“My wife said something wise a long time ago and I think it best explains your question. All art is organizing one’s personal chaos. In that I think she meant that the artist takes his life and moves the pieces around in such a way that makes things rational, livable, and insightful. For example I like Vienna (where I live), bullterrier dogs, good coffee, fountain pens, etcetera. Let’s call them ABCD. As a writer I “organize my chaos” by moving those letters around and arranging them in such a way that not only do they make greater sense when I’m done, but are hopefully entertaining to others as well. As Neil Gaiman says in his essay about the subject, you get idea from everywhere in your life, but it is not the ideas so much as the organizing of them that makes the work evolve.
