Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
What Writing Is To Me
Writing is the creative balance between what is being said, and what is being done.
Writing is the interaction between the writer's interpretation of life experiences and the reader's shared understanding.
Writing is tense, a challenge to the reader, a reward that enlightens.
Writing is focused, directed, motivated.
Writing is fantasy attempting to portray reality.
Writing is the interaction between the writer's interpretation of life experiences and the reader's shared understanding.
Writing is tense, a challenge to the reader, a reward that enlightens.
Writing is focused, directed, motivated.
Writing is fantasy attempting to portray reality.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
If A Tree Falls In the Forest and No One Hears It, Then No One Gives A Shit
Like it or not, Fiction is in stiff competition with the visual mediums and virtual reality interactive gaming world for the attention of the general Audience. The difficulty in choice of writing style/tone is that there is a sizable discrepancy between the standards of academic and commercial literature. The key is finding the common ground. The trick is taking the attractive elements of both, and blending them creatively.
Television and movies have evolved from lengthy narrative shot and scenes, into today's smaller, measured intervals. Shots within scenes move quickly, sending out flashes of information or symbols to keep the observers attention engaged through the entire story. This is a MUST for Fiction writers as well. There is no appetite for unneccesary, poetic musings. It doesn't matter how pretty it is, because if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, then no one gives a shit. Writing is not for the benefit of the writer, its for the reader, the observer. If a writer truly wants recognition for his role in the story, (which most do), then he must become a part of the story itself. A performer within the text for the amusement of the reader. He can choose to defend it with a philosophical undertone, but the fact remains, it is a consumer-dominated-consumer-controlled market.
As for the rise of the gaming population, what this tells us is that the Audience finds mere observation boring, tedious. It wishes to experience fantastic, pulsating stimuli beyound the limits of contrived fiction. They wish to create their own experience, and challenge themselves in following the narrative clues to completing their missions. The idea of tangible progress, work that breeds satisfaction of accomplishment is a rewarding motive.
It is not a hopeless cause, though it is a monumental task. Standing out to attract the attention of the Audience is one thing, keeping them engaged throughout is another matter. Skill must be developed in both regards, and to do so is to acknowledge the victories of the competition, which requires acceptance, humility, and death to pretentious work.
Television and movies have evolved from lengthy narrative shot and scenes, into today's smaller, measured intervals. Shots within scenes move quickly, sending out flashes of information or symbols to keep the observers attention engaged through the entire story. This is a MUST for Fiction writers as well. There is no appetite for unneccesary, poetic musings. It doesn't matter how pretty it is, because if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, then no one gives a shit. Writing is not for the benefit of the writer, its for the reader, the observer. If a writer truly wants recognition for his role in the story, (which most do), then he must become a part of the story itself. A performer within the text for the amusement of the reader. He can choose to defend it with a philosophical undertone, but the fact remains, it is a consumer-dominated-consumer-controlled market.
As for the rise of the gaming population, what this tells us is that the Audience finds mere observation boring, tedious. It wishes to experience fantastic, pulsating stimuli beyound the limits of contrived fiction. They wish to create their own experience, and challenge themselves in following the narrative clues to completing their missions. The idea of tangible progress, work that breeds satisfaction of accomplishment is a rewarding motive.
It is not a hopeless cause, though it is a monumental task. Standing out to attract the attention of the Audience is one thing, keeping them engaged throughout is another matter. Skill must be developed in both regards, and to do so is to acknowledge the victories of the competition, which requires acceptance, humility, and death to pretentious work.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Writing Life
So, I have been trying to create each day. Seeing this certain pattern which, I'm still not sure what it means. Seems like I can't keep a steady habit from month to month. Anyways, the goal right now is 5 pages per week. 4 pages for one short story, and 1 page for some piece of flash fiction. So far it ends up being Monday I battle the depression leftover by the weekend, Tuesday I begin to recover and become engaged, energized, and Wednesday I manically write 4 pages for fear of my literary life, Thursday tie up the loose-ends but ultimately a notebook day, and Friday struggle to put out the weekend mindset in order to force out one stupid little page of writing. It's a beautiful life.
Which makes me appreciate the statement of David Foster Wallace that the year he had planned to spend on writing would entail eight hours a day of self-tortue over not writing, and one hour of actual writing.
Which makes me appreciate the statement of David Foster Wallace that the year he had planned to spend on writing would entail eight hours a day of self-tortue over not writing, and one hour of actual writing.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Afghan Attack
Two, then two more
Then two, then another
People are all
Apathetically dying
Bomb explosion
Side of the road
Random, irrational, occurance
Why won't you let me help you
I'm trying to protect you
With my guns and ammo
Screaming rifles and diplomacy
Baffling me
With cries of our death
Hurting us more than anything
Then two, then two more
Then another, two more
Slip away
Into the terror
From cave to cave
Of desperate sincerity
And rational us, with our counter-insurgency
Will never COIN the reasons
For the hurting and
the fighting and
the dying and
the hellish absurdity
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100713/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
Taken From my Notebook 7/10
Then two, then another
People are all
Apathetically dying
Bomb explosion
Side of the road
Random, irrational, occurance
Why won't you let me help you
I'm trying to protect you
With my guns and ammo
Screaming rifles and diplomacy
Baffling me
With cries of our death
Hurting us more than anything
Then two, then two more
Then another, two more
Slip away
Into the terror
From cave to cave
Of desperate sincerity
And rational us, with our counter-insurgency
Will never COIN the reasons
For the hurting and
the fighting and
the dying and
the hellish absurdity
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100713/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan
Taken From my Notebook 7/10
Friday, July 9, 2010
The A Generation
It seems more and more there is a generation emerging, seperate from the Baby Boomers, seperate from Generation X. The 60s came and opened up the nation to a cultural rebellion. The influence led to Punk, which held the idea of nihlism at its core. From the 70s to the end of the century that philosophy won out, the idea of nothingness, God is Dead, the Me Generation, the freedom of the Subject reigns supreme. This attitude brewed into the 90s with Grunge who bought into this idea using it as a backlash against corporate consumption, and the so-called "American Dream" itself. However, no rebellion would come because the philosophy of nihlism is destructive not creative. It rejects all things, leaving little in the name of progress. To sum up, they were in a word, Slackers.
The flaw of nihlism is that it is too realistic, leaving little prescription for the spiritual and emotional sensations we struggle with on a continual basis. A new generation is at hand, raised by Baby Boomers, wishing to push culture into the 21st century, rejecting the apathy of the Generation Xers. Thus Emo, which screamed against the shackles of nihlism, and today's Indie-Hipster movement which seeks to embrace the technological advances of our time.
It has changed since the 1960s. The battles they ignited will finally be carried out by this group of Millenials, the most optimistic, ambitious group since the Baby Boomers coming of age. I call them the "A Generation" because they are Apolitical, Amoral, and Asexual. They have bought into the concept of Pluralism, and believe less in judgement, and more in transcendance. Bickering and this philosophy of belief in nothing is proven to get us nowhere. God may be dead, but it doesn't mean the rest of us have to be too.
The flaw of nihlism is that it is too realistic, leaving little prescription for the spiritual and emotional sensations we struggle with on a continual basis. A new generation is at hand, raised by Baby Boomers, wishing to push culture into the 21st century, rejecting the apathy of the Generation Xers. Thus Emo, which screamed against the shackles of nihlism, and today's Indie-Hipster movement which seeks to embrace the technological advances of our time.
It has changed since the 1960s. The battles they ignited will finally be carried out by this group of Millenials, the most optimistic, ambitious group since the Baby Boomers coming of age. I call them the "A Generation" because they are Apolitical, Amoral, and Asexual. They have bought into the concept of Pluralism, and believe less in judgement, and more in transcendance. Bickering and this philosophy of belief in nothing is proven to get us nowhere. God may be dead, but it doesn't mean the rest of us have to be too.
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