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Originally written on 09/12/2015.

I still think about this topic from time to time.

My opinion on the topic has shifted. One thing I would add is that there is a concept of a muse, a person who is fueling you creatively. People can channel these sorts of emotions positively, and I think Rand wasn't aware, or she was aware and held them in contempt anyway. On the whole, I think it is more productive to let people be motivated by whatever they want.

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Like a lot of people, I formed most of my general philosophy during high school. My government teacher played an influential part back then, mostly because how immensely I enjoyed him as an instructor and a person. His philosophy, one that he proudly wore, was based on Ayn Rand's objectivism. And even though I was skeptical about how much 'truth' I would find in it, I read The Fountainhead.

The Fountainhead didn't blow my mind like it did my government teacher, but I liked it and I could see some truth in the things she wrote. I took what I wanted from her philosophy and moved on, always remembering the contribution in made to my perspective. I've kept that copy of The Fountainhead on my shelf ever since.

A few months ago I was looking for something to read and I decided to look at it again.

One of the themes of her philosophy is doing work for yourself and your own enjoyment alone. It's a hard one to disagree with. On Rand's spectrum, either you're working for praise from others or working for yourself and your own fulfillment. Early on in the book, she personifies these characteristics in Roark (works for fulfillment) and Francon (works for praise).

There's a scene where Francon is absorbed by a newspaper article that has high praise for one of his buildings. Rand emphasizes how the article made him feel better than anything else about his work and she's obviously trying to say If you work only for other people's approval, you're pathetic.

The scene bothered me; I could see some of myself in Francon, but not so much that I thought I was terrible. Receiving praise is nice and I know I have a tendency to focus on the good things people say about me, but even still I wasn't convinced that's an incorrect thing to look forward to when you create something.

I was annoyed to find a quality in myself in Rand's version of a failure, but I couldn't just it disregard entirely because of how right it was. Creating things simply for the purpose of mainstream popularity is not the correct motivation, and I know this. But when I strive to create things, I'm creating things I would enjoy, but also things other people would like. I'm not Roark, who has a line that is roughly "I design buildings because I want to. If someone wants to appreciate them along with me, that's fine."

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Some people create things with success and popularity in mind. They think, "Will the public like this?" Sometimes I find myself thinking this and it bothers me. I should create what I enjoy and that should be enough for me, but I can't help but seek out some validation from the people I show it to.

Zach has always been a big supporter of my writings and sometimes I find myself thinking, "I wonder if Zack would like it if I wrote it like this?" and then immediately try to suppress that thought because write for one person's approval.
Really, I should be writing for my own approval.
A lot of the time I think, "If I could somehow expose my work to myself, would I like it?" I wonder if I read one of my stories as an independent story if I would enjoy it.
Ayn Rand preaches that people who get satisifaction from other people's opinions are pathetic and lame and I can understand that point of view, but it isn't 100%.

A lot of people create things hoping for validation, and for some people it's a question of "How do I know my work is good unless other people tell me so?"

And many creators have this thought in their head, but it's rather shallow, isn't it?

When I think about creating a game, I think "I hope someone out there who is like me plays this and becomes inspired the same way Braid inspired me." I want to invoke in people's minds awe and inspiration and connect with them in a way separate and distinct from plain old human interaction.

And probably some people would say, "This has always been the purpose of art", except not every artist thinks this when they draw, paint, or write.

There's a shallow perspective that some creators have which is, "I hope someone likes this", but wise, true artists think, "I hope this responds to people deep in their hearts".