So university is finished for the year for me. I am seeking to keep writing this novel and letting the story and central character reveal itself and herself to me as I go. I am resisting the idea of editing and being critical at this point. I am following the advice of many published authors who have said or written they wrote solidly for a number of years before they actually got the techniques or the craft of writing novels to where they felt it became more effortless. Phillip Meyer said he got better at writing good work, because he wrote for a few years with no success and probably bad writing until he understood intuitively how to successfully put the narrative together.
In many things practice makes perfect and writing is no different. I am seeking to write this narrative, for my own enjoyment as well as I would like to tell Sarah's story and to finish another novel. I have finished one. Peter Carey wrote three before he was well received by a publisher. I have realised I have written short stories for many, many years probably 20 years or more, and I have an idea how to write a short story. Now I have only been attempting novels for about five years, on and off, and only having finished one completely.
I am definitely learning from my university study and from feedback from tutors or other people and reading other novels. But, actually writing is going to teach me the most! So I want to do this every day. I wrote 1100 words today in an hour. That is not that hard is it?
Hemingway said to leave your idea with inspiration left so you are spurred onto continue the next day. Write so that you want to come back to it the next day. He even advocated not thinking that much about it until the next day and letting your unconscious work on it. He said reading other authors was a good idea so you didn't think too much about your work. I think this is good advice. It's good to have an excitement about what you are writing for the next installment.
In my novel I have an idea of the scenes I am going to write. They are in my mind. This morning I wrote some of them. I have also learnt that I need to slow my work down. To create scenes in a more full way. These are things you learn from feedback. I wonder if being a journalist goes against me in some ways cause our articles have to be so sparse and economical with words. I need to take the time to create atmosphere in the scene. I find I understand how it works in a short story but I need to translate this into my novels, exploring characters and backstory in a deeper and more interesting way. This novel I am writing I am seeking to work out how best to put in backstory and I am revealing things about her background through dialogue etcetera.
Peter Carey said in an interview with me, that each chapter he writes is like a mosaic tile, very important to the overall effect of the novel. He is so right. In each chapter, a sense of suspense, tension and climax should be created, so the reader is riveted and wanting to read onto the next chapter.
Once I finish my film subject next semester, I am thinking of giving university a break for a bit, so I can focus on writing. However, we will see, stay tuned for next year. I do love university. I found that it rushed my work last semester and this novel needs to breathe and live. But hopefully over this break I can write some substantial chunks of it. I wish to complete this novel for myself, and then rewrite it. According to what I have read, Jane Austen rewrote a lot of her novels so I need to get better at this skill.
These are my current thoughts. I have enjoyed writing this morning. I am going to try and maintain this momentum with this novel. Thanks for reading. If you are a writer, I hope your work is going well.
7 Oct 2009
New Decisions
Well, recently I had to hand in most of my first 5000 words of my novel for university. So for weeks and weeks I have struggled with a lack of plot direction and with a block...a total block. Blank. So I kept writing anyway and wrote some scenes for this character's life. It was enjoyable actually. I like her. She is fun to spend time with. :)
So after a lot of stress about the piece and realising that what I handed into my class did not possess a great story line, I woke up this morning and a plot line came to me fully formed. A plot with depth and potential for exploration of character and a story of intrigue and interest. It was a bit irritating because it didn't come to me a few weeks ago. But this is the beauty of art, things don't turn up on schedule.
It's like Bono from U2 said about one of their recordings that wasn't going well and nothing was working. He said they were "waiting for God to show up." I feel like God showed up for me this morning. Inspiration. It makes me excited when I can see a story line that I can explore. So yesterday I felt terrible and demoralised about this piece and now I feel like I want to commit to this one. And see it to its completion.
So, anyway. This post was going to be about how I was giving up university-but I am going to put off that decision now. What I do know is that I need time to write and develop my novel so maybe after semester 1 next year I will take some time off. Who knows? That is a long time away. Anyway, so on with the new plot.
So after a lot of stress about the piece and realising that what I handed into my class did not possess a great story line, I woke up this morning and a plot line came to me fully formed. A plot with depth and potential for exploration of character and a story of intrigue and interest. It was a bit irritating because it didn't come to me a few weeks ago. But this is the beauty of art, things don't turn up on schedule.
It's like Bono from U2 said about one of their recordings that wasn't going well and nothing was working. He said they were "waiting for God to show up." I feel like God showed up for me this morning. Inspiration. It makes me excited when I can see a story line that I can explore. So yesterday I felt terrible and demoralised about this piece and now I feel like I want to commit to this one. And see it to its completion.
So, anyway. This post was going to be about how I was giving up university-but I am going to put off that decision now. What I do know is that I need time to write and develop my novel so maybe after semester 1 next year I will take some time off. Who knows? That is a long time away. Anyway, so on with the new plot.
14 Sept 2009
Novel Progress
Hello there,
I am writing a new novel and I have been enjoying writing it so far. But now that I have to hand in a large section of it to my university class, I am stressed. The novel is lacking strong direction at the moment. I am too close to it. I need to do a lot of work on the main character.
I have read that other authors more experienced than me have this problem. They get to a certain point in the narrative and they don't know where it is going. I guess it is a positive thing. I need to develop more fully what exactly I am trying to achieve in this novel. What do I really want to explore? The problem with this is, I have not had the mind space to fully explore the main character. This is what I need to do. A meeting with my tutor as well will probably help me. That is what I like about university is the fact that you have people to ask questions about your work. This subject has been really good in taking everything more seriously, more post grad students and less undergrad students. Nothing wrong with them but I need to be around other people who are serious about writing.
So, a crisis of plot for me at the moment. But I think these moments are good in writing a novel, cause these issues need to be clarified in your mind otherwise it will fail. It is all necessary for the deepening of the work. A novel takes a long time to write. The problem is you have to survive in the mean time. A novel takes a lot of thinking time. I don't have much spare thinking time. But we just have to fit in where we can, don't we? In this age of instant everything, instant messaging, instant pop corn, instant coffee, a novel is not an instant anything...anything worth reading has taken a fair while to create.
I am writing a new novel and I have been enjoying writing it so far. But now that I have to hand in a large section of it to my university class, I am stressed. The novel is lacking strong direction at the moment. I am too close to it. I need to do a lot of work on the main character.
I have read that other authors more experienced than me have this problem. They get to a certain point in the narrative and they don't know where it is going. I guess it is a positive thing. I need to develop more fully what exactly I am trying to achieve in this novel. What do I really want to explore? The problem with this is, I have not had the mind space to fully explore the main character. This is what I need to do. A meeting with my tutor as well will probably help me. That is what I like about university is the fact that you have people to ask questions about your work. This subject has been really good in taking everything more seriously, more post grad students and less undergrad students. Nothing wrong with them but I need to be around other people who are serious about writing.
So, a crisis of plot for me at the moment. But I think these moments are good in writing a novel, cause these issues need to be clarified in your mind otherwise it will fail. It is all necessary for the deepening of the work. A novel takes a long time to write. The problem is you have to survive in the mean time. A novel takes a lot of thinking time. I don't have much spare thinking time. But we just have to fit in where we can, don't we? In this age of instant everything, instant messaging, instant pop corn, instant coffee, a novel is not an instant anything...anything worth reading has taken a fair while to create.
2 Jun 2009
A Moveable Feast, I am there again.
I just read over some parts of A Moveable Feast. He starts the memoir in the middle of a conversation;
"Then there was the bad weather. It would come in one day when the fall was over..." There is a melancholy about this memoir in the tone of the book but it seems to me in nearly every word he uses. It is like his soul was sad when he wrote about this time. It was the best and worst time in many ways for him.
He seems to have regrets about the things that happened in the end of their time in Paris. What I am amazed about is the amount of times he uses The to begin a sentence. But nevertheless the sentence is not boring or predictable. What is contained within the sentence is fresh, unique and the imagery is vital. I was always told don't start every sentence with The. However, I am learning that it can be done very well. I was reading Vikram Seth An Equal Music yesterday (that a friend leant me) and I was also surprised that he started a lot of his sentences with The..but the voice of the piece and his imagery drew the reader in. I am learning that some rules are not always correct, you can pull The with a superb voice. Both these pieces were first person, so that makes a difference.
Back to Hemingway, there was such sweet sadness in the ending of the A Moveable Feast. He describes his wife when he returns to her after being with a mistress:
"When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her. She was smiling, the sun on her lovely face tanned by the snow and sun, beautifully built, her hair red gold in the sun, grown out all winter awkwardly and beautifully..." (207).
And in regard to Paris, he loved it with a strong desire because it represented a time when he was with his wife in an innocent way. Their marriage broke up after his affairs. But this was looking back and knowing that this time in their life was golden and pure, even though they had no money or even position.
"There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other...Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."
(A Moveable Feast, p.207).
"Then there was the bad weather. It would come in one day when the fall was over..." There is a melancholy about this memoir in the tone of the book but it seems to me in nearly every word he uses. It is like his soul was sad when he wrote about this time. It was the best and worst time in many ways for him.
He seems to have regrets about the things that happened in the end of their time in Paris. What I am amazed about is the amount of times he uses The to begin a sentence. But nevertheless the sentence is not boring or predictable. What is contained within the sentence is fresh, unique and the imagery is vital. I was always told don't start every sentence with The. However, I am learning that it can be done very well. I was reading Vikram Seth An Equal Music yesterday (that a friend leant me) and I was also surprised that he started a lot of his sentences with The..but the voice of the piece and his imagery drew the reader in. I am learning that some rules are not always correct, you can pull The with a superb voice. Both these pieces were first person, so that makes a difference.
Back to Hemingway, there was such sweet sadness in the ending of the A Moveable Feast. He describes his wife when he returns to her after being with a mistress:
"When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her. She was smiling, the sun on her lovely face tanned by the snow and sun, beautifully built, her hair red gold in the sun, grown out all winter awkwardly and beautifully..." (207).
And in regard to Paris, he loved it with a strong desire because it represented a time when he was with his wife in an innocent way. Their marriage broke up after his affairs. But this was looking back and knowing that this time in their life was golden and pure, even though they had no money or even position.
"There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other...Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy."
(A Moveable Feast, p.207).
26 May 2009
Phillip Meyer at uni...
Hello,
Wow. Seeing Phillip Meyer was excellent yesterday. He spoke about his life and the context of his first book. He spoke about the struggles of how he got to where he is now. It was so good to hear that it took 8 years and lots of writing. It is very inspiring. He wrote two books before he wrote this current one which has been well received. I have only written one complete novel and I am on my second one, now. What I have been realising lately is that it is going to take time to develop these skills.
Phillip was talking about how in every job the more you do it the better you get. I know this is true but it was good to hear his experience. He was saying how after a while you start to know what is working and what isn't. This is definitely the difference between a novice and someone who is developing. If you can identify the bad things with your piece then you can change them. He was saying how this has become more unconscious now and he is capable of writing a lot better quality first up, now. So I need to just keep writing, it was really good to hear that even when or if you become successful there has been a struggle beforehand.
He was captivating to me. The way he talked about his life and the deep concepts and he talked constantly, explaining lots of detail, reminded me of myself-when I get carried away. I found it totally intriguing. I was drawn into what he was saying and about his life because to hear another artist talk about his struggles and then feel they are somewhat similar to your own, is very comforting. He was self aware as well which I find refreshing. Totally inspiring. I wish I had more opportunity to talk to him actually. I know he would be a fascinating person to know. (He said he just wrote from morning until night for months and months - I need to get more serious about the time I put into my writing).
For us writers, the message is keep writing, keep going. Writing is what I want to do, so I need to just keep doing it.
Wow. Seeing Phillip Meyer was excellent yesterday. He spoke about his life and the context of his first book. He spoke about the struggles of how he got to where he is now. It was so good to hear that it took 8 years and lots of writing. It is very inspiring. He wrote two books before he wrote this current one which has been well received. I have only written one complete novel and I am on my second one, now. What I have been realising lately is that it is going to take time to develop these skills.
Phillip was talking about how in every job the more you do it the better you get. I know this is true but it was good to hear his experience. He was saying how after a while you start to know what is working and what isn't. This is definitely the difference between a novice and someone who is developing. If you can identify the bad things with your piece then you can change them. He was saying how this has become more unconscious now and he is capable of writing a lot better quality first up, now. So I need to just keep writing, it was really good to hear that even when or if you become successful there has been a struggle beforehand.
He was captivating to me. The way he talked about his life and the deep concepts and he talked constantly, explaining lots of detail, reminded me of myself-when I get carried away. I found it totally intriguing. I was drawn into what he was saying and about his life because to hear another artist talk about his struggles and then feel they are somewhat similar to your own, is very comforting. He was self aware as well which I find refreshing. Totally inspiring. I wish I had more opportunity to talk to him actually. I know he would be a fascinating person to know. (He said he just wrote from morning until night for months and months - I need to get more serious about the time I put into my writing).
For us writers, the message is keep writing, keep going. Writing is what I want to do, so I need to just keep doing it.
7 Apr 2009
Biography of Characters
Yesterday at university we talked about biographies. I have to admit I do not enjoy biographies. I know the public seem to love them but unless the person is completely fascinating or someone I have long admired I am not interested.
However, using biographical questions like the ones we were given in out tutorial yesterday they have been useful for me today in thinking and imagining the childhood of my heroine or rather protagonist. I have created a pivotal moment in her childhood that affects her relationship with her mother forever. I do not think these pivotal moments always control our lives but they explain things about relationships we have. So I have this moment and I know what it is. Now the challenge is how do I show this to the reader?
I guess this is always the challenge. But as long as in my mind I can start hearing and living in her world things will happen, magically, majestically hopefully..:)
So anyway I was just reminded how biographical details of characters are very important. Of course I knew this before however this question has really helped to stimulate further knowledge of this character and her life, why she is doing what she is doing. I need to do more of this imagining. And it takes a long time to do this. It is like slow cooking - it takes time to create these things. Everyone in this world wants things instantly but what I am realising is how long it is going to take me - to achieve what I want to achieve. And that I need to focus in more on the details and live the moments with the characters, so the reader can too.
Zooming in with the camera lense and then out again. Close detail and wider scope. I learnt that in Veny's class and I am reminded all the time of how the senses need to be used to create a total world for the reader. Now I am signing out. I should be actually writing.
Feel free to comment if you wish - if you have any thoughts. I always love receiving your input. :)
However, using biographical questions like the ones we were given in out tutorial yesterday they have been useful for me today in thinking and imagining the childhood of my heroine or rather protagonist. I have created a pivotal moment in her childhood that affects her relationship with her mother forever. I do not think these pivotal moments always control our lives but they explain things about relationships we have. So I have this moment and I know what it is. Now the challenge is how do I show this to the reader?
I guess this is always the challenge. But as long as in my mind I can start hearing and living in her world things will happen, magically, majestically hopefully..:)
So anyway I was just reminded how biographical details of characters are very important. Of course I knew this before however this question has really helped to stimulate further knowledge of this character and her life, why she is doing what she is doing. I need to do more of this imagining. And it takes a long time to do this. It is like slow cooking - it takes time to create these things. Everyone in this world wants things instantly but what I am realising is how long it is going to take me - to achieve what I want to achieve. And that I need to focus in more on the details and live the moments with the characters, so the reader can too.
Zooming in with the camera lense and then out again. Close detail and wider scope. I learnt that in Veny's class and I am reminded all the time of how the senses need to be used to create a total world for the reader. Now I am signing out. I should be actually writing.
Feel free to comment if you wish - if you have any thoughts. I always love receiving your input. :)
25 Mar 2009
Disgrace by Coetzee
Hello
I just finished the book Disgrace by JM Coetzee. I loved his simple style and the way he used plain sentences that drew the reader into the narrative. The opening line is just superb about how this character has solved the problem of sex, for a divorced man of 52. Characterisation like this is enviable. His whole personality is expressed in this beginning and the novel unravels his demise at it progresses. Basically, he rapes a young student in his course at university. I found him detestable in the beginning of the novel but by the end not so horrible.
HIs faults became moderated and I think he achieved some self knowledge, even in the fact that he realised he had little self knowledge that is a form of honesty in itself. People living in denial do not know they are doing so, if they did know then they would no longer be living in it. :)
It was mentioned at university that he doesn't change throughout the novel. I do not agree with this. When I read the end of the novel he shows he has changed. Ever so slightly, but he has changed, his perspective, he starts to use the word love and he starts to believe animals have souls and he wants to protect his daughter. He has sex with an older lady who is not beautiful and starts to realise that his desires will not always be able to filled. He still has them but he resigns himself to a different life.
A novel that I didn't particularly like in the beginning did engage me by the end. The women characters seemed to be somewhat oppressed throughout the novel. Except for his daughter, who the reader feels slightly annoyed by for some of the novel but by the end she seems to make sense. She is seeking to be different, kind, and peaceful, and these things seem ridiculous when faced with violence and brute force. However, she is the most together character by the end of the novel.
There is a wonderful beauty in her embracing the ugliness of the situation around her and a wonderful scene where she is picking flowers in the garden and the sun is shining on her back. I think this novel - though it shows black African people as cunning and conniving, achieved some very subtle characterisation with the main characters.
The two African men and the down trodden African women in the book are less desirable characters. In fact the main black African character - David Lurie likes him in the beginning but in the end cannot abide him. So I know there will be racist interpretations about this. Sometimes though there are characters of certain racial backgrounds that we create that are not nice but this does not mean it is inherently racist. These were the particular characters in this story.
The white professor is not spared, he is violent in his own way, he takes sex from women and then drops them back onto the street. He is no better than the men who rape his daughter. So I think this is Coetzee's point. It is the women who have to put up with this situation. They are the wives, daughters, students, and veterinarians helping animals.
I cannot work out whether he has painted them with dignity or not, there is a comment on women and their subjugation that is a side issue, however, maybe as a woman these things are heightened for me. Women seem victims in this book but some of them rise above it, like his daughter, like the vet, like his ex wife, who seems strong and some don't I guess that is real. In some ways, they seem to make more sense than the men who are acting on impulse and their animal desires.
No wonder it won the Booker Prize, however I can also see that people could really dislike this book, for many reasons. But overall it has had a lasting effect on me. One thing was there was not a lot of beauty in it. But the characters stood out as real, and compelling and that is a major accomplishment!
I just finished the book Disgrace by JM Coetzee. I loved his simple style and the way he used plain sentences that drew the reader into the narrative. The opening line is just superb about how this character has solved the problem of sex, for a divorced man of 52. Characterisation like this is enviable. His whole personality is expressed in this beginning and the novel unravels his demise at it progresses. Basically, he rapes a young student in his course at university. I found him detestable in the beginning of the novel but by the end not so horrible.
HIs faults became moderated and I think he achieved some self knowledge, even in the fact that he realised he had little self knowledge that is a form of honesty in itself. People living in denial do not know they are doing so, if they did know then they would no longer be living in it. :)
It was mentioned at university that he doesn't change throughout the novel. I do not agree with this. When I read the end of the novel he shows he has changed. Ever so slightly, but he has changed, his perspective, he starts to use the word love and he starts to believe animals have souls and he wants to protect his daughter. He has sex with an older lady who is not beautiful and starts to realise that his desires will not always be able to filled. He still has them but he resigns himself to a different life.
A novel that I didn't particularly like in the beginning did engage me by the end. The women characters seemed to be somewhat oppressed throughout the novel. Except for his daughter, who the reader feels slightly annoyed by for some of the novel but by the end she seems to make sense. She is seeking to be different, kind, and peaceful, and these things seem ridiculous when faced with violence and brute force. However, she is the most together character by the end of the novel.
There is a wonderful beauty in her embracing the ugliness of the situation around her and a wonderful scene where she is picking flowers in the garden and the sun is shining on her back. I think this novel - though it shows black African people as cunning and conniving, achieved some very subtle characterisation with the main characters.
The two African men and the down trodden African women in the book are less desirable characters. In fact the main black African character - David Lurie likes him in the beginning but in the end cannot abide him. So I know there will be racist interpretations about this. Sometimes though there are characters of certain racial backgrounds that we create that are not nice but this does not mean it is inherently racist. These were the particular characters in this story.
The white professor is not spared, he is violent in his own way, he takes sex from women and then drops them back onto the street. He is no better than the men who rape his daughter. So I think this is Coetzee's point. It is the women who have to put up with this situation. They are the wives, daughters, students, and veterinarians helping animals.
I cannot work out whether he has painted them with dignity or not, there is a comment on women and their subjugation that is a side issue, however, maybe as a woman these things are heightened for me. Women seem victims in this book but some of them rise above it, like his daughter, like the vet, like his ex wife, who seems strong and some don't I guess that is real. In some ways, they seem to make more sense than the men who are acting on impulse and their animal desires.
No wonder it won the Booker Prize, however I can also see that people could really dislike this book, for many reasons. But overall it has had a lasting effect on me. One thing was there was not a lot of beauty in it. But the characters stood out as real, and compelling and that is a major accomplishment!
9 Mar 2009
Novel Idea (Noodle)
Why do they call it a novel noodle? I am not sure. Well I have to take a novel idea to university today and it is clear my novel idea is no longer the same. Over a year ago I had a clear novel idea and had developed this idea fully and written a plan and everything and then major events happened in my life and now this novel has changed. It has to change.
I no longer wish to write the narrative that I had devised. But now I am a little bit lost with whether I should try to tweak the idea and still use it or start a new one.
I seem to have these commitment issues to novel ideas. This happened when I did Veny's Year of the Novel. The problem for me at the moment is that I have lots of short story ideas and the longer piece is eluding me. But I need to take something. So I am feeling a little apprehensive about the fact that it is not fully formed.
The tutor tells me you can use an idea you have right now but everyone in my tut are so sure about their narratives and so well into the novels. As usual I am the one who is artistically unsure of which one to commit to or rather had one that I cannot write anymore. It has changed but to what?
Anyway, it's all interesting and crazy. Maybe I just like living closer to the edge or something. I have to have an idea I am sure of and that I love otherwise how will I be able to present it to the tut class? In the tuts they make you share out loud writing and ideas, however writers are interior people. I don't understand why we have to be exposed every week, when most of our lives if we get published will be discussing final products that have been edited and worked on for years.
Why should we read out something we have scrawled in a few minutes and feel so vulnerable when if we become published authors, journalists like me will interview us and we can comment on what we have done, not write something half baked for the journalist to snigger at in the interview.
I will keep you posted. If anyone else has had doubts about their novel. Let me know. I should get back to my Novel Noodle they call it. Why Noodle? Anyway it's all fun and games...
I no longer wish to write the narrative that I had devised. But now I am a little bit lost with whether I should try to tweak the idea and still use it or start a new one.
I seem to have these commitment issues to novel ideas. This happened when I did Veny's Year of the Novel. The problem for me at the moment is that I have lots of short story ideas and the longer piece is eluding me. But I need to take something. So I am feeling a little apprehensive about the fact that it is not fully formed.
The tutor tells me you can use an idea you have right now but everyone in my tut are so sure about their narratives and so well into the novels. As usual I am the one who is artistically unsure of which one to commit to or rather had one that I cannot write anymore. It has changed but to what?
Anyway, it's all interesting and crazy. Maybe I just like living closer to the edge or something. I have to have an idea I am sure of and that I love otherwise how will I be able to present it to the tut class? In the tuts they make you share out loud writing and ideas, however writers are interior people. I don't understand why we have to be exposed every week, when most of our lives if we get published will be discussing final products that have been edited and worked on for years.
Why should we read out something we have scrawled in a few minutes and feel so vulnerable when if we become published authors, journalists like me will interview us and we can comment on what we have done, not write something half baked for the journalist to snigger at in the interview.
I will keep you posted. If anyone else has had doubts about their novel. Let me know. I should get back to my Novel Noodle they call it. Why Noodle? Anyway it's all fun and games...
7 Mar 2009
Rules of Attraction by Easton Ellis
Wow, supremely depressing but something more..makes you wish you could cry about their world but you couldn't if you tried.
Easton Ellis paints the characters as shallow, mean, nasty and frankly, stupid, but somehow he shows something that draws you to them at the same time.
Sean, I really liked him. He made the book for me, even though he was a fool, a drug dealing user, but he loved someone and she didn't love him. Lauren, is also stupid. She loves a guy completely unworthy of her love. Why do we do that? It's a question I cannot answer.
This book, written so differently starting in mid sentence and finishing in mid sentence is definitely amazingly constructed and his detail about characters is something I need to learn from. At first it is difficult to get into the different points of view, every chapter, but then I found as soon as I started reading their voices, they must have been so well created that I knew exactly where they were and what they were doing.
It was interesting that - particularly with Sean and Paul how differently they portrayed their time together. Paul smitten by Sean and Sean barely acknowledging that he was even with Paul. It was tragic but very true to life. Perceptions of events by different people especially with love, is a fascinating and endless topic.
Paul says to Gerald a guy who likes him, "No one ever likes the right person," which could be described as the whole premise of the novel.
Sean loves Lauren, Paul loves Sean, Lauren used to love Paul, Lauren loves Victor, Victor loves Jaime, Paul used to love Mitchell, Susan loves Sean.
The other premise is everything is boring - they are constantly bored with everything, people have abortions, commit suicide, take drugs, have sex, attempt suicide, take cocaine, don't pay their drug dealers, and the characters are constantly bored with it all. There is no reaction or emotion towards it.
I mean the way Easton Ellis writes about all of the drug taking and sex etc ad infinitum the reader does feel bored and overwhelmed with it. Everything is meaningless and no one cares about anyone, except who they will have sex with or where they will score from next. The parts that keep you reading the novel are the parts where the characters actually reveal they have something more to them.
Sean tells Lauren he loves her, they agree to get married (which ends) actually that's probably it, except there are some scenes with Victor and empathy towards some people in the crowd that are good. Mainly, Sean has the scenes of something more to him, with his dying father and his overbearing brother. He, for me is the character that stands out in all of his ugliness he was something actually. He had something deeper to him, the way he describes Lauren and the way he loved Lauren.
One thing though it does become funny in some scenes where a girl talks about all the people who are sleeping with each other, cheating on partners it just sounds absurd. Which is the point I guess. There are constant 80s references that I love because I grew up then. It is amusing the references to the things they are wearing, swatch watches and tab and diet coke and radios and tapes.
There is a line at the end where Sean says and nothing has changed and they all seem to go back to their hopeless behaviour. Sean picks up a girl he's not interested in, Lauren goes off with Victor who is using her, Paul chases more boys...the meaninglessness of their behaviour continues.
This is a truth in some people's lives. Only through spiritual transformation can people change, but these people, there is nothing they wish to do beyond feed their physical desires. So their cycle goes around and around and sometimes it disgusts them like with Sean when he says he doesn't want to sleep around anymore only be with Lauren. But eventually her lack of love for him destroys that.
So anyway, this was a bit of a ramble but it's the kind of book you have to ramble about. You feel like you have to have therapy after the book or debrief or cleanse yourself somehow. I think it is the same with Less Than Zero. Life is so dirty and disgusting in this book and its all over you, and you need a bath.
It is great to read books like this. I will take a lot from Easton Ellis in techniques and I will admire what he has done. But my basic philosophy is different. Although, I think this book proves Easton Ellis is not really a nihilist he is showing the greed, futility, reality, shallow qualities and pain of the 80s. The funny thing is AIDS does not come into the novel. Maybe it was only just being discovered. Some of those characters in this book would have AIDS, and would probably have died in the following years of that or another STD.
This is a rich book. A book that completely enveloped me into its world. The characters are stunning to me in their abhorrence and depth and in the fact that he keeps you reading about people you don't even like! He is an exceptional writer. This book I could try to say I enjoyed it, but it is much more than that. So I could say, it was amazing.
A revealing deep book about shallow, self centered, people doing whatever they wanted. It is the result of believing in a nihilistic world. It is people living what they believe, with no spiritual framework for life. At least they are being honest and authentic, so many people believe nihilistic things and yet they live in a valued filled world, that is based on spiritual ideas.
Anyway now I am off the topic. Characters that are living without morals, come what may. That's the ugliness and sincerity of this book. It is honest, raw and gritty, and remains, lingers...impacts. whoa. I could say so much more but I will stop now.
Actually I just had a thought, and maybe someone can comment on this. Is Easton Ellis sort of commenting on the 80s the way Nick Hornby is also commenting on the 90s? I think they are doing similar things. I am so thankful that maybe this decade compassion for other people is not totally out of the question, I feel like there may be a different feeling now. Actually even in Hornby's novels this theme of self centered character who doesn't care about anyone actually decides to be different, so Hornby differs to Easton Ellis like that. The character in About a Boy changes at the end and in High Fidelity.
Anyway, I like the comparison with these authors. Also, I wonder who is writing for this decade? And indeed what would we write? Are we all just out for ourselves as usual? Of course it is the same but there are peculiarities that will be distinguised in this time over any other. There always are in history. Different world leaders, different economic climate, different wars being waged, threats or lack of threats.
Every era is different its human nature that stays the same.
Easton Ellis paints the characters as shallow, mean, nasty and frankly, stupid, but somehow he shows something that draws you to them at the same time.
Sean, I really liked him. He made the book for me, even though he was a fool, a drug dealing user, but he loved someone and she didn't love him. Lauren, is also stupid. She loves a guy completely unworthy of her love. Why do we do that? It's a question I cannot answer.
This book, written so differently starting in mid sentence and finishing in mid sentence is definitely amazingly constructed and his detail about characters is something I need to learn from. At first it is difficult to get into the different points of view, every chapter, but then I found as soon as I started reading their voices, they must have been so well created that I knew exactly where they were and what they were doing.
It was interesting that - particularly with Sean and Paul how differently they portrayed their time together. Paul smitten by Sean and Sean barely acknowledging that he was even with Paul. It was tragic but very true to life. Perceptions of events by different people especially with love, is a fascinating and endless topic.
Paul says to Gerald a guy who likes him, "No one ever likes the right person," which could be described as the whole premise of the novel.
Sean loves Lauren, Paul loves Sean, Lauren used to love Paul, Lauren loves Victor, Victor loves Jaime, Paul used to love Mitchell, Susan loves Sean.
The other premise is everything is boring - they are constantly bored with everything, people have abortions, commit suicide, take drugs, have sex, attempt suicide, take cocaine, don't pay their drug dealers, and the characters are constantly bored with it all. There is no reaction or emotion towards it.
I mean the way Easton Ellis writes about all of the drug taking and sex etc ad infinitum the reader does feel bored and overwhelmed with it. Everything is meaningless and no one cares about anyone, except who they will have sex with or where they will score from next. The parts that keep you reading the novel are the parts where the characters actually reveal they have something more to them.
Sean tells Lauren he loves her, they agree to get married (which ends) actually that's probably it, except there are some scenes with Victor and empathy towards some people in the crowd that are good. Mainly, Sean has the scenes of something more to him, with his dying father and his overbearing brother. He, for me is the character that stands out in all of his ugliness he was something actually. He had something deeper to him, the way he describes Lauren and the way he loved Lauren.
One thing though it does become funny in some scenes where a girl talks about all the people who are sleeping with each other, cheating on partners it just sounds absurd. Which is the point I guess. There are constant 80s references that I love because I grew up then. It is amusing the references to the things they are wearing, swatch watches and tab and diet coke and radios and tapes.
There is a line at the end where Sean says and nothing has changed and they all seem to go back to their hopeless behaviour. Sean picks up a girl he's not interested in, Lauren goes off with Victor who is using her, Paul chases more boys...the meaninglessness of their behaviour continues.
This is a truth in some people's lives. Only through spiritual transformation can people change, but these people, there is nothing they wish to do beyond feed their physical desires. So their cycle goes around and around and sometimes it disgusts them like with Sean when he says he doesn't want to sleep around anymore only be with Lauren. But eventually her lack of love for him destroys that.
So anyway, this was a bit of a ramble but it's the kind of book you have to ramble about. You feel like you have to have therapy after the book or debrief or cleanse yourself somehow. I think it is the same with Less Than Zero. Life is so dirty and disgusting in this book and its all over you, and you need a bath.
It is great to read books like this. I will take a lot from Easton Ellis in techniques and I will admire what he has done. But my basic philosophy is different. Although, I think this book proves Easton Ellis is not really a nihilist he is showing the greed, futility, reality, shallow qualities and pain of the 80s. The funny thing is AIDS does not come into the novel. Maybe it was only just being discovered. Some of those characters in this book would have AIDS, and would probably have died in the following years of that or another STD.
This is a rich book. A book that completely enveloped me into its world. The characters are stunning to me in their abhorrence and depth and in the fact that he keeps you reading about people you don't even like! He is an exceptional writer. This book I could try to say I enjoyed it, but it is much more than that. So I could say, it was amazing.
A revealing deep book about shallow, self centered, people doing whatever they wanted. It is the result of believing in a nihilistic world. It is people living what they believe, with no spiritual framework for life. At least they are being honest and authentic, so many people believe nihilistic things and yet they live in a valued filled world, that is based on spiritual ideas.
Anyway now I am off the topic. Characters that are living without morals, come what may. That's the ugliness and sincerity of this book. It is honest, raw and gritty, and remains, lingers...impacts. whoa. I could say so much more but I will stop now.
Actually I just had a thought, and maybe someone can comment on this. Is Easton Ellis sort of commenting on the 80s the way Nick Hornby is also commenting on the 90s? I think they are doing similar things. I am so thankful that maybe this decade compassion for other people is not totally out of the question, I feel like there may be a different feeling now. Actually even in Hornby's novels this theme of self centered character who doesn't care about anyone actually decides to be different, so Hornby differs to Easton Ellis like that. The character in About a Boy changes at the end and in High Fidelity.
Anyway, I like the comparison with these authors. Also, I wonder who is writing for this decade? And indeed what would we write? Are we all just out for ourselves as usual? Of course it is the same but there are peculiarities that will be distinguised in this time over any other. There always are in history. Different world leaders, different economic climate, different wars being waged, threats or lack of threats.
Every era is different its human nature that stays the same.
22 Feb 2009
Novel Writing subject beginning...
Hello again
(I will get back to doing a blog on Hemingway soon if anyone was wondering.)
I have started to read The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis and I think it's cool the way he starts the novel in the middle of a sentence. His manner of narration is to write in first person with each section a different character talking about their experiences. It is quite an overwhelming style. Lots of telling, but it does draw you in with their voice and the subject matter.
The characters some of them if not all of them are very unlikable; they are hollow, bitchy, shallow, drug taking and hedonistic. I guess this book is like Less Than Zero was - nihilistic and a lot of sex and drugs and the meaningless of life. I did like that movie didn't read the book though.
I am enjoying reading something really different but I would probably not write something similar. There are some things I am learning from him, the conversational narrative voice style that I have always liked and often used. I really like that. But as for spending a whole novel talking about how they have abused, raped, disrespected, took drugs with, hated, how they were raped by two guys and more...I wouldn't do that.
I guess he made a very poignant point about his society in the 80's when he was writing. Commentators say he was writing about how hollow his generation was and the novel perfectly fulfills this function. It is superb at it in fact. I am definitely enjoying it though and I will probably have a look at Luna Park his other novel that people tell me is better than this one.
Starting university tomorrow. Yay! Hopefully, I can sort out tutorials so they fit on the day. I am looking forward to this subject I have wanted to do this subject for ages now.
On another note I have started to work on some short stories this weekend. I am thinking of submitting to competitions just as a way to give myself deadlines for my work. It is just a good way to keep disciplining your process and writing all the time, and getting yourself out there. Things are calming down in my life and I am going to focus on my writing now, a lot more.
Stay tuned for more about this subject and my writing including my poetry, that I seem to be writing more than ever. I never wrote poetry before, but now I am regularly writing short poems, enjoying words.
See you soon :) Say hi if you want to on here, it's nice to hear from a reader.
(I will get back to doing a blog on Hemingway soon if anyone was wondering.)
I have started to read The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis and I think it's cool the way he starts the novel in the middle of a sentence. His manner of narration is to write in first person with each section a different character talking about their experiences. It is quite an overwhelming style. Lots of telling, but it does draw you in with their voice and the subject matter.
The characters some of them if not all of them are very unlikable; they are hollow, bitchy, shallow, drug taking and hedonistic. I guess this book is like Less Than Zero was - nihilistic and a lot of sex and drugs and the meaningless of life. I did like that movie didn't read the book though.
I am enjoying reading something really different but I would probably not write something similar. There are some things I am learning from him, the conversational narrative voice style that I have always liked and often used. I really like that. But as for spending a whole novel talking about how they have abused, raped, disrespected, took drugs with, hated, how they were raped by two guys and more...I wouldn't do that.
I guess he made a very poignant point about his society in the 80's when he was writing. Commentators say he was writing about how hollow his generation was and the novel perfectly fulfills this function. It is superb at it in fact. I am definitely enjoying it though and I will probably have a look at Luna Park his other novel that people tell me is better than this one.
Starting university tomorrow. Yay! Hopefully, I can sort out tutorials so they fit on the day. I am looking forward to this subject I have wanted to do this subject for ages now.
On another note I have started to work on some short stories this weekend. I am thinking of submitting to competitions just as a way to give myself deadlines for my work. It is just a good way to keep disciplining your process and writing all the time, and getting yourself out there. Things are calming down in my life and I am going to focus on my writing now, a lot more.
Stay tuned for more about this subject and my writing including my poetry, that I seem to be writing more than ever. I never wrote poetry before, but now I am regularly writing short poems, enjoying words.
See you soon :) Say hi if you want to on here, it's nice to hear from a reader.
24 Jan 2009
Documentary Subject
Hi again
I think my last blog sounded like I am not optimistic about my year ahead. This is not the case. I am very excited about the prospect of this year for the things that are happening. I am going to do a media writing subject at uni which involves script writing and documentary making! Something I have never done before!
How exciting! I have friends who are working with kids in Africa and other parts of the world and ever since I was very young I have wanted to help people. With a camera people can be helped a little easier, because other people can "see" what's happening more than just with words on a page, although we all know I love words on a page!.
I am excited by the prospect that I might have skills that could help people in a tangible way around the world. Ever since I visited Nepal years ago I have wanted to do this. Actually, before that. That is why I became a journalist to travel and shed light on people's struggles around the world. Somewhere on my journey the path veered off from this.
However, it's not over till it's over. So now I am still contemplating my subject choices and whether to enrol in the Masters or stay in my current course. There are lots of considerations in my life - probably most of which I haven't gone into on my blog.
But I will keep you posted on these subjects.
I am missing the Hemingway world I just left and I am looking for a new book to dive into. Maybe if I do the novel subject I will be reading novels or if I do Advanced Narrative then I wont have novels to read...now I am just rambling.
See you at the next post.
:)
I think my last blog sounded like I am not optimistic about my year ahead. This is not the case. I am very excited about the prospect of this year for the things that are happening. I am going to do a media writing subject at uni which involves script writing and documentary making! Something I have never done before!
How exciting! I have friends who are working with kids in Africa and other parts of the world and ever since I was very young I have wanted to help people. With a camera people can be helped a little easier, because other people can "see" what's happening more than just with words on a page, although we all know I love words on a page!.
I am excited by the prospect that I might have skills that could help people in a tangible way around the world. Ever since I visited Nepal years ago I have wanted to do this. Actually, before that. That is why I became a journalist to travel and shed light on people's struggles around the world. Somewhere on my journey the path veered off from this.
However, it's not over till it's over. So now I am still contemplating my subject choices and whether to enrol in the Masters or stay in my current course. There are lots of considerations in my life - probably most of which I haven't gone into on my blog.
But I will keep you posted on these subjects.
I am missing the Hemingway world I just left and I am looking for a new book to dive into. Maybe if I do the novel subject I will be reading novels or if I do Advanced Narrative then I wont have novels to read...now I am just rambling.
See you at the next post.
:)
9 Jan 2009
Poem that received a Highly Commended award in the WARM Writing Competition 2010
This poem expressed my emotions following the death of a close friend. As I have said before I am not a poet, however at the moment, poetry is all I am writing.
Breath
Breath is all that separates,
Me from you,
Now…
So often lately,
I have to remind myself to exhale,
My torso holding my breath in,
Like an unconscious desire,
I have to tell my body to release the air.
Let it escape there.
Cause deep down I know,
It is this simple thing,
These air vapours passing across my tongue,
They are all
That separates me from you.
You lay on the road,
Your life was going,
That day I became breathless,
For no real reason,
But now I know why,
Cause you were leaving,
My body knew.
And now I remind myself,
Breathe, Sue,
Breathe…
Cause sometimes somewhere deep,
I must remember,
It’s all that separates me from you.
Breath
Breath is all that separates,
Me from you,
Now…
So often lately,
I have to remind myself to exhale,
My torso holding my breath in,
Like an unconscious desire,
I have to tell my body to release the air.
Let it escape there.
Cause deep down I know,
It is this simple thing,
These air vapours passing across my tongue,
They are all
That separates me from you.
You lay on the road,
Your life was going,
That day I became breathless,
For no real reason,
But now I know why,
Cause you were leaving,
My body knew.
And now I remind myself,
Breathe, Sue,
Breathe…
Cause sometimes somewhere deep,
I must remember,
It’s all that separates me from you.
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