A Matter of Taste – Why Taste Matters

Writing fiction is a bizarre business, especially when it becomes a “business” and not a purely personal pursuit. Instantly we are pummeled by contradictory factors. On the one hand, judgments about fiction are purely subjective. On the other hand, we are constantly told to improve and “refine our craft”. But given any lack of what it means to “improve” – since any and all criteria are subjective and therefore meaningless in any broader sense – the concept of “improvement” is likewise meaningless.

This is called logic.

One might also say it’s called “missing the point”. “Subjective” is one of the tar pits writers face: it’s all too easy to get mired in it and disappear from sight. (This can also be said about a great many other things.) Some attempt to pull themselves to safety using numbers (far too many really): FB likes, twitter follows, number of reviews, sales and whatnot. Of course, insofar as those numbers reflect popularity (subjectivity applied en masse), they are likewise worthless as means to judge whether our writing is “good” or if we are “improving”.

So numbers don’t help much getting us out of the tar pit, in my view. Maybe they make us feel better while sinking.

Is there a solution then? I think so: don’t go there. First, decouple popularity from any notion of quality. Next, forget about numbers. Numbers are data; they are not wisdom. Those are the easier parts. But how to deal with the notion of quality when the matter at hand is subjective?

The answer, as I conceive it, it so recognize that subjective judgments exist on many levels. Once upon a time that was this thing called “taste” and it was held to be “good” or “bad” according to the tenor of the times, and the place. These days, in some circles at least, the concept of taste seems to have been replaced with the concept of “cool,” which is similar to taste but usually involves even more sneering, with a soupçon of ennui. Many people object to the notions of “good taste” and rightly so, as it leads to snobbery. “Cool” leads to much the same thing, but we tend to use bad words for that.

But between them, there is a difference. Taste reflected upon the inherent qualities of a thing; “cool” reflected more on the thing’s superficial appearance. “Cool” therefore tends to be deceptive in ways taste does not. Taste, when it leads to snobbery, is simply annoying and rude (which is bad enough).

But why does taste matter, as I claimed in the title? Because of those levels, I mentioned – or layers, if you prefer. Reality is multilayered, multidimensional, and subtle. To appreciate reality requires one to be attuned to these layers, dimensions, and subtleties. Appreciating reality more fully allows us to live richer, more satisfying lives. It doesn’t matter much that we agree on the merits of these often subtle aspects, just that we are able to experience and appreciate them. That has worth in its own right.

Now, some may argue that “richer, more satisfying lives” is itself a subjective judgment, and they are correct, to a degree. But I will offer a more practical reason. Very old and very true wisdom tells us that “the devil is in the details”. And if we can’t see those details, we can neither see the devil nor deal with him successfully when he arises.

This is one way the devil gets us by the throat. And that is not subjective, as many people discover to their cost.