‘Creation> Consumption’ is bad advice.

/A Thread\\

It’s better to create than consume.

This is true as far as it goes.

But as a piece of advice this completely lacks nuance and probably does the would-be artist or writer more harm than good.

Because in the beginning consumption is *vital*

I’ll explain...

All art is about the realisation of a worldview or way of seeing via the development of an aesthetic.

But where does an aesthetic come from?

Well, it comes from a mixture of an innate spark filtered through *influences*.

How do you discover influence?

CONSUMPTION.

See in the beginning you have to be voracious. You have to take in everything.

Consuming art and books and films and poetry is the building blocks of your burdening aesthetic.

What resonates must be studied.

You take the wildly different things you like & try &combine them.

Yet today I see people not even passing this first hurdle

People aren’t cultivating an aesthetic

People don’t have tastes that are their own

The curiosity seems to have been leeched out of people

As a pre-internet kid who hunted for records& late night movies I find this odd

I blame algorithms

‘People who like that also like this’ leads you down predetermined paths

Your taste is 1 dimensional as a result

You like one genre obsessively but ignore everything else as a result

Their is no juxtaposition, contradiction, cross-pollination

This is bad

You’ll notice that people who say ‘creation> consumption’ often cite Netflix as an example of bad consumption.

Rightly so

Some stuff on there is good

But its passive

You do not obsessively watch the entire works of one director on Netflix

You watch what you are given

Creation begins with mindful consumption.

With exploration.

This is why I bang on about analogue media all the time.

Because it has that discovery mechanism built in.

Streaming services lead you down a path.

But in this life you must follow your own path in all things.

Style is vitally important in writing. You want to create yr own world for people to explore

But your vision can only come from standing on shoulders of giants

All artists steal

But youll never take off with the jewels if every other thief is eyeing the same diamond

Savvy?

If you agree with this thread, let me know.

If you think I’m talking nonsense, let me know.

If you want more threads on writing, style and the process of art follow @thomasjbevan1

Cheers.