Glad someone else was equally irritated by all the pretentious #whyIwrite nonsense. If they can't write a convincing tweet I'm not encouraged by the thought of their novels. And I think you have the right of it, when it comes to writing to tell a story versus writing to reveal THE TRUTH. It rarely works, and even when it does it often fails at truly connecting with anyone the way an incidental truth does.
And I didn't go to school of writing for the same reasons you didn't go to grad school -- it isn't the writing I do, at all.
Michael Chabon I love, but I've only read two of his books -- Kavalier and Clay and Gentlemen of the Road. I didn't really feel like either was slumming litfic, like I did for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which annoyed me deeply because it was so intent on being litfic that it totally failed at being entertaining/interesting/thoughtful genrefic. I felt Chabon was writing the stories that interested him, in the way he wanted to (particular Gentlemen of the Road, which is a quirky little thing) but YMMV, obviously. I hate how litfic-with-genre-trappings has become a Thing, and how people are using to be even more obnoxious about genre fic. "Yes, I like The Passage, but that's because it's not like those OTHER vampire stories. It's LITERATURE." FUCK YOU ALL. (This is also why I hold a grudge against BSG, for all the people saying they watched it because it's not REALLY science fiction.)
Ha, maybe I should use this comment as my NaNoWriMo, LOL. :D Sorry for the ramble. I hope you do something for NaNo, I'm hoping to resurrect an old novel and maybe finish it this time!
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Date: 2011-10-21 03:46 am (UTC)And I didn't go to school of writing for the same reasons you didn't go to grad school -- it isn't the writing I do, at all.
Michael Chabon I love, but I've only read two of his books -- Kavalier and Clay and Gentlemen of the Road. I didn't really feel like either was slumming litfic, like I did for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which annoyed me deeply because it was so intent on being litfic that it totally failed at being entertaining/interesting/thoughtful genrefic. I felt Chabon was writing the stories that interested him, in the way he wanted to (particular Gentlemen of the Road, which is a quirky little thing) but YMMV, obviously. I hate how litfic-with-genre-trappings has become a Thing, and how people are using to be even more obnoxious about genre fic. "Yes, I like The Passage, but that's because it's not like those OTHER vampire stories. It's LITERATURE." FUCK YOU ALL. (This is also why I hold a grudge against BSG, for all the people saying they watched it because it's not REALLY science fiction.)
Ha, maybe I should use this comment as my NaNoWriMo, LOL. :D Sorry for the ramble. I hope you do something for NaNo, I'm hoping to resurrect an old novel and maybe finish it this time!