Technical skill, if applied with integrity, rises to the level of the intention of the artist. Thus, for Luciano Pavarotti to achieve his artistic intention - that is, to use the human voice with same range and quality of sound as any other orchestral instrument - he had to train and bring his technical mastery to a level where that was possible. And even beyond that, Pavarotti set FOR HIMSELF his own unique level, a level no one else could define, to which he pushed himself and his technique.
By comparison, Bob Dylan had a very different artistic intention. His voice, while not nearly as capable of range or purity of sound as Pavarotti, nonetheless served as an ideal vehicle for his songs. Dylan set an intention for his music, and his skill rose to meet it and the outcome, for many - most notably Dylan himself - was complete. Whether the work moves this one or that one is not the point. The intention was fulfilled, and there is nothing more Dylan or any other artist can expect.
Where a work "fails" is where the artist does not push his skill to the level of his intention, or where his intention is too vague to begin with. Your intention cannot be to be as good as Bob Dylan or Dylan Thomas. Your intention cannot be to write something that would "impress the critics," nor to sell a million books. These are merely outcomes, not an artistic intention.
By the same token, you must be patient and disciplined to push your craft to the level necessary to complete your vision. Only you will know when this has occurred. If you give up before the intention has been reached, if don't push your craft, if you imitate past successes, then the work will not meet its intention, and will feel incomplete. Incomplete work will be criticized for all sorts of reasons, none of which, by and large, will be accurate.
Your intention must be your unique, aesthetic vision. Everyone is born with one, not everyone is willing to pursue theirs with complete integrity and faith. If you pursue your own voice, there is no model for you to compare yourself to, and thus you are setting off alone into the forest of your own imagination. Go on.
But the question must never be, "Am I a good writer?" The only question is, "Have I written what I meant to say?" And do not wonder if you "can." You would not have been handed a challenge greater than your capabilities. You were born with it. That is the deal, and it's a fair one. Now you do your part and speak what you were meant to speak.
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If artistic success depends on personal fulfillment of personal aesthetic intention, where does that leave the critic? The academic? How is a reader/member of the public going to be able to find and read/enjoy good writing? Once the artist releases a work to the world, is the artist's journey at an end?
Yur journey with THAT piece is finished, at least as far as the creation, obviously. Then comes the other journey, the intercourse with the rest of humanity, as the piece is no longer yours but is the property of all of humanity.
Remember, when we tell stories, we're really SHARING them, and that is quite litteral. Once I tell you a story, it's no longer mine. Now you can tell it, and when you do, you will tell it in YOUR way.
But this is why, in telling a story, you must fulfill YOUR aesthetic intention, becuase only then will you be able to bring your unique voice to the whole human fold. So you pass it on, where it is changed, and changed, and changed.
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