The Simple Reason Why The Best Stories Are Always Written
The ones that aren’t never got a chance to even exist
Any creative mind comes up with more stories than any human hand can write. In a sort of parallel reality live the many discarded, orphaned and abandoned stories that we never wrote. And yet the best ones are indeed out there to be read.
When I say stories I mean books and albums and exhibitions and manifestos and any form of creative output you can think of. Implemented ideas that we put out there.
As a kid, I always had a very active mind, with many characters living inside of me and going on the most magnificent adventures while I was physically sitting at class, walking home or even watching TV.
Later on, I began writing stories and writing songs. I soon realised that this wasn’t always possible or acceptable. With a shudder, I still remember the first time I had an idea for a story that I didn’t manage to live out in my mind… a story I had forgotten by the time I had a chance to write it down. This happened with songs too. The feeling of loss and despair is comparable to that of a broken relationship. Over the years, I’ve become obsessed with writing down ideas whenever and wherever they come to me.
Yet no matter how good we get at note taking or at discussing our ideas with those present, the vast majority of them will not see the light of day. This is normal. We simply can’t implement everything we ideate. It is part of the evidence that the human mind surpassed the human body a long time ago. Thus idea implementation becomes as critical as idea rejection. The moment we choose one idea over a dozen others is most important, because only the ideas we implement will become stories that can be told.
I used to think of that parallel world with all the unexecuted ideas. I used to wonder if songs as good as the best songs we know might have never been produced or released. It was a demon that tormented me for years. What if the best work isn’t even out there? This line of thinking can be entertaining for a while, but at some point it needs to stop: we have what we have to work with. The only use for this tormenting demon is for us to be as careful as possible with our idea implementation and to implement as many…