THE JOY OF STEALING

I just woke up from a dream about an artist friend of mine. I was listening to him – being wowed by his metaphors and woke up and realizied they were actually mine. But what do they mean?

If you’re any kind of artist, you can’t help but be a bit of a thief. Music, painting, writing… It doesn’t matter; you can’t be good unless you shoplift your surroundings. You immortalize the way someone laughs when they are self-conscious; abduct their drawl, swipe a moment of time that belongs to someone else. Take a third-party narrative and make it a first-person memoir. It’s almost an obsession, and often times I find myself more fixated on actually sewing adjectives and phrases together in my head about a person or event, then really being in the moment.
I’ve gotten into trouble for this.
I have a story coming out this month that I wrote based on an incident my friend told me about a misplaced condom and a broken beer bottle. The character isn’t her (neither are some of the events), but it was her tidbit that inspired the whole piece. It was a fraction of her life that gave birth to my tale.
When she read the story, she immediately said, “This isn’t me. I never said that. I never did that. I’m not THAT promiscuous.” That is what “based on” means… Ultimately, she was okay with it and liked the story, but it is still theft. Except it’s like stealing the buttons off of a blouse instead of the whole shirt.
Right now I am grappling with a fantastic story a friend told me – of course, the vignette can not make up a whole story by itself (they almost never do) – it would serve for some kind of base or jumping off point. Damn, it’s a good one…. I’ve scribbled it down in my journal and we will see. It’s there with my latest entries: What my friend’s mom called Maxi Pads…. What a friend ate for breakfast every morning growing up in Latin America… Contradictions about a boy… and this new ditty.

The two greatest qualities any artist has are observation and interpretation. Being cognizant of your surroundings – watchful – and then giving your own translation. This doesn’t necessarily mean one will be successful at their attempt, but it’s the root for any great project. You might get lucky flying blind once in awhile, but dumb luck only gets you so far. Hence the phrase, “One Hit Wonder…” Not to say anyone who has more than one hit is a true artist --- that’s a whole ‘nother topic – mostly a reflection on our society.

And once again, sliding off of this moral platform… best stopping theorizing about it, and actually do it (or attempt it).
Off to work on my play rewrites and novel… and shake off this newest afternoon dream.