Burroughs on Writing: If Society Hates You, You May Be On to Something

An interviewer had once asked French author Jean Genet when did he begin writing. His answer: At birth.

There is no such concept as "should" with regard to art... one very important aspect of art is that it makes people aware of what they know and don't know that they know... this applies to all creative thinking... once the breakthrough is made [in art, such as Cezanne's paintings or Joyce's stream of consciousness writing] there is a permanent expansion of awareness. But...there's always a reaction of a rage, of outrage, at the first breakthrough...  the artist expands awareness, once the breakthrough is made, this becomes part of the general awareness. [It's not just about seeing things in a new way, it's about...] seeing things that are already there.

Writers are very poor judges of their own work.*

* All quotes from the video.

What other endeavor in the world allows one to make such good use of their dustbin of experience as the artist and writer? And as far as experience goes, the worse the experience the richer the material, and, quite often for the author, the sharper the material. (I may be repeating myself here from other posts but this is something I believe in religiously.) I have friends who sit on great stories for fear that they will expose themselves or the people in their lives they're writing about. Art, it can be said, requires some courage. Exposure and the burning of (some) bridges is part of the game. Otherwise, why not choose to be an acountant?

In his interview below, Burroughs describes writers/artists as collectors of experience and the act of writing itself as a process of curation. He suggests writing down dreams if you can. He finds them to be a great source of material. He also says, rather chillingly, something that aspiring writers had better get used to: "Publication is, I think, very important to the writer." Without publishing, he says, he would've likely given up writing altogether. (I suspect he would've come back to it. ) As a trust fund kid, he also had the great luxury of never having to devote his time to supporting himself. His travels also featured famously in his books.

The interviewer and Burroughs spend time bouncing from a number of topics beyond writing so you may want to skip through some spots. (The discussion on his views of death and the afterlife are interesting.)



Go. Create. Be brave.