Be specific in art

“Sentimental art…attempts to force preexistent emotions upon us. Instead of creating characters and events which will elicit special feelings unique to the text, sentimental art merely gestures toward stock characters and events whose accompanying emotions come on tap. Bad poetry is almost always bad because it attempts to claim for itself the real power of whatever it describes in ten lines: a sky full of stars, first love, or Niagara Falls. An honest work generates its own power; a dishonest work tries to rob power from the cataracts of the given.”
–Annie Dillard, in Living by Fiction

The late speaker Zig Ziglar often encouraged people to stop being what he called a “wandering generality,” and instead, become a “meaningful specific.” This is what Dillard touches on here. The more specific we can be, the more our art supports its own weight. 

With the chance of virality at our fingertips, it’s tempting to keep things relatable, general, and on-trend. This is fine if marketing is your end. It’s not fine if art is your end. The more relatable you try to be, the more you borrow from trends, the less original your art is. It relies on watered down ideas. 

To create new emotions and more profound feelings in your art, be specific.