Artist Self and Reader Self

Whenever I pick up a book or sit down to watch a movie, my brain splits into two realms of consciousness. One is my artist self: the person who picks apart the story, analyzes how successful each piece is, and sometimes comes up with how to improve it. The other is my reader/audience self: the person who decides whether she enjoys the ride without having to explain why. Sometimes the reader self dominates (like when I’m watching a Marvel movie or reading Rick Riordan); sometimes my artist self needs to be told to calm down, but I believe both are vital to becoming an effective writer.

I’m sure you’re familiar with this journey:

When you’re young, you enjoy pretty much every book you read. There may be some books that you just can’t force yourself to finish, or characters you just roll your eyes at, but for the most part every book is an adventure; well written or not.

Then you hit high school and now every book has a theme you need to think about. A standard of literary excellence is set. You may still be willing to read anything outside of school, but in school you’re taught to discriminate between “good” writing and “bad” writing. (Good writing is what the classics are made of; bad writing is what your lazy classmates puke out to get a grade.)

Then you hit university, and you can no longer write a ten-page paper without putting considerable thought to the topic you’re writing about. Doesn’t matter if you’re not majoring in English; university teaches you that you must have an opinion, backed up with facts, and you must believe that you’re right otherwise people will see right through you. Plus you’re older now, more mature, and conversations with friends consist of more than just “OMG! Isn’t it amazing!”

All of a sudden… you can’t justify why you like your favorite books, or your favorite movies. You can’t even enjoy a new book or movie because the critic in the back of your mind is constantly working. Every conversation feels like an argument (totally not because of politics), and you spend the rest of the day trying to figure out if you won or not.

Basically, Anxiety and Envy have bottled up your Joy and thrown her to the back of your mind.

This is where it’s important to separate your artist self from your reader self.

What is a book coach?

Click here

to learn more.

Artist Self vs. Reader Self

What am I talking about when I say artist self and reader self?

Reader Self is the person you were when you were young. These are the times when you can enjoy what you are reading or watching. You’re not afraid of being disappointed or, worse, infuriated by the turn of the story. In other words, Reader Self allows you to relax and be entertained. Each of us will have different authors and movie companies that bring us this sense of relaxation.

On the other hand, your Artist Self gives you the chance to learn from the art you consume. It helps us analyze the story, determine what we like and dislike about the stories we consume, and gives us the opportunity to puzzle out solutions. Without our artist self, our art would not improve.

We need both selves to be a well-rounded writer. The Reader Self tells you what you love about a story; the Artist Self helps you find aspects of the story that could use improving. The goal is to find a balance, so that instead of forcibly shutting down a part of your brain, you can say either:

• I know there are problems with this story, but I’m enjoying this too much;
• Or, I can understand why people like this, but I need to find a solution to the problems I see.

Tips for Creating the Balance between Artist Self and Reader Self

Tip 1: Be on the lookout for critical thoughts

When new writers begin their journey, one common piece of advice is to be on the lookout for story ideas. Well, let’s be on the lookout for critical thoughts.

The process will start slowly. However you can, leave reminders to ask yourself:

• Am I being unnecessarily critical?
• If I take a step back and look at the whole picture, does the detail I’m obsessing over actually matter?
• If this is truly a artistic problem, how can I change it to become useful?

Check out

this article

from BetterHelp.com to learn more about becoming aware of critical thoughts.

Tip 2: Be aware of your emotions

One way to identify when your artist self is getting out of hand is to be aware of your mood.

Anger may mean that you actually enjoy the movie/novel you’re consuming, but there is “something” fundamental isn’t working. Believe it or not, stronger emotions mean that movie/novel you’re analyzing has significant strengths and significant deficiencies. Rarely do people argue over the merits of a story that is unsuccessful (like the Star Wars prequels), but your emotions will tell you when a story can be explored for learning.

Frustration could signal to you that you’re not yet ready to find the solution to the problem (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Perhaps you need to learn more about a certain element of craft, or you need to spend more time writing (hands-on learning).

Exhaustion will always mean that you have spent waaayy too much time critiquing. Your brain needs a rest. You can come back to this to solving this problem later, or you may just need to move on.

Would you like feedback on your manuscript?

Click here

to fill out an inquiry form or

click here

to learn about my coaching services.

Tip 3: Practice Perspective Taking

Often, arguments over the quality of stories center around tropes. Tropes is a buzz word for both readers and writers: it’s super annoying when you immediately spot the trope and can predict the rest of the story, but we all has patterns that speak to us. And here is the opportunity to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

The good news is: we’re writers. We create characters all the time, which means we take other people’s perspectives all the time—even if those perspectives aren’t as radically different from our own as we want them to be. So whenever you have the thought—How in the world can anyone like this?—it’s time to use your character creation skills and craft someone who would appreciate the trope you’re so frustrated way. Ask yourself:

• What life experiences might they have that draws them to this story trope?
• What hobbies or movie/book preferences would draw them to this story trope?
• What if they hate the tropes that I love? Why would they think this way?
• If I were to write this trope well, how would I do it?

On the flip side, it’s important to understand our own likes and dislikes. I believe that it’s difficult to step into someone else’s shoes when you haven’t explored your own shoes first. So ask yourself:

• Why do I like stories I like?
• What makes me really happy when reading or watchingHis
• When I pick up a book by my favorite author, what do they do so well that relaxes me?

Tip 4: Learn when to employ the Artist Self or Reader Self

What do you want out of a watching/reading experience? Do you want to relax or are you ready to learn?

Deliberately choosing

a mindset does a lot to help create the right balance.

This will take time, and to be honest, it’s a life-long adventure. Sometimes, you might err on the side of passively intaking stories; other times you will overanalyze the art you consume. But with practice, reading will no longer be a battleground between university-crafted criticism and pure enjoyment.