Okay I have a major blogging problem, too much to say and not quite sure where to start. Not so much as Writer's Block as Writer's Overload. For so long I have searched for an outlet for all the stuff running riot inside my head that now I have somewhere for it to go I can't decide what to let lose on the unsuspecting reader first.
The problem I have always had is that although I am a creative person I have never been able to conform to the strictures other people want to put on me in the way I express my creativity.
Hunter S Thompson created 'gonzo journalism' and gave himself an outlet. Would I be capable of creating a new distinctive style or does every writer create their own style simply by modifying what is already outhere? Before Thompson there was Kerouac.
In the end does it matter?
What is more important to me; actually writing and getting what I write out into the wide world or worrying about what others think of what I write.
Am I worried about content or presentation? Are the two totally inseparable?
I keep thinking about the scene from that Robin Williams movies (Captain my captain.......) where Williams has departed and a new literature teacher holds up the graph that shows how to tell if a book is a great novel or not. Does it matter if I write great literature, if it does to whom and are these the sort of people whose opinion matters to me anyway?
Argh so many questions,so tired a brain.
I think it's time to go watch some television.
The problem I have always had is that although I am a creative person I have never been able to conform to the strictures other people want to put on me in the way I express my creativity.
Hunter S Thompson created 'gonzo journalism' and gave himself an outlet. Would I be capable of creating a new distinctive style or does every writer create their own style simply by modifying what is already outhere? Before Thompson there was Kerouac.
In the end does it matter?
What is more important to me; actually writing and getting what I write out into the wide world or worrying about what others think of what I write.
Am I worried about content or presentation? Are the two totally inseparable?
I keep thinking about the scene from that Robin Williams movies (Captain my captain.......) where Williams has departed and a new literature teacher holds up the graph that shows how to tell if a book is a great novel or not. Does it matter if I write great literature, if it does to whom and are these the sort of people whose opinion matters to me anyway?
Argh so many questions,so tired a brain.
I think it's time to go watch some television.
posted by Jodie @ 7:47 pm
3 Comments:
At 11:37 pm,
Harry said…
I'm sure this analogy will fall flat, Jo, but that's never once stopped me before.
I picture one of those old women in some distant black-and-white movie, perhaps one starring Buster Keeton, as she uncaringly tosses a bucket of water from a second-flat window. That little bucket represents my mind, and the writings that I do is what she flung into space. One day it might be a tasty soup or a hearty stew, and lots below might even enjoy their bath. And the next; well, don't ask what it will contain next. And if someone doesn’t care to get sloshed with some surprises, then don't stand beneath my convenient hole up here.
I tried, right off the bat, warning my readers about not expecting much in the way of continuity. That frees me up to write, using my own self-imposed restrictions. I keep doing what I like to do, and so far, I do like doing this (and please, sing with me here) “My-y way.”
At 1:52 am,
Wyrfu said…
Harry is quite right, of course (he usually is). Being me, I have a few extra concerns. I do worry about how a piece reads, whether the flow is right, is every word right. I even caught myself pondering whether to stick a question mark on the end of that sentence but decided against it. It matters to me that anything I write is as good as I can make it and that's true whether anyone else is going to read it or not. I guess it's a pride thing - what others see as perfectionism. All I can suggest is that you write as well as you can about the things you want to write about. Anything else is forced and won't work.
At 5:28 pm,
Shane said…
CountrysideDuck,
This 'inner-dialogue' works. Writing as crisply as you have here will work for readers. In my experience, one of the dullest subject matters to read about is writing...
Thus, move on quickly from the naval-gazing stuff, share with us whatever it is that your creative self hath to share. In a nutshell, just 'blog it and see'.
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