write it
"Lose the Ego"
Nah, keep the Ego... but ask yourself, "Why should anyone want to read this?" Be frank in your response to yourself: the answer is very probably, "They wouldn't." So write something else, with that disappointing experience in mind, and ask the question again... and again... and again... until the response to that fundamental question has finally changed. Now you're ready to Begin.
The "burning need to do it", alone, is no guarantee that what you're producing isn't Shit.
But shit makes good fertilizer :)
Yes, but, within the Reality of this metaphor, fertilizer for _what?_ The decision to go to law school instead...?
(wink)
Ideally, fertilizing the imagination. Not all of our creative work needs to be stellar. The important thing is to keep going, and to believe in ourselves and the value of our work, irrespective of criticism, money concerns etc.
That said--Scott Turow did go to law school and successfully combined lawyering with his writing career. So, whatever works!
"The important thing is to keep going, and to believe in ourselves and the value of our work..."
None of these have to do with the actual quality of the work; I know plenty of bad artists who "keep going" and "believe" in themselves and write extremely shitty manuscripts, paint amateurishly bad canvases or generate crushingly-derivative music. The key for any would-be Artiste is to be brutally honest with his or herself about the shortcomings in his or her attempts. When it comes to writing, that means reading hundreds (if not thousands) of books before even starting. Read good books to learn what to do and read some bad books to learn what not to do.
Also: beginners should very quickly learn to distinguish between hack work and Art. There are film "enthusiasts" out there who can't tell the difference between Full Metal Jacket and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Scott Turow is a hack. Dan Brown is a hack. They sell lots of books in a dumbed-down culture. Nobody needs to be encouraged to feed their own personal kilos of sludge into that industrial pipe of cultural waste-products burying us. People need to be encouraged to do the opposite: lift up the National IQ, raise the level of the conversation and help everyone to learn to judge the value of a book, song, film or painting by metrics more subtle than price or popularity. To be able to appreciate the difference between the exquisite modulations of (e.g.) Roth's American Pastoral and the trowel-applied gunk of (e.g.) James Frey's A Million Little Pieces is a greater skill than this dumbed-down consumer "culture" can admit.
A nation of people with more sophisticated tastes in cultural products will also make better, more informed, political decisions. They won't be so easy to fool (by Republicrats or Demoblicans). This is just one of the concrete arguments in favor of better Writing and its knock-on effect of deeper cognition.
DISCOGOTHTHEJAZZFAN: I know what you mean and I've been frustrated with those who, f.e., think they are making poetry just by breaking up the lines. But we all have to start somewhere. I am not sure it is necessary to read "thousands" of books before we get started. There IS such a thing as having a gift. I know a girl , f.e., who wrote some charming poetry with no training to speak of. It was an honest and unpretentious expression of who she was, and it worked.
I'm not a big fan of Scott Turow, but I would not call him a hack just because he is a popular writer. He is tops in his genre. A lot of people appreciate and enjoy his books. Are they wrong? Of course not. Re Dan Brown, I haven't read him. My son did and called the book "popcorn." Well, popcorn has its place.
I think creating in itself is a valuable endeavor and we've all got an audience, even if it is just ourselves. If we hold ourselves to a rigid or lofty standard before we even get started, that can derail us for a lifetime.
I'm gonna be honest. I read Moby Dick, easily the worst book I've ever read. It was boring, slow and filled with tangents. I could only barely finish it, and even then the ending felt incomplete
You are not wrong, but not completely right either.
Youre allowed to not like it, but that doesnt mean its “bad”.
Don't feed the trolls.
I don't see the logic behind his pessimistic-world pretext. It's as if he's asserting the nature of the world ought to be one of inherently being in debt to the rest of the world in a way that hard work doesn't deserve to be rewarded. I do understand the reality of the world though, most people who want to write won't end up publishing but the way he describes it not as an unfortunate fact of reality but rather as a moral code of some kind is wrong in my opinion. I think it doesn't work that way, instead anyone who is passionate about writing and give's it a proper go and dedicates themselves to a story, is capable of achieving, many will not but some will and it doesn't require that you go through a novel-like tale of drama and despair yourself in order to achieve it, some will, some won't.
He didn't say anything about being indebted to the world. He's talking about people being indebted to their egos. I'd like you to know that it's very counterproductive when people misquote others. I'd also like you to know that I've got nothing against you personally, man. I'd like to see you succeed just like everyone else, but if you intend to succeed economically in art, you're missing the point, and you probably won't succeed--that kind of fuel burns too fast. What do you really want to do, Dean? Go out there and do it!!
I ran across a self published writer once who was overpricing his book according to the following logic: he calculated how much work and time he put into it, and came to a conclusion that that's the amount of money he should get for it. Of course, no one was buying. See, the readers didn't EMPLOY him to write for them, so they didn't OWE him that price. It doesn't matter how much work you put into it, or how much you think it's worth. It's what buyers think it's worth. That's what he's saying in the video. The world doesn't owe you anything because you wrote some words on a piece of paper, because nobody asked you to.
I think there's a misunderstand of views, in reflection I think we all have pretty much the same view with a different way of saying it. I think we're actually on the same page and the same with this guy in the video. I just felt that his attitude and wording comes off in a misleading way but I guess that's down to perception. I apologize for any misquoting but I just got a sense of pessimism and sense of "don't enjoy the creative process, this is serious" off it. But in reflection that is probably untrue, he probably does enjoy the process but is emphasizing how difficult it can be. Anyway with that being said, I think we're on the same page. I regret any unintentional misquotes.
There are also a lot of people out there that think that since they have a computer with a word processor, they might just as well write a book. What those casual writers don't understand is that it's not just a matter of writing down all those words, you need to do some serious learning and perfecting of craft before being able to write anything decent. It's akin to thinking that since you got an electronic guitar for your birthday you're automatically eligible for playing in a rock band, no practice needed. Those are the kind of weekend writers who should be, IMHO, disillusioned and even discouraged from attempting to publish. I'm not saying they should stop writing, writing can be a nice hobby. But they need to understand if they're going to try for publishing, they need to put some serious work into it. If they're not prepared to do that, they'd be better off not wasting their time, nor the publisher's or agent's time. Sounds harsh, but it's the truth. If you're not putting serious work into your writing, you can't expect publishers to take you seriously.
A lot of that really adds up. I just started trying to write something (money has nothing to do with it. It's about racism and I really care about spreading what I have to offer about it, not about spreading my name or collecting money), and after two paragraphs I've already found how tough it is to make everything historically accurate and logically sensible. There's a ton of backtracking and editing, in only two paragraphs! I'm determined to get it all down, so it's okay, but I imagine there are a lotta peeps out there who just don't take the time to perfect what they're writing as they write it, not because they're dumb or lazy, but because they lack a passion for something aside from their egos. This is just my personal speculation based on the two paragraphs I've written and all the people I've come across in my life. We live in an egotistical and television-ridden society.
Poverty, obscurity and solitude. You say that as if they were bad things.
Btw I'm among those egoistic PPL
Everytym I write Something nd PPL don't like it nd don't share
Inner me -- what's wrong wid this generation taste
Soo filthy PPL don't know what writers
Nd their creativity nd effort
Bloody PPL u goona pay for it when I become famous I will not allow u in my confrence
Doesn’t name any female writers, really??
And no asian, black, siberian, native American, Lalalalala
@@frednolasco When someone is accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression
@@wonderwoman5528 hmm and so comes the discussion.. the privilege to have a much bigger chance to die in wars, have a disproporcionate suicide rate, etc etc etc... Male privilege is such an overrated thing.