The Power Of Intent

I have almost finished reading Bruce Springsteen’s amazingly honest and literate biography ‘Born To Run’.
It’s one thing to enjoy reading a book. But the real bonus is when you end up with the feeling that you genuinely got something very positive and inspirational out of it.
Anyone who grew up a Springsteen fan and reads this book will discover that his life as a songwriter and rock and roll performer was about way more than just getting up in front of thousands and making your guitar sing.
Bruce Springsteen’s body of work was always well thought out and it was always his intention to reflect the times he was living in and the things people were going through.

The Big Man

Towards the end of the story, he writes a lot about his sax player and soul brother Clarence Clemons who passed away before his time.
And it was here that I came across a bit of wisdom that I really feel is worth sharing.
It is a description that the great jazz musician Branford Marsalis used to describe Clarence Clemons. He said that Clarence simply possessed “the power of musical intent.”

The Power Of Musical Intent

This is a very interesting collection of words because it not only describes a great musician whose impact on the world of rock was substantial, but it also defines a goal that all of us should be striving for in our creative work.
Of course, this will mean different things to different people because it is a rather open ended statement when it’s not being applied to someone specifically.
Which is great because it means you can interpret it in your own way.

What This Means To Me

As a writer, which I primarily am, the power of musical intent translates into ‘the power of literary intent’.
And what that means to me, is that when I sit down to write something that I know I am going to publish somewhere or sell to someone, I always, always make sure that my intent is clear and that it does, in fact, get executed in whatever I am writing.
There are a number of reasons for doing this but the most important is the respect you must show to your readers. Readers may not always understand the technics of good writing but they invariably recognize it when they see it.
What this means to the writer is simply that if you want to be read, followed, shared and appreciated your intent needs to come across loud and clear in every piece you write.

I Don’t Like Telling People How To Write

This power of literary intent is driven pretty much completely by your passion for writing and story telling.
And the idea of literary intent is not an instruction.
There are no ‘Ten Rules For Achieving Clear & Strong Literary Intent’ or any other such nonsense. This concept is too subjective and personal, so giving you a road map to creating it for yourself is not really possible and anyone who tries to do it is being pretentious in the extreme.
This power will manifest itself differently in every writer. It’s either there because you built it into your writing or it’s not because you didn’t.

What’s The Intent Here?

Well, first of all, what I hope I have done is give you some insight into what I consider to be an important part of any kind of writing.
If you get it, it’s something you just carry around in your head – another arrow in your quiver so to speak.
What you do with it is up to you. Use it or lose it. Shrug it off and move on or think about it and figure out how it applies to your own work.
I’m not trying to teach anybody how to write. It’s not something that actually can be taught. You’re either a writer, or someone trying to be one. In either case, if you’re passionate about it, you do need a collection of insights that fill up your playbook.
It’s called discipline.
Clarence Clemons was a powerful musical talent and he spent a long time in one of the greatest rock bands ever. But that doesn’t mean that the quality of “the power of musical intent” only applied to him.
And it certainly doesn’t mean that it can’t apply to you or me or any of us out here toiling in the vast universe of words.

Related Post: This morning I read a great article by my Atlanta ad guy fellow bee Pat Scullin on creativity. While this piece wasn’t about literary intent, it was definitely about some of the other qualities that good creative people possess.
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@patrick-scullin/how-to-know-if-your-creative-people-are-creative

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