Creative DNA: Are you a writer or an editor?

According to choreographer Twyla Tharp, we all have “creative DNA.”

I believe that we all have strands of creative code hard-wired into our imaginations. These strands are as solidly imprinted in us as the genetic code that determines our height and eye color, except they govern our creative impulses. They determine the forms we work in, the stories we tell, and how we tell them. I’m not Watson and Crick; I can’t prove this. But perhaps you also suspect it when you try to understand why you’re a photographer, not a writer, or why you always insert a happy ending into your story, or why all your canvases gather the most interesting material at the edges, not the center. [The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life]

Tharp goes on to say that photographer Ansel Adams seemed to view the world from a distance. “He found solace in lugging his heavy camera on long treks into the wilderness or to a mountaintop so he could have the widest view of land and sky.”

On the other hand, she cites Raymond Chandler as a novelist who viewed the world from close up. “He works in extreme close-up, a succession of tight shots that practically put us inside the characters’ skulls. …his eye for descriptive detail was razor-sharp.”

Adam’s wide-open, distant view and Chandler’s up-close scrutiny of the details were part of each artist’s creative DNA.

I thought about this idea when I read an article by Daphne Gray-Grant, in which she talks about two types of writers:

1. Those who have to force themselves to write their first draft, but come to life when it’s time to rewrite and edit their work.
2. Those who can get lost in the writing, but can’t stand rewriting and editing their work.

My hypothesis is that, rather than a clear distinction between these two types, it’s likely that most writers would find themselves somewhere on a  continuum between these two extremes.

But either way, I thought that this characteristic is probably part of one’s creative DNA; it’s a hard-wired preference for one or the other aspect of writing. For me, rewriting, revising, and editing is always easier than getting the first draft down. When I’m just trying to get something down on the page, I constantly have to fight the impulse to revise what I’ve just written. I want to edit as I go, despite the fact that it slows me down.

You don’t fight with your DNA. It would be foolish to berate yourself over the fact that you can’t force your hair to come out of your scalp a different color, or straighter, or curlier.

You can’t overcome your creative DNA, either. Whichever type of writer you happen to be, there’s no point in beating yourself up because you find either writing or editing to be a thing of dread. Take advantage of and revel in what you’re good at, what you enjoy; learn to work through the things that are harder for you, using trickery if necessary. Gray-Grant’s article offers some strategies to help both types of writers discipline themselves to get the work done.

And as Tharp recommends, take some time to examine your creative DNA.

If you understand the strands of your creative DNA, you begin to see how they mutate into common threads in your work. You begin to see the “story” that you’re trying to tell; why you do the things you do (both positive and self-destructive); where you are strong and where you are weak (which prevents a lot of false starts), and how you see the world and function in it.

What about you? Are you more comfortable with writing, or editing? And what are some other ways we can describe our creative DNA? Let me know in the comments section.

Comments

[Lars Walker]

On the continuum, I'd say. I hate both parts of the process, and love them.

[Daphne Gray-Grant]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for posting a link to my column on your site. Just want to say that I agree most people probably fall on a continuum between the two extremes. In my experience, I think this is because many people who write/edit are highly motivated and have trained themselves to do what they naturally dislike.

For example, I hate writing (and love editing) but most people wouldn't know that because I'm very productive in my writing. This is the product of determination and some hard training. Similarly, I've seen people who hate editing (this is a smaller camp of people) who've managed to overcome their natural reluctance and learned to do it well.

Of course, this isn't scientific at all -- just an observation... Best, -daphne

[Sharon Leah]

I found your Web site a couple of weeks ago when I needed some information about word usage. I'll be back often.

Regarding your post about being more the writer or the editor, I think my creative DNA entices me to write and the perfectionist in me wants to edit as the words hit the page. I'm like you in that regard. I tend to see the big picture and then I include the details that are necessary to create the full picture. Ansel Adams's work was that way as well. While he took the long view, he worked to preserve the details within both the highlights and shadows in his photography.

[Roy Jacobsen]

Lars,
Am I presuming too much if I say it sounds like there are some things you love and hate about each? If that is accurate, what are the aspects of writing, and of editing, that you love and hate?

Daphne,
Thanks for stopping by, and for offering your insights. I wonder how much of someone's dislike for either writing or editing can be traced to our creative DNA, and how much of it is due to bad habits or misconceptions about either process? A bit of each, perhaps?

Sharon,
I agree that Adam's pictures had amazingly sharp details; however, the broadness of his field of vision still constrains the amount of detail he could convey. For example, you'd never know from his iconic picture of Half Dome in Yosemite that there's a 1971 Eisenhower dollar coin at the base of one of the pines at the right of the picture. Chandler, on the other hand, would tell you that the reeded edge of the coin was worn.

OK, I have no idea if there's a dollar coin at the base of that tree, but you get the point: the breadth of your vision necessarily constrains the level of detail you can add. That is neither good or bad; it just is.

[sefcug]

Personally, I enjoy both writing and editing, though with editing two computer user group newsletters each month there is not much time for writing.

Hopefully, in the next couple of years I will be able to retire and be able to devote more time to writing.