Do you rely on inspiration or discipline to make work?

Originally asked

The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series

A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded László Krasznahorkai said elsewhere, not written here
The bitterness. I am very sad if I think of the status of the world now. This is my deepest inspiration. This could be also an inspiration for the next generation or generations in literature. Inspiration to give something for the next generation, somehow to survive this time because these are very, very dark times and we need much more power in us to survive this time than before.

Nobel Prize telephone interview with Jenny Rydén, published by Nobel Prize Outreach, The Nobel Prize, 9 October 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Margaret Atwood Novelist, poet and critic
As for motivation, I'd say it's a combo of 50s Puritan work ethic and finish-it-itis -- I hate not finishing things.
Recorded r/books AMA, Reddit, 2014 source ↗
Peyton Manning American football quarterback
You’re talking about going back to as a freshman in high school. Every day from August until — the season is growing in pro ball — but August to December. Practice is at this time. It’s 4:00 to 6:00 in high school, it’s 2:00 to 4:00 in college, and it’s 1:00 to 3:00 in pro ball, but that is your routine.
Recorded American Academy of Achievement interview, 22 June 2007 source ↗
Geoffrey Rush Australian actor
In the series I’ve got massive slabs of dialogue so I had to understand the scientific principles involved and then fake it to credibility.
Recorded Patricia Edmonds, National Geographic, 3 February 2017 source ↗
Pete Rozelle Commissioner of the National Football League, 1960–1989
Yes, it’s very important. Whether you’re conducting a league meeting, you want to study up on all the issues and the potential pluses and minuses, and be prepared for anything that might come up. Your dealings with Congress, congressional hearings and so forth, litigation, press conferences. My staff would brief me, of course, prior to the big press conference I have every year at the Super Bowl. And the preparation is always a big factor.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗

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