Ira Glass is host and producer of This American Life.
David Shiyang Liu recorded Ira talking about storytelling. In Part One of the interview, you can watch Ira in the recording studio. You can also read about parts two, three and four in the caption.
In Part Three Ira talks about the creative process. Watch Ira’s words unfold in a whimsical way.
Ira Glass, the art of storytelling (typed with minor modifications):
Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me, is that all of us who do creative work . . . we get into it, and we get into it because we have good taste, but it’s like there’s a gap.
For the first couple of years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good; it’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you.
A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit.
The thing I would like to say to you, with all my heart, is that most everybody I know who does interesting, creative work . . . they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste. They could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it felt short. It didn’t have this special thing that they wanted it to have.
Everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you are going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase . . . it’s totally normal.
The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work.
Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. It’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. The work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.
In my case, I took longer to figure out how to do this than anybody I’ve ever met.
It takes awhile, it’s going to take you awhile, it’s normal to take awhile.
You just have to fight your way through that.
Thank you, Janet Ciel, for originally calling this to my attention.
