Travelers on the way to Athens had to submit to being placed on Procrustes’ bed. If too short, you were stretched out. If too long, you got hacked down to size. Otherwise no Athens.
That’s how cultures cut citizens to fit their ideals. The fortunate fit naturally, but most people suffer.
Our culture loves the outgoing, self-confident man, the quarterback or colonel. Most artists don’t match—they’re too emotional, too dreamy, too flamboyant, too this or too that. Artists are different, and this society does not love differences.
There’s the choice: Conform and succeed, or be guided by your inner compass, and...?
Tough choice.
Some writers try to escape it by putting on one face in public, another in private. When we walk that road, we live lives of pretense and self-betrayal. We constantly deny our own truths to others. If we play this game, our lives are a lie and a self-betrayal.
For any writer, including those of us who write fantasy, the dilemma is painful. You can be a hack, punching out words in hope of dollars and fame. Or you can shape your stories to your own sense of what is beautiful, and thus expose your real self to the world.
That takes courage. I salute every artist who does it.
--Caleb Fox
5 Comments