Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap • Hacker News Board

Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap

#21

Post by nir » Sun, Mar 07, 2010, 4:20 PM UTC

mtts wrote: post #11

jrockway wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. You seem to have a problem with that?

The sentiment is understandable. The myth of the starving artist suffering for his art was already (mostly) nonsense when it was dreamed up in the romantic era and it's high time, I think, that after two hundred years we start thinking about putting it to rest once and for all.

Next time you're at a nice restaurant (or Starbucks) ask your server what their real passion is. Not starving or suffering, but many people still do take low paying work while trying to start a career in writing/acting/etc.

Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap

#22

Post by mtts » Sun, Mar 07, 2010, 4:34 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #13

mtts wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sentiment is understandable. The myth of the starving artist suffering for his art was already (mostly) nonsense when it was dreamed up in the romantic era and it's high time, I think, that after two hundred years we start thinking about putting it to rest once and for all.

I'm not sure how much suffering was done, but as far as artists maintaining cheap living arrangements so they can focus on their art without having to earn much income, that's not exactly a myth. From French Impressionist painters living in garrets, to 80s punk rockers living in cheap lofts, it's a pretty common way of self-funding art production...

Yeah, but note I said it was a myth dreamed up in the romantic era, which would be around 1800 or so. People have been making art since way, way before that, and some of it is really quite good, despite the creators thinking of themselves primarily as craftsmen rather than as purveyors of a higher cause for which one should be suffering.

Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap

#23

Post by starkfist » Sun, Mar 07, 2010, 4:45 PM UTC

This can backfire. A good friend from high school went this route and he's still never published anything. He now has 15 years of no real job history. A bigger problem is that from an artistic viewpoint, his writing keeps getting worse. It's easy to just slide into solipsism when you're living so cheaply that you don't ever have to write anything other people would ever want to read.

Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap

#24

Post by CoreDumpling » Sun, Mar 07, 2010, 4:50 PM UTC

I'm curious how this might be applied to startups, as well as how it meshes with pg's advice to work in a startup "hub" like Silicon Valley, where the cost of living is anything but cheap. Is it really worthwhile to be subjected to the mind-numbing gold rush culture* at the expense of many months of "runway," simply because that's supposed to be motivating?

*OK, exaggeration guilty as charged, but you see my point.

Re: Advice for new writers: Live somewhere cheap

#25

Post by mturmon » Sun, Mar 07, 2010, 5:26 PM UTC

scorciapino wrote: post #9

Ah, the typical and noble starving artist, who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on its artwork.

That is quite literally how it works, although most emerging artists (who are serious about their career, and who have a real chance at regional or national prominence) would probably not describe what they're doing as "noble", more like "crazy", but in the understanding that that's also the only path that works for them.

The other option is to have rich parents. Sounds snarky, but it's true. In that case, you also get contacts and an understanding of the social class of most collectors.

(My wife got her MFA from UCLA and shows around LA.)