Ira Glass of “This American Life” talks about the building blocks of a great story
“[One thing] nobody tells people who are beginners–and I really wish somebody had told this to me–is that, if you’re watching this video you’re somebody who wants to make videos, right? And all of us who do creative work…we get into it…because we have good tastes. Do you know what I mean?
…So you’ve got really good taste, and you get into this thing that–I don’t even really know how to describe, but it’s like there’s a gap–that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. Okay? It’s not that great… It’s trying to be good. It has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good.
But your taste–the thing that got you into the game–your taste is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you… A lot of people never get past that phase; a lot of people at that point–they quit.
…And the thing I would just say to you is that everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it–if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase or if you’re just starting off and entering into that phase–you’ve gotta know that’s totally normal, and the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work…because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you’re actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.
It takes a while. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while, and you just have to fight your way through that. You will be fierce. You will be a warrior. And you will make things that aren’t as good as you know in your heart you want them to be.”
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