Attributed to Firuz Mirza Nusrat al-Dawla:
Practice Calligraphy [Siah Mashkh] (c. 1850-1886)

"Writers create by means of surface imperfections."

Each profession and every practice holds certain principles and actions as necessary and sufficient. We, especially fellow practitioners, hold anyone claiming to practice a discipline responsible for exhibiting these skills. Innovation comes from flouting these rules, often at the cost of early adopters' reputations. Early in his career, the art establishment did not hold Matisse to be a very skilled painter. He flouted color Conventions, for instance. The earliest Impressionists couldn't paint straight, apparently incapable of reproducing with photographic integrity. The earliest abstractionists were considered crazy, mainly because the orthodoxy could not comprehend the artists' Conventions, which were still evolving. Eventually, Matisse came to exemplify an evolved set of Conventions, as did the impressionists and abstractionists, though their Conventions, too, were later flouted by upstart practitioners.

Paul Lynch, who won this year’s coveted Booker Prize, declared, “Well, there goes my hard-won anonymity,” as he accepted his prestigious prize. The novel, predictably described as a "breakthrough," was reported to feature several breaks from usual Conventions, including "a lack of paragraph breaks and quotation marks [which] helps to evoke a sense of claustrophobic dread." Had the work adhered to every novelist Convention, it probably would not have attracted the attention of the Booker committee. Had it strayed too far off the rails, it would have very likely failed to gain attention, either. It might well have been an accident that the book manifested in this way, an accident that future authors will doubtlessly scrutinize to try to determine where its magic lies so that they can incorporate it into their subsequent work. Professions thrive on border skirmishes.

The need to defy Conventions keeps every aspiring professional on edge. None of them can ever feel confident that they know how to practice whatever they do. Their work would suffer if they stayed conservative and balanced on the thin head of the established straight and narrow. Should they stray too far, their work would also suffer, and there's no way to determine where the boundary lies. Many don't so much flout Convention as attempt to ignore it. They say they're just being creative, but their strategy often lacks clear intent other than the desire to limit the volume of rules and expectations they expect themselves to remember. Matisse eventually became Matisse after he ceased trying to become someone else. None of any of his practice was prescribed beforehand, especially not his eventual acceptance as a master.

Any of us who practice wonder where our edge lies. We might never realize what's ours and what's emulation. In every generation, a fresh batch of songwriters come online dedicated to first becoming the worst emulation of whoever's presently popular, though their style's already taken. Nobody in my generation needed another Dylan or Donovan, not that this observation ever troubled my attention. I had to back into my practice via a long series of fortunate and near-fatal accidents. What became my convention remains informed by decades of studied emulation but also by some resignation. Some Conventions I finally decided were not mine, and I could never reasonably expect that I would recreate them in my work. Consequently, I ignore those bits and fake fitting in. You see, I still do not observe some of the most essential writing Conventions, but only because I decided I was incapable of satisfying those expectations.

What you see before you here primarily comprises white space, only lightly troubled by lettering. The lettering certainly disrupts the page's otherwise smooth-appearing surface. Writers create by means of surface imperfections. Much remains unsaid, and some of that proves essential to clearly communicate anything. Yesterday morning, I created a travelogue of sorts, a short story I felt embarrassed to post. It seemed materially lacking and was probably no more than a worst example of my hacking. Imagine my surprise when comments trended toward effusive. This often happens, where my judgment contradicts my readers'. I can almost determine which story will prove popular by the simple metric of which I will find least appealing. This situation produces a dilemma out of a Convention. I do not yet know how to resolve this contradiction.

©2023 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #GoodNuff, #PureSchmaltz