The quality of what we are not
Advice for young writers
I admit that sometimes I come up with rather silly examples. Why does it come back with some regularity? I think because I feel that they do have a use and that they should be useful to more than one person.
This is the case of the one that has occurred to me now. It comes from the world of music and points, like many of my essays, towards the world of lyrics. It all comes from one of my favorite musical groups: Pink Floyd. To begin this example from which I want to draw a lesson, one must know something quite logical: one thing is the ability and inventiveness of musicians and another is the instruments they use to execute their faculties. Let us begin with this consideration. Pink Floyd would not have been what it is if David Gilmour had not chosen the guitar that sounded as he wanted it to sound, the same with Nick Mason's drums, or Richard Wright's keyboards. The light show would not have been the same if Roger Waters had not chosen it.
All of this is pretty obvious, and what I want to point out is that without those choices they made their ability, their inventiveness, their songs and their incredible shows would not have made them as great as they did.
A much-needed parenthesis is in order here. Of course, the success they achieved was not due to the best materials…
