Great points.
Ultimately I had goals for the comic and I couldn't meet them so I ended the project because it was fundamentally out of my ability.
I would never judge another artist in regards to their goals and priority so I would never feel comfortable callin another person's work a failure. For myself however, I would need to be honest if I had any hopes for a change.
This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.
I agree with that wholeheartedly. To say it was just a 'learning experience' kind of undercuts all the effort you put into it. I mean, a sketch study is a 'learning experience'. When something I poured months or years of my life into doesn't work out, that's a failure. And that's okay.
I think its time for a poem!
"Defeat" by Kahlil Gibrand
Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;
You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,
And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.
Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,
Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot
And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness
And the joy of being shunned and scorned.
Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,
In your eyes I have read
That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,
And to be understood is to be leveled down,
And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness
And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.
Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,
You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,
And urging of seas,
And of mountains that burn in the night,
And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.
Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,
You and I shall laugh together with the storm,
And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,
And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
And we shall be dangerous.
I generally agree that failure and set backs are just part of life and an important part of success. I don't really think of any of my past creative efforts as failures, though. My goals tend to be very personal, though, so I suppose nothing has happened with said projects that I could perceive as a failure? My first comic only ever gained 30 subs, which compared to my current comic is pitiful, but I was never aiming for a certain number, so I just thought "cool! 30 subs!"
I honestly would rather think of them as learning experiences/part of my journey. XD
That said I think we see artists use hyper negative speech about themselves and their art quite often, and that can be a problem when it is coming from a place of insecurity, anxiety and/or depression. There are a lot of people who would refer to their art or a project as a "failure" and it would be a reason for concern. But that's very.. case by case basis? And even then, a pep talk isn't always the best way to handle that. Certainly in your example you're talking about feeling good about your current project, so the other person focusing on a past project you're over seems inappropriate, though I imagine they meant well.
I think what to deem as a failure largely depends on what your expectations of a project but also of yourself are.
I myself have one project I'd deem a failure. That is because I stopped after finishing only half of it and I do expect of myself to finish what I start (and with start I mean not just some notes or even a plot but truly starting to write and having finished at least some part of it). Since I didn't manage to do that, the project is a failure to me. I certainly learned lots of things from this project but I still didn't manage to achieve my goal.
The nice thing about failures is that as long as they didn't cost a life, you can often rectify them. I thought about my 'failure' for a long time and considered whether to pick it up again and finally decided I'd do it after asking for some opinions here on the forum because it did bug me. Guess I'm just not someone who accepts failures easily ...
Well pointed.
I feel like I actually recieved more subs than I expected. Unfortunately the subcount wasnt one my goals.
I try to distinguish my goals as a creator and creation. My main goal as an artist is to grow and learn but my project goals aren't so liberal. As an artist I am finding success but I can't really say that without aknowledging the first project will always be a failure (unless I someday decide to just re-do it)
This is something magnificent. I will have to discover Kahlil Gibrand. Thank you so much.
Many people in this world chant their defeats, chant the moments they fell under foreign dominion, chant their suffering.
Failure and defeat is a proof that we fought until the very last moment. I'd rather fight and fail, than sit around and be engulfed by the mediocrity of my insecurity and laziness.
In my life, I always fail.
For me, everything that doesn't go as planned in a more negative context is a failure. No matter how actually I love it or how does it means for me, failure is failure. I'm quick to call things as failure, it's much better than sense of false security which deceives you.
For example, I expect to answer questions in a conference correctly and fluently. No matter how much I'm being correct, if I'm not fluent or trailing off when answering, I can't call it a success. I will over time understand the situation, learn, and evaluate it, but calling it a success? Absolutely no.
The thing is I don't plan much, so I got less base if it's a failure or not.
My current works and attempts are failure.
Out of 3000 something people who read it, only 107 people who find it interesting, and only less than 10 who actually read it (only 6--7 likes); my expectation is to have sub as much as 10% from view, and the active ones are at least 25%. You cannot call such a work as "good" and "interesting" because the 2083 people are disgusted from the first view, and it's not well-received or performs par compared to similar story with similar starting stat. It's probably one of the biggest failure I have, it makes me think twice from calling myself an author.
However, I'm dedicated to this failure and ended up attached to it; even if the thing fails miserably, I'm still continuing and put my effort to it. I will fight to make this failure better.
I'm tired of people saying "failure is a postponed success," because I feel like failing everytime and everything I do and my success is postponed 100 years in the future. I'm tired of fighting something I would never win, I'm tired of being something I would never be the best at. I fail because of my inferiority and lack of chances, nobody have a point to postpone or cancel it like a plane ticket.
I don't need a journey, I need teleportation; journey is not an objective, the destination is. While what we got in the journey is valuable, but what's the point if we keep wandering out lost in the wilderness.
People don't care about how the defeated fights, they only care about the winners, they only acknowledge losers until they become absolute best at something. We live in a materialistic worlds where you are valued by how you contribute and how you are valued, not the value inside yourself. Nobody wants to pay for effort, we strive for practicality and goal. I just can't help it.
Someone smarter than me said something like, if you don't fail often, you're not trying hard enough and are playing it too safe. So he/she sees failure as a good thing.
I think blind positivity is a form of censorship/denial. We don't want to aknowledge the ugly side of growth because many times it's not a smooth clean journey. Ironically my new project stresses this point because I think many people can relate to this.
Without a real transformation, most things don't heal us, they only enable our existing hunger with a different appetite.
What do you mean with blind positivity?
Of course I'm still acknowledging growth, but when I fail it's still a bold faced failure. No matter how much growth I have, if something doesn't go up far to the target, it's still a failure. We can have a positive or negative view of it, but the fact it is a failure doesn't change.
For me failure is a yes or no question.
ah the old light bulb invention. That was not succeeding it was being suborn until he found the answer. Failing is something i know well but if you give it a second thought you can make yourself very depressed. learn from it and move on end of story.
@mariusthered In defense of the themes merit, the ultimate goal of a tangible lightbulb did come through fruition. If that was the core goal its hard to contest the success of the idea despite the method. (Strictly talking about the lore which it is referenced from. Historical accuracy deserves its own topic.)
Sorry for a bit of offtop...
I'm not sure... but I've just thought that all (or, at least, some) of this may be connected with those fact, that you were featured several months ago.
I've noticed that the activity and behaviour of readers depends on the way, in which they have come to read your work. I myself wasn't on the main page, so I can't tell much, how the readers, who have come from it, behave. But I have a suspicion, that they may be less involved in general, that the readers, who have find your work by themselves.
I suppose that the readers, who just came to the main page and click on random featured novel, may be less interested or have wrong expectations, when they start to read it. While those people, who have started to read it consciously, already knowing that it met some of their criteria, may feel more involved from the beginning. For example, if they have read its description or recommendation about it somewhere else, or have found it by some search, which they performed themselves - they already know something about your work and I suppose that they will drop it with lower probability.
Also people, who find novels more actively, probably are more interested in reading in general. So maybe, they stop visiting site and turn into dead subs with lower probability, than people, who just randomly click on things from the main page.
There are just my clues. I can't be sure about them. Maybe more experienced authors can say, if I'm right or wrong, with more confidence.