I attended a writing panel at Manhattanville College recently. Representing the publishing industry was Sara Weiss, an editorial assistant at Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. And there was Holly Bemiss, an agent with the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. The writer was Esther Cohen who had just released two new books: Don’t Mind Me and Other Jewish Lies, illustrated by Roz Chast (Hyperion); and God is a Tree and Other Middle Age Poems (Pleasure Boat Studio).
Esther had an abundance of bright red hair and wore a gypsy dress. She spoke forcefully and with enthusiasm. She managed admirably to be sensitive and direct at the same time.
It is her opening statement that I want to discuss. She said that writing was about a love of words. I squirmed in my seat. I have heard that before and it always makes me uncomfortable. Though I am by outward appearance a writer (I have a masters degree in creative writing and have written a number of produced screenplays, two novels and a non-fiction manuscript that is making the rounds) I am not all that fond of words. I find words recalcitrant in that they rarely behave for me and when I need them and go looking for them, they take great pleasure in hiding from me.
For me writing is not about the words. The words are secondary. It is the ideas behind the words that interest me. That’s why I write. I have ideas that I want to express, that I want to get out there and discuss. For example, this blog is about ideas, I think.
I see the issue as one of content versus style. Ideas are content. Words are style.
For a good long while, I thought content trumped style, that content was deeper, more essential. At least that was my theory last week and for the previous decade or so. Esther awakened something in me, something in me as the filmmaker I used to be when I didn’t have much ostensibly to say, but a deep love of the medium. I disparaged that nothing-to-say me for a long time. But, now, I feel I may be ready to love him again and make a film that I just plain ol’ feel like making and not worry about what I am saying.
What do you think? Is creativity about content or form? Is it about what you say or how you say it? I’d love to hear form you.
