The Prison System ...

The Future of Literature

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

My Heart has Thawed and Continues to Beat

Donald Barthelme...

IS MY HERO

The Amoral Author

It's important for the author to be amoral in constructing plot and characters. There's many times in writing I believe the author doesn't neccesarily have to agree with what a character chooses to say or do. From an artistic perspective, the author must be fair to his characters in allowing them to explore the idea of all possibilities. That is precisely the appeal of fiction, the thought that we learn through the experiences of the character, where we in real life may not choose to experience, but are still curious regarding. Besides, I am not the one telling the story, the character is. They must choose to say and do what it is that makes them who they are.

Though post-modern style fiction allows for the author to intrude into the narrative therefore becoming a performer within the story. It is a three-way relationship between the author, characters, and the reader, which can thus by experimented with according to style, and philosophy.

*Taken from my notebook, July 7 2010

An Early Piece...

I wrote this on an airplane ride when I was younger. One of my first completed short stories, doesn't even feel like I wrote it.

Writing Should Reflect Real Life...

Real life is full of abrupt transitions

Real life is full of moments

Some are funny, some are sad, some are anxious, some are tense

Real life is always a journey toward discovery, and making decisions - to change or not to change - that is the question

The storytelling should reflect the author or narrator's view of the world, philosophy

Is the ending ironic? Should it be? What should it be?


*Taken from my Notebook - July 6, 2010*

David Foster Wallace Rolling Stone Article

Great article on David Foster Wallace and his Rolling Stone Interview that never was published


And this song, just because its in my head...

"Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegel"

As apart of my project to break down each of Donald Barthelme's short stories in "Sixty Stories" ...

#22 “Kierkegaar Unfair to Schlegel”
by Donald Barthelme


Seems to be written as a play, full of short scenes and long monologues. It is not certain who the two characters are, and it appears to be dictated in the form of a therapy session. There is one part where “A” answers “I'm not your doctor” so the relationship between the two is vague and ultimately uncertain.
It is a non-linear plot alternating between the neurotic details of his sexual fantasies, and the neurotic details of his philosophical musings. In particular the concept of 'irony' sits at the center of the story, and his lengthy monologues allow Barthelme to create mini-essays within the text of scenes. He is labels himself an “ironist” and shows how practical the philosophy is in everday matters, as well as applying it to a general view of existence itself. His “oversimplified” explanation is brilliant and shows his genius by quoting Kierkegaard verbatim. Despite his intelligence, he shows his human weakness in his being controlled by his sexual fantasies, which are very ordinary, and when asked if they give him please he responds, “A poor... A rather unsatisfactory...” This ties in with the main discussion regarding his philosophy of irony, when asked if living by the law of irony if that gives him pleasure, again he responds, “A poor... A rather unsatisfactory...” Perhaps showing the futility of knowledge.
The story concludes with a first mention of the relationship between the two characters by “A” stating, “I don't like you.” In the final section Q details a story regarding Pasteur, which impacts “A” who states bitterly, “Yes, that makes up for everything, that you know that story...” We can not know the true meaning behind his feelings because everything he says is dripping with irony, so he either is being sarcastic, or is being honest, but hiding behind his philosophy. The questions Barthelme choses to leave open at the end thus portrays the meaning of the story.

Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam

I thought about a new destination
I`m never short of new inspiration
Roll out the map and mark it with a gin

Made my plans to conquer the country
I`m waiting for you to get out of your situation
With your job and with your life

All I need is somewhere I
Feel the grass beneath my feet
A walk on sand
A fire, I can warm my hands
My joy will be complete

Who Am I?

This is a reoccuring concern. But it's the first question that obviously needs understood, at least in some vague terms, though I'll try to be as specific as I can:

I am generally alternating between moments of full-optimistic joy and being funny, or quiet contemplation and being depressed. Depressed is my concept for inner monolouge that I've learned through experience.

I live in a Rust Belt city that once made alot of bigtime capitalists alot of money based on the desperation of real-life commodities, and real-life pollution. Now the City is trying to rebrand itself, achieve its fullest potential, despite some crippling deficiencies. I feel very close to my city, because I consider it apart of who I am, and what I do.

I love words because it's how I learn. Some people learn concepts through pictures, but I've always understood the world through careful analysis of words. Some concepts, like 'irony' are best understood this way. Irony is when a subject gains freedom from himself and others by negating an object, and assigning it a meaning that is its exact opposite implication. My real life name is ironic, so perhaps thats why I feel that my existence and existence is general is best understood as an ironic concept. I experience feelings of complete subjective freedom from myself and all other objects, but also feelings of estrangement, alienation. I experience life through the realm of poetic sadness and poetic joy. Most of my time is spent wondering. There are pros and cons to many things. I write because I have many questions, and words help me hopefully eventually understand.