Just don't call us "emo"
I'm more than a bit hesitant to talk about my own writing on any level above and beyond "here's something I wrote, I think it's swell"; I think we're all not necessarily the best judges of our own work and I'm petrified of claiming something about/for myself and having everyone else go "no, you're completely wrong". But then I remember that I've never really read others being self-reflective where I've had that reaction and I get over myself a little. Which is good, because John Cunningham has just posted something over on his blog about formalism vs. (uh, actually I don't know what to call the other side) that I hope will start some sort of discussion (I've got a haphazard but hopefully not totally incoherent comment up already).
I think I definitely tend to value and write about evocation over structure in music, especially when I feel passionately about it; my style may not be quite as poetic (or whatever you want to call it) as someone like Mike Powell's (and Mike has written quite well on his blog about the limits and problems as well as the advantages of that style) but I think (and I hope Mike would agree) that we both have a bit of a mystic bent in our approach to music. It's just that he writes more like one.
Sometimes I feel like there's a huge disjunct between my writing style (and it feels weird even calling it that, because from the inside there's never really a style; you just write stuff down and other people notice patterns) and the way I actually appreciate music, and I read someone else and wish I wrote more like them. But I write like I talk, as anyone who has ever sat down with me at a bar knows, and if meeting him was any indication, so does Mike (and Andrew, and Todd, and William, and so on).
And again, to paraphase Alfred Soto very loosely, I don't sound anything like Philip K. Dick either. Or Thomas Pynchon or Grant Morrison or anyone else I read/have read - I'm sure they've had some effect, but just because you love the way someone writes doesn't mean you sit down and try to change your style to reflect it. You just sit down and write what comes, and hopefully it's good. But it's not going to sound like anyone else if you're doing it right, no matter how much you'd like it to.
I think I definitely tend to value and write about evocation over structure in music, especially when I feel passionately about it; my style may not be quite as poetic (or whatever you want to call it) as someone like Mike Powell's (and Mike has written quite well on his blog about the limits and problems as well as the advantages of that style) but I think (and I hope Mike would agree) that we both have a bit of a mystic bent in our approach to music. It's just that he writes more like one.
Sometimes I feel like there's a huge disjunct between my writing style (and it feels weird even calling it that, because from the inside there's never really a style; you just write stuff down and other people notice patterns) and the way I actually appreciate music, and I read someone else and wish I wrote more like them. But I write like I talk, as anyone who has ever sat down with me at a bar knows, and if meeting him was any indication, so does Mike (and Andrew, and Todd, and William, and so on).
And again, to paraphase Alfred Soto very loosely, I don't sound anything like Philip K. Dick either. Or Thomas Pynchon or Grant Morrison or anyone else I read/have read - I'm sure they've had some effect, but just because you love the way someone writes doesn't mean you sit down and try to change your style to reflect it. You just sit down and write what comes, and hopefully it's good. But it's not going to sound like anyone else if you're doing it right, no matter how much you'd like it to.
I said that you sound like Philip K. Dick, Pynchon, et al?
Posted by
Alfred Soto |
11:26 AM
No, you were talking about some author you liked and pointed out that although you liked the author a lot your writing didn't sound anything like theirs.
I said it was a very loose paraphrase.
Posted by
Ian |
12:41 PM
Oh, right. I suspect we're not the only ones whose styles unconsciously imitate what we profess to ignore; a musician buddy told me a few days ago that as much he loves Pete Townsend he can only get his guitar to sound like Ace Frehley.
Posted by
Alfred Soto |
3:31 PM
No, you were talking about some author you liked and pointed out that although you liked the author a lot your writing didn't sound anything like theirs.
Is the original source of this point my writing on Cale? I am THE ORIGINAL SOURCE.
Actually, I have a hard time examining my own writing, too, and virtually never read it once it's sent off.
Posted by
Justin Cober-Lake |
9:57 PM
Actually, Justin, Ian and I exchanged drunken mutterings on this subject in NYC a few months ago.
But it's true that I also cannot reread my work.
Posted by
Alfred Soto |
10:10 PM
I can re-read my own stuff, and even feel proud of it sometimes, but usually it's as if it's someone else's.
And yes, this mostly dates back to StylusCon05, although I'd love to get a link to Justin's writings on Cale.
Posted by
Ian |
11:22 PM