William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize-winning American author and considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, once said,
The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one.
Wow. Do you think there’s any truth to that? I like the idea that a writer’s (or any artist for that matter) responsibility is to her art. But I find it hard to be “completely ruthless.” Or even a little bit ruthless. Ruthless isn’t a word I use very often. I prefer words like authenticity, courage, resilience, genuineness. So it’s hard to imagine what being completely ruthless would even look like. But since I want to be a “good one,” as in a good writer, I’m willing to explore this a little further.
Ruthless: adj. Having no compassion or pity; merciless.
I think we need to be ruthless with the resistance that comes from writing or any other creative endeavors.
We need to be ruthless with that part of us that loves to waste time and tells us that we need to check our email a dozen times a day and check in with friends on facebook several times a day, as well.
We need to be ruthless with the inner critic that says we aren’t good enough.
We need to have no compassion or pity for outward critics, either.
And we need to be ruthless with the part of ourselves that wants to quit because it’s too hard to be really good at something. It takes too much practice, too many hours. We will be merciless with the excuses.
Okay, I’m getting the hang of it now. Perhaps my fellow southerner knew what he was talking about. We need to be ruthless with anything (i.e. behaviors and attitudes) and anybody that stands in the way of us expressing ourselves and our art with authenticity, genuineness, courage and resilience.
What do you think? Should we listen to William Faulkner quotes that tell us to be ruthless? I’d love to hear from you.
P.S. I am an ex-shrink who writes novels. Check out my books here.
Of course I agree! My favorite artists are “ruthless” –Beethoven (completely ripped apart and reassembled the string quartet and piano sonata forms); Kundera (writes novels that break boundaries and cannot be categorized or even completely analyzed); Rembrandt (the very last word in psychological insight in portraiture, and never so “ruthless” as he was with himself as the subject); Fosse (gave dance a new level of realism and literalism).
Do you really think Michael Critchton was “ruthless” when he wrote Jurassic Park? Or was he counting his cash register receipts in his head? Is Steven Spielberg Ruthless? Not for about the last 20 years…
I’m not saying financial success and “ruthlessness” are incompatible. Indeed often a new trend, genre or craze will be started by someone being ruthless and then others racing to cash in with manques. But fifty, a hundred years from now, who will be read: the originator or the manques?
Leonard Bernstein had a similar quote. He said sometimes you have to *kill* to make music. And he did this–every time he stepped on the podium. He once fell off the stage conducting a rehearsal and broke his leg, but yelled at the orchestra to keep going as he lay there.
That’s pretty ruthless, God love him.
I forgot also about our athlete-artists. Lindsay Vonn bringing home two medals despite skiing in extreme pain. Shaun White with a spectacular, unprecedented finish in snowboarding even *after* he’d won the gold and didn’t need to do *anything.* Before he went nuts and became a cloistered anti-Semite, Bobby Fischer defending the honor of the chess world against the USSR. He once played a game while severely ill simply because he had always complained when his Russian opponents took days off for extra rest on account of what he called “dubious illnesses.” He lost that game–but won a moral victory.
I love it when you comment, John. You always have something interesting to say. Go forth and be ruthless! Uh, kind of….
I think to be ruthless as a writer means to not censor the character according to one’s personal morals. Or to not dilute a powerful word choice in a poem because the sentiment is incredibly risky. It also means to ignore the nag of external pressure, social or otherwise. And to be ruthless in the editing process: the most lovely of phrases might need to go because it just doesn’t belong there in that passage, no matter how beguiling.
Excellent thoughts, doni-marie. I love the not censoring the character and being ruthless in the editing process. I think you are exactly right. Thanks for commenting!
Here’s a comment from one of my wonderful email subscribers:
“Not sure I agree with you…to be ruthless with one’s own shortcomings implies a shortage of love and compasssion for one’s self….do we do better if we acknowledge, yes, but love ourselves even in our weaknesses….and I guess I feel that compassion opens our hearts to another which also opens the doors to creativity….just some thoughts!!!!”
Here’s another comment from the same blog post I repeated on Inked.com (a community of writers, artists and musicians.) This post has definitely engaged people, many of whom are offering their own take on ruthlessness. Always fascinating. Often enlightening.
Here’s one from R. at Inked-In:
“The word “completely” is perhaps redundant. Ruthless, like unique, takes no qualification. In the writing of fiction and history (often indistinguishable), ruthlessness seems appropriate. Journalism is another matter. Is it worth sullying reputations and destroying lives because it makes good copy? How much of the “truth” is relevant? A” tell all” memoir may be juicy and sell lots of books, but don’t we all have some dirty laundry? Is there any art in making ourselves feel bigger by making others look smaller?
Faulkner’s quote, taken out of context, might mean many things. I would like to think that he meant a writer should be ruthless in eliminating the irrelevant, untrue and artless words and ideas that have a way of turning up on the page.”
And another email from one of my wonderful subscribers:
“I like your spin on “ruthless” (a word I imagine derives from the compassionate Biblical Ruth). It seems a good antidote to the passive feminine our culture has fostered and foisted on us……………..J”