We have moved to a new site!
This site will remain open only so you can copy anything you need, such as critques. Do so quickly because the old Forward Motion boards will soon disappear.

Are you ready for the new site? You must create a new login, but the chat login will remain the same as here for now. Click here to join us at the new

Forward Motion for Writers

See you there!

---

Neil Gaiman gave quite the graduation speech.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/05/trust-me-im-doctor-honorary-of-fine.html

So what did you like?

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I loved the whole thing. Thanks for sharing!

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Glad to share.

His whole "make good art" doesn't look as good on the computer screen as it does with his very lovely accent.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Agreed .

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Thanks for sharing. I liked the part about how you only need two out of three qualities to keep a job. Very true!

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

Hmm I missed that part? I remember when he said he lied to get his jobs...

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I doubt you missed it. It was the part where he was talking about freelancing and how you need to have good work, to be on time, and to be pleasant to work with . . . but really just two of those are often enough. He went into pretty good detail about it, I thought, so I can't imagine you missing it.

That was one of my favorite parts, too!

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

ah yes, now I recall.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I liked "If you don't know it's impossible, it's easier to do."

Thanks for posting the link.

-- Erin

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

that's a good one!

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I LOVED this speech. It had so many good parts in it. All with a touch of humor to it.

"Cat explodes? Make good art..."

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

I've just (well a few hours ago) listened this. I shall hope to listen to it again tomorrow.

I wonder how many have listened to this more than once.

But that first listen, even though there were other things I noted, and I have to go back to remember most of them, left me wondering what he meant by 'good art'. I previously had come to the conclusion that art was subjective, so that good art could mean many things to many people.

Does anyone set out to deliberately make 'bad art'? Does he perhaps mean do the best you can; or perhaps never stop learning and trying to improve, which he said was a technique he used? (It's amazing how much I'm recalling as I write this.)

One more comment is that he is a good speaker and he doesn't seem to waste many words.

Weird Jim

"Good reading is the only test of good writing"
Robertson Davies. A voice from the attic 1960

Bad art --

* This is selling well right now, so I'll just knock one out this month.
* My fans will pay for anything I do, so I don't have to work at this any more.
* I'm afraid if I try anything new, it won't be well received, so I'll just do more of the same.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~

To me, bad art would be art you just don't care about, whatever the reason. Erin's list covered a lot of them, but there's also:

I'm not good at art anyway, so I'm not going to try this great idea I have because I'll screw it up.

Or

I don't want to work at this because I'm lazy; no one will notice anyway.

I think a lot of "bad art" comes from fear, and letting that fear take you away from what you want to do. Choosing the easy path, not the difficult, interesting one.

And while I agree that no one sets out to "make bad art", a lot of people settle for making bad art.

~~~~~~Signature's Off~~~~~~