slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Right.
What are you writing?
- Thread starter luka
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you just need to force yourself to do it for one hour a day, or 500 words a day, or whatever limit you like, some spartan regime, be incredibly strict. get something on the page, and then when you read it back a few weeks later delete everything that sounds clunky and horrible
Yes, I really wish I could do this -- sit down for an hour every day and work. I'd like to have my own office, or desk. How nice that would be! The other problem at the moment is that I'm financially and emotionally down and out, partly nomadic, living in between family members and existing through their patience and generosity. It's hard to get into a rhythm, like that -- no secure space, mind on other things, constant insecurity and worry, etc.
This is entirely true, and by implication Luka is Type 1. For Luke, writing is revelation of self; for me, it's the adoption of masks.
It's hard, that stuff. For a period of about a year after university I made a serious attempt to write pornographic stories for the top shelf magazines; I thought this would be an easy source of revenue, and quite good fun. The trouble is, the conventions are quite difficult; you think it would be easy, but it's not because:
1. it's very difficult to actually make these stories erotic rather than laughable, and the harder you try to do it (ahem) the more you tend to think about the result at the other end, which is not really something you want to think about in great detail (I used to wonder how the models dealt with this)...
2. you find you have to compile your own private thesaurus, every single synonym for 'cunt', for example -- which is obviously fun, but then the use of a rather limited number of words for a radically limited number of body parts becomes a process of distribution and calibration, which is a serious kind of craft, as difficult as writing metre in some ways...
3. it's very difficult to avoid Art even if you're in a 'porn hack' mindset -- I had the same problem as that Isabelle Huppert character in the Hal Hartley film Amateur, the ex-nun who cannot get published in porno mags because her stuff is too "good". My, um, "works" veered towards Apollinaire or Pierre Louyis at all or exactly the wrong moments; I would have had better luck submitting them to Dedalus not Richard Desmond...
4. I had stories rejected by Mayfair, Club, Penthouse and Razzle; my first and last attempt at knocking out anything generic. I don't have the chops for it.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Although probably not, given the context, anything genetic...
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Arses. I've just started reading Slim's 'Shadows' properly and it's great.
Cheers, Mr Tea - comment appreciated. I doubt that anyone has stayed the course since it's not 'easy' to grasp. I would like to have printed it, but opted for the easier means of production.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Right, well I don't know what anyone here's going to make of this, exactly. The title is (yawn) a Lovecraft gag but I found that it somehow started out as a rather whimsical magic-realist Bildungsroman that gradually morphs into surreal horror. Um. Whatever, I'd be thrilled if anyone wanted to read some of it and give me their opinion (on-blog comments are welcome as ever).
It's a work in progress - it'll probably go up to 7 or 8 parts when I'm done.
It's a work in progress - it'll probably go up to 7 or 8 parts when I'm done.
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luka
Well-known member
i was acting like a total cunt that night, not just on here sadly but i meant what i said about two types of writers. there are far more type two writers and they are far more likely to produce good work. the gap between their good days and bad days is minimal. they can acheive this wonderful focus and surface detail that i am often in awe of actually. the intensity of focus is something i admire a lot. who falls into the other category? whitman and rimbaud obviously, otherwis im not too sure....
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Advice to writers...
http://includemeout2.blogspot.com/2011/08/advice-to-writers-well-be-waiting-in.html
http://includemeout2.blogspot.com/2011/08/advice-to-writers-well-be-waiting-in.html
you
Well-known member
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Like it.
you
Well-known member
β▵∂ ℍℴⅼïԺǽ - ṗ's Ⴋ℟ⅇϫⅿ
I think this is the opposite of what you just advised - thought I'd post it anyhow seeing as I just knocked it out...
luka
Well-known member
what i, as a creative writing teacher, would advise (im not a creative writing teacher) is to abandon any attempt at good writing becasue you dont hav the sense of discretion needed. instead amplify the absurd features of the way you write.
whilst the stars squint in disdain.
is a really bad line and i would amplify that kind of badness so that it becomes a virtue, which it will if approached in the right way. as it stands it hard to tell if you are being serious or not.
whilst the stars squint in disdain.
is a really bad line and i would amplify that kind of badness so that it becomes a virtue, which it will if approached in the right way. as it stands it hard to tell if you are being serious or not.
equally this kind of thing is great if you are playing/taking the piss, and appalling if you are serious.