While planning and packing for my European trip, I'm energized with the thought of writing along the way. You never know where inspired writing might take you -- those scrawled entries may never see the light of day -- but there is always the thrill of thinking about a possible new book.
Writing new stuff is always more exciting than editing the old stuff!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
When Science Takes Over the Art of Writing
Tom Robbins said his big knock on MFA programs, and academics teaching writing in general, is that the approach reduces the art of writing to a specified set of rules, and according to Robbins, "In fiction, there are no rules. Whatever works, works."
This scientific quantification of writing is what the current bestselling authors do. There's no art in the art of writing anymore. These charlatans know the plot needs a certain number of characters, that there are certain tricks and techniques to creating suspense, like a ticking time-bomb, and that at a certain point the plot must have a climax and then resolution. Writing like this takes the magic out if, and reduces it to a technical trade. There's no inspiration, no invention, no art.
The typists who "write" like this aren't the ones who are hit with an idea while watching a hummingbird hover, or while walking through the woods, or watching the waves of the ocean roll in. They aren't madly possessed and enthralled with a new idea, and they will never feel the thrill that comes with finding just the right word to "make a sentence sing," as Robbins puts it. No, these types are merely thinking of the bigger new house they can buy, the social ascendancy that wealth brings, the fraudulent fame that they will have.
But then again, no one will be reading them in 100 years. They are a flash in the modern media pan, and although they have sucked all the air out of the literary space, surely their rewards will be temporary and short-lived.
Some apt quotes by writers on writing:
"A writer is working when he's staring out of the window." Burton Rascoe
"Use the right word and not its second cousin. The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Mark Twain
"Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write." Robert Penn Warren
"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining…researching…talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." E.L. Doctorow
"…therein is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." H.L. Mencken
"Take away the art of writing from this world, and you will probably take away its glory." Chateaubriand
"You must write for yourself, above all. That is [your] only hope of creating something beautiful." Gustave Flaubert
"To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make." Truman Capote
This scientific quantification of writing is what the current bestselling authors do. There's no art in the art of writing anymore. These charlatans know the plot needs a certain number of characters, that there are certain tricks and techniques to creating suspense, like a ticking time-bomb, and that at a certain point the plot must have a climax and then resolution. Writing like this takes the magic out if, and reduces it to a technical trade. There's no inspiration, no invention, no art.
The typists who "write" like this aren't the ones who are hit with an idea while watching a hummingbird hover, or while walking through the woods, or watching the waves of the ocean roll in. They aren't madly possessed and enthralled with a new idea, and they will never feel the thrill that comes with finding just the right word to "make a sentence sing," as Robbins puts it. No, these types are merely thinking of the bigger new house they can buy, the social ascendancy that wealth brings, the fraudulent fame that they will have.
But then again, no one will be reading them in 100 years. They are a flash in the modern media pan, and although they have sucked all the air out of the literary space, surely their rewards will be temporary and short-lived.
Some apt quotes by writers on writing:
"A writer is working when he's staring out of the window." Burton Rascoe
"Use the right word and not its second cousin. The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Mark Twain
"Real writers are those who want to write, need to write, have to write." Robert Penn Warren
"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining…researching…talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." E.L. Doctorow
"…therein is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." H.L. Mencken
"Take away the art of writing from this world, and you will probably take away its glory." Chateaubriand
"You must write for yourself, above all. That is [your] only hope of creating something beautiful." Gustave Flaubert
"To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music the words make." Truman Capote
Monday, June 1, 2009
What Passes for Writing These Days
The large, traditional publishing houses have literally ruined literature in the past 50 years. They force-feed the pubic these uninspired, formula "thriller" books, which read like a TV show, or a movie. I think often a movie is better than the original book, these days.
I watched Dan Brown parading around with Tom Hanks on TV to kick off "Angels and Demons," and he must be raking in tens of millions. But I happened to pick up a used Dan Brown book on the shelf of a local restaurant. "Digital Fortress" is a "techno-thriller" Brown wrote 10 years ago. I read the first 10 pages and was astounded at the jaw-dropping poor writing. Yes, there was suspense and intrigue, but it was done in the most amateurish way. And then the writing itself: horribly clumsy sentences, no innovation in language, no lyrical sentences that delight the senses, no light rhythm, just plain crappy writing -- or rather, typing.
I read the glowing reviews at the beginning of the book and I couldn't believe they were talking about the same book. I wondered how consumers could possibly discern when a book is any good, since they are fed such bullshit.
Many people, millions of people, are reading this type of literary garbage, and they think, they believe they are "a reader" but really, they are just viewing a preview of a movie. There's no thinking involved, no profound thoughts. And the writer believes they are a writer, but really they are typists.
Also, last week NPR interviewed had James Patterson who has churned out dozens of novels, and is working on 29 right now. Many times he co-writes -- he provides an outline and someone else writes the book. I cannot understand how these non-books have come to dominate the marketplace. Have you ever read a few chapters? Pure formula junk.
I picked up one other book, and the author had written 28 books and 30 screenplays, and even co-wrote an Academy Award-winning movie. He's published a lot, but I'd never heard of him.
The literature world has no Hemingways, no Fitzgeralds or Tennessee Williams' anymore.
It seems that the strain in the book business is causing a sea change, and new technology is allowing authors to get their books published and made available directly to consumers. This will democratize the book business, and it will again become a meritocracy, rather than this force-fed formula-driven mass market garbage. It serves the publishers right: they've forgotten that they used to discover great writers, and they used to provide real literature to the public. Now they are just uninspired publicity machines looking to maximize short-term profits.
I watched Dan Brown parading around with Tom Hanks on TV to kick off "Angels and Demons," and he must be raking in tens of millions. But I happened to pick up a used Dan Brown book on the shelf of a local restaurant. "Digital Fortress" is a "techno-thriller" Brown wrote 10 years ago. I read the first 10 pages and was astounded at the jaw-dropping poor writing. Yes, there was suspense and intrigue, but it was done in the most amateurish way. And then the writing itself: horribly clumsy sentences, no innovation in language, no lyrical sentences that delight the senses, no light rhythm, just plain crappy writing -- or rather, typing.
I read the glowing reviews at the beginning of the book and I couldn't believe they were talking about the same book. I wondered how consumers could possibly discern when a book is any good, since they are fed such bullshit.
Many people, millions of people, are reading this type of literary garbage, and they think, they believe they are "a reader" but really, they are just viewing a preview of a movie. There's no thinking involved, no profound thoughts. And the writer believes they are a writer, but really they are typists.
Also, last week NPR interviewed had James Patterson who has churned out dozens of novels, and is working on 29 right now. Many times he co-writes -- he provides an outline and someone else writes the book. I cannot understand how these non-books have come to dominate the marketplace. Have you ever read a few chapters? Pure formula junk.
I picked up one other book, and the author had written 28 books and 30 screenplays, and even co-wrote an Academy Award-winning movie. He's published a lot, but I'd never heard of him.
The literature world has no Hemingways, no Fitzgeralds or Tennessee Williams' anymore.
It seems that the strain in the book business is causing a sea change, and new technology is allowing authors to get their books published and made available directly to consumers. This will democratize the book business, and it will again become a meritocracy, rather than this force-fed formula-driven mass market garbage. It serves the publishers right: they've forgotten that they used to discover great writers, and they used to provide real literature to the public. Now they are just uninspired publicity machines looking to maximize short-term profits.
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