bogleech:
Responses on my post about this are all over the map, but it looks like most people who create art do so just out of a need to create art, even though they find the actual steps and process to be totally unfun or even annoying to do.
It appeared from notes to be a bit rarer that people draw or write out of loving the work process itself. Lets find out!
I think it’s necessary to separate the concept of “fun” from the concept of “loving something” or even “enjoying something.” I’m sure everyone has slightly different definitions of these terms but as I see it, in the Venn diagram illustrating them, “fun” might be a small circle contained wholly within the much, much larger circle of “enjoying something,” with “loving something” a separate circle overlapping with both other circles. Like so:
I have loved a lot of things in my time that are neither fun nor particularly enjoyable (e.g. going home to be with my parents after my dad’s knee surgery—it was meaningful & I felt so lucky to be able to do it, but it was also difficult and often painful). I’ve also had fun with a hell of a lot of things I didn’t love (e.g. trying out laser tag; taking a cooking class; going square dancing). And there are plenty of kinds of enjoyment that I wouldn’t describe as “fun” but that are still pleasurable (e.g. getting a massage, weeding the garden, watching a sad movie).
For me, the writing process is something that I always love, often but not always enjoy, and sometimes find fun. The final product is less important than the process, but I still enjoy it (usually), love it (always) and find it fun (sometimes).
On the poll as written:
“It’s difficult or unfun to do the work but the final creation is what matters”: Strongly disagree, but with nuance. I often find it difficult to do the work—in fact I intentionally set myself writing projects I know will be challenging, because being challenging makes them more interesting to me—but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “unfun.” Though there are undeniably parts of the process that ARE unfun, and I just have to slog through them to get to the enjoyable/fun parts again. That slog is partially worth doing to get to the final product, but more than that it’s worth doing because it’s just part of having an ongoing writing practice, which is a thing that I find life-giving.
“I do it because the process is fun, the final outcome isn’t important”: Also strongly disagree, but with nuance. The final outcome is less important than the practice, but I still value it. And again, I would say I do it because the process—which is sometimes fun and sometimes unfun—is overall very rewarding and nourishing.
“I love both the entire process and the result”: Agree, but with nuance. I do love both those things, but with a definition of love that includes many times when said things are difficult, boring, frustrating, baffling, etc. It’s like having a long-term relationship with a person. Any relationship that lasts long enough is going to have its rough patches and its high spots. So at least for me, “I love both A and B” is not a meaningful alternative to “A isn’t fun; B is important” and “A is fun; B isn’t important.”
Anyway sorry if this is annoyingly pedantic; I think it’s a rich & interesting topic!
