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Analysis of the Creative Process
from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee
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Life Will Get You in the End:
Short Stories by David Satterlee |
A retired engineer comes to terms with typing his literary criticism papers himself. A creative student of literary analysis takes a break from writing yet another lame-ass paper to throw a private hissy-fit.
Analysis of the Creative Process
I had a
pen.
I learned my subject thoroughly
across many years. I knew it well and could recite details and essential
relationships at will; and often did so at salons with my peers. I ordered my
thoughts and wrote cleanly, revising my first draft at least once.
My
assistant had a typewriter.
I was knowledgeable in my field.
After my first draft, she typed it up double spaced. I marked it up, inserting,
deleting, drawing arrows, and making notes in the margin. She continued
retyping drafts until I was satisfied with the result.
I had a
word processor.
I knew my subject well enough. I
launched in, doing additional research as I went. I inserted, deleted, and
moved anything anytime until it was “right.” Each “draft” morphed continuously
into the next. I nipped and tucked and, when it was done, I read it out loud to
catch the final dumb stuff.
I had a
turtle.
He was a strange and wonderful creature. I
took him apart to see how he was built. He was still strange but not so
wonderful. I glued him back together but I did not like him anymore.
I have
examined the great music.
Analysis shows that great music conforms to certain
forms and obeys certain rules. I wrote some music. I conformed to the forms and
obeyed the rules. It was not very good. I think that maybe the great composers
broke rules.