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wo buxihuan hanguoren
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Location: Suyuskis
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 Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| I have an hour-long commute to and from work each day. Lots of time to get some writing done. Whether or not I'm particularly inspired, Korea certainly has made me productive. |
Had the same when I lived in Guro. Thank Beelzebub I am out of that scenario now I guess. |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:57 am Post subject: |
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Do you feel degraded?
When I was growing up, I liked to compose music and had aspirations of becoming a famous composer.
(I still do.)
I felt very depressed when I went to a summer music camp where half the other violin students played better than I did.
My musical creativity took a downward plunge that summer. |
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ironhead
Joined: 25 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:10 am Post subject: |
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Writers are born to write.
If you ain't writing, you're not a writer. |
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jessie-b
Joined: 17 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Oh Tomato! You should still compose music! Who cares if people are "better" than you? I know, I grew up playing classical and jazz music too and gave up writing songs and had major insecurity issues around people who were "better" than me. The music industry(and the classical music scene) is so messed up. You should listen to Fair Game with Faith Sallie. Its a podcast. She has a musical guest every episode, all from different backgrounds. You might think some of them suck but some of them might touch you. Its kind of a lesson in keeping on, no matter what anyone thinks of you. Composing is so personal, like writing. People can tell you how its done, but they're always proven wrong. You can take bits of what they say and adapt it for your own use. |
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Don Gately
Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Location: In a basement taking a severe beating
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| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:01 am Post subject: |
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| tfunk wrote: |
| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work." -Gustave Flaubert
Emily Dickinson did some pretty good writing and she never even went outside. |
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squat toilet
Joined: 08 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| Don Gately wrote: |
| tfunk wrote: |
| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work." -Gustave Flaubert
Emily Dickinson did some pretty good writing and she never even went outside. |
The kooky bitch |
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Xerxes
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Location: Down a certain (rabbit) hole, apparently
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 1:46 am Post subject: |
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I agree, it's not so much the inspiration to write but the time and the comfort enough to write.
I am very picky where and how I write. I gotta have some span of at least 5 hours of undisturbed time with a very good keyboard wireless keyboard. These two are a must. A good sized monitor (so I can see the past remnants of my writing so that I can stay focused and not feel I'm writing in a box), plenty of little stuff like ear swabs, nail clippers, eye drops, my favorite pens (even though I use the keyboard more often, they are my inspiration--they just feel so good in my hand).
I could care less what's going on outside my windows, however. Interesting discussion. |
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tfunk
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:27 am Post subject: |
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| Don Gately wrote: |
| tfunk wrote: |
| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work." -Gustave Flaubert
Emily Dickinson did some pretty good writing and she never even went outside. |
Emily Dickinson's life was in danger of death, she was obsessed by death. Gustav was anything but 'regular and orderly' in his life, he was neurotic from childhood. |
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Xerxes
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Location: Down a certain (rabbit) hole, apparently
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 6:52 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| There's a writing group in Sokcho if you're interested. |
This will sound arrogant, but I have not had much luck with "writing groups."
The members almost always seemed a horribly depressed group of misfits coming to the meetings for free psychoanalysis. And, the ones who are the most messed up and immature are the ones who are the most vocal--and write the least or write horribly childish gibberish. I have not met one serious writer, yet, with the intellect or emotional guts to continue to write.
The discussions, too, were never really literary but more testimonials about their "literary" life: code for how messed up their lives were and how they were looking for more titillating experiences.
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| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
There is a difference between being bohemian and being a writer. Many a bohemian have written, and written well, but membership in the former does not make membership in the latter any easier or automatic. Creativity starts in the mind, not in the pants. The kind that starts in the pants merely beget bastards.
I read about the creative exchange between writers in certain eras or among or between certain writers. The influence that one receives almost always seems parasitic: one benefits much more than the other, and the weaker one usually ends up not being able to break free of the stronger writer's (or the stronger personality's, though not necessarily the stronger writer's) grip.
Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.
Be careful that you wish for all the time in the world to write and the financial backing or nest egg to do so. The certainty that you must create now or never will most certainly kill your writing. I prefer to struggle along all alone and get my writing style strong enough to weather the inevitable challenges to come later, if the effort was in any way successful.
Like I said, sorry for sounding arrogant, but I believe the truth of writing groups and "experiences" should be warning to any of you young Shakespeare's out there with the raw ability but lost as to how to start.
For those of you others, time will make you give up your ghost. Time always wins. And all throughout, you will never know if you have it. If someone did tell you, you can't trust them or they will inevitably aggravate you more for your knowing, even that you are good.  |
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twg
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: Getting some fresh air...
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 7:00 am Post subject: |
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You know what REALLY inspires?
Deadlines.
I think would-be Shakespeares need more of these. |
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tfunk
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:49 am Post subject: |
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| Xerxes wrote: |
| Quote: |
| There's a writing group in Sokcho if you're interested. |
This will sound arrogant...
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| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
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Well I am messed up psychologically but for me writing is all about ironing out my conflicts and making a good ego as well. Stories are good when they've got beginning middles and ends but life is richer when the threads run off into the void. Maybe I don't take writing as seriously as you, I'm not trying to define myself as a writer, it's something I enjoy. I understand your post and I relate to the sentiment.
BTW, your post is full of style but doesn't have a lot to say. |
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Poemer
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Location: Mullae
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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| twg wrote: |
You know what REALLY inspires?
Deadlines.
I think would-be Shakespeares need more of these. |
Bingo
You have to set goals for yourself in writing, as in all things, if you want to be successful. You have to have a reason to write.
"inspiration" is a fallacy, the muse rarely descends from on high to deliver honeyed verse, you gotta grab that bi0tch by the hair and drag her down the stairs. Writing IS inspiration. Sure, you write a lot of garbage in the beginning, but you have to write through it. Find your rhythm and then the good stuff starts coming; if you've got the stuff that is. Everybody's rhythm is different, and it can change over time/space. Writing is a habit you have to make a part of your life, like a musical instrument, if you want to be good. Your life is different in Korea, your writing habits will have to adapt as well. |
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Barking Mad Lord Snapcase
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| Xerxes wrote: |
Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.
Be careful that you wish for all the time in the world to write and the financial backing or nest egg to do so. The certainty that you must create now or never will most certainly kill your writing. I prefer to struggle along all alone and get my writing style strong enough to weather the inevitable challenges to come later, if the effort was in any way successful. |
Time and money do not do this all by themselves. The problem begins with the writer who can't make up one's mind. Time and money may certainly increase the temptation to do other things, or nothing at all, or - perhaps worst of all - obsess over an unrelated problem with no solution. However, succumbing to temptation is the flaw of the writer, not something that is inherent in free time or financial security.
BTW, I agree with what you said about writers and bohemians. They are not identical; they merely overlap.
If your life isn't obviously "dangerous" or "adventurous", don't worry. There's usually something in your head to compensate. |
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Don Gately
Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Location: In a basement taking a severe beating
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| Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:44 am Post subject: |
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| tfunk wrote: |
| Don Gately wrote: |
| tfunk wrote: |
| The reason you can't write is because your life isn't dangerous. |
"Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work." -Gustave Flaubert
Emily Dickinson did some pretty good writing and she never even went outside. |
Emily *beep*'s life was in danger of death, she was obsessed by death. Gustav was anything but 'regular and orderly' in his life, he was neurotic from childhood. |
Being a big ol' hypochondriac and agoraphobe is slightly different than having a "life in danger of death," non?
And what did Flaubert do to live dangerously other than sleep with prostitutes and get VD? The guy lived with his mother his entire life.
I just very much disagree that there has to be "danger" in a writer's life for them to produce anything of value, although the way you so loosely define "danger" in regards to Dickinson and Flaubert seems to rob the word of any meaning at all.
Look at David Foster-Wallace. Wrote probably the best book (with apologies to The Corrections) of the past twenty five years and what ever happened in his life that was so dangerous? If anything he went to AA meetings to suck the danger out of other people's experiences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace
I just disagree with your statement, and you've yet to convince me. Certainly great work can be produced when the writer is in danger, but I hardly think it's a requirement. |
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tfunk
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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| Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Don Gately wrote: |
| Being a big ol' hypochondriac and agoraphobe is slightly different than having a "life in danger of death," non? |
Not in her mind. She was obsessed by the idea that death could take us at any second. Sure, she didn't live dangerously, but that's not what I mean.
| Don Gately wrote: |
| And what did Flaubert do to live dangerously other than sleep with prostitutes and get VD? |
I was trying to undermine the validity of the quote referring to Flauberts life by suggesting that his life wasn't orderly, at least his mental state wasn't.
| Don Gately wrote: |
| I just very much disagree that there has to be "danger" in a writer's life for them to produce anything of value, although the way you so loosely define "danger" in regards to Dickinson and Flaubert seems to rob the word of any meaning at all. |
Good point.
| Don Gately wrote: |
I just disagree with your statement, and you've yet to convince me. Certainly great work can be produced when the writer is in danger, but I hardly think it's a requirement. |
I agree. I should have written it as a suggestion and not as a statement. I'd say that if you can't find motivation to write or don't feel like writing then you should consider giving up writing, travelling or doing something that takes you outside your conventional modus operandi...in a sence live dangerously (okay, I've loosely defined 'danger'). It's just a notion though, and I can't prove it (Bertrand Russell wrote more on the same point in his book 'The Conquest of Happiness'). |
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