We must struggle
It is the only way to become writers and creators
Brandon Sanderson recently spoke against AI and one of his main points was that AI focuses too much on the end result, the product.
He said the end result is like a receipt—a certificate of achievement essentially—but that the result isn’t the point of doing the creative work.
The point is the journey that the creator goes on.
The point is what the creator becomes because of making the creation.
I don’t think most writers or creatives know that that’s the point of what they were doing, but I think it’s time we realize that.
I didn’t. I was focused on creating the product. I wanted that end goal. I wanted to hold my own creation in my hands.
But what I became after going through the process of creation multiple times is so much more valuable than the creations themselves.
I didn’t think about that when I was creating them though. I only thought about finishing my books.
But now the end result (or at least 80%-good-enough) is extremely easy to make. You can generate a story, or a song, or a video in just minutes.
But it’s not about the end result.
It’s about the journey.
The struggle.
It’s about what you become as you’re creating.
If we give up that struggle, we’ve lost something. We’ve given up an adventure, and we’ve given up our own growth. We could have become an incredible writer, musician, architect, movie maker, storyteller, etc etc.
Like Terence Tao explains about journeys, taking a helicopter to the finished product—your book—will be an empty victory.
We can’t just take the easy way out and prompt our way to a finished product. We must struggle, strive, learn, fail, stumble, have setbacks, get back up, and keep going and going. That is the only way.
No matter what tools exist to create the finished product, we must hold ourselves to a harder journey.
I know it’s hard.
I know it’s not fun most of the time.
I know there’s an easy way out now.
But don’t you dare take it.
You are destined for greater things.
And there’s only one way to achieve them.
You must wade through the struggle.
Even if you watch other people make money with their easy finished products. Even if they seem like they are advancing faster than you. Even if you resent me for sending you down the harder path.
You must trudge through the struggle.
I’m here with you. I’m trudging, wading. I’m in the struggle. I’m trying to become the great storyteller that I know I can become.
Take my hand and we’ll trudge together.