In her TED talk, Amy Tan expands very profoundly on the ability to create and on the means by which we do it. I found her comment on the “about” of the story very enlightening and something I identified with as a writer and artist. My mother, an English teacher and writer, used to tell me, “Show, don’t tell!” as instruction for writing, and that I needed to “explode the moments” that were merely descriptive. I feel that, in a more complex way, Tan was trying to communicate that authenticity and uncertainty are both required to create. She mentions becoming the story and taking on the beliefs about a certain situation in order to create a fictional reality based on it. If we, as creators, only look at the aspects of the story, the qualities or characteristics, there is only an observation to be made, not a creation. I gathered from this that making observations is, indeed, how we learn from others and from the things being observed. However, in order to create, we must let the story or piece of art be the reality of our idea and become the very thing we want it to represent.

I liked the expression that creative people are multi-dimensional. Artists, especially in the age we are in today, are required to be multifaceted and have a mindset that allows them to multitask in their work. “How do I make things happen?”, Tan asked. I think we, artists and writers and musicians, create by letting ourselves be created. Creators are shaped and formed by their real life experience and create real, tangible work from who they are and what they have seen. These things translate to a viewer, listener, or reader in a way that differs among every person, and that is where imagination in both the creator and the audience is necessary. In creating, the artist imagines a way to communicate a certain idea or concept they have, and the audience imagines their role in the world and how the piece of art affects them and causes them to question certain aspects of their life.

Still, Tan claims that there are no absolutes in creating. I personally, believe that the universe holds several absolute truths, but that they do not originate from man. Therefore, it is understandable for there to be uncertainty in what man creates because there is a constant questioning going on in the imaginative mind. Though we may be tortured and unable to repress our emotions, if we can find the balance and be compassionate when interacting with other people’s work, we will be able to identify with the creator, and create as a result.