DIfferent People, Different Perceptions

Something interesting happened to me this week after I hit upon what I think is a really interesting idea for a short story. Part adventure, part creep-me-out I ended up staying up very late jotting down notes for it. The next few days I told a handful of close friends the idea and got different reactions from nearly each one:

One friend said it was boring because nothing happens at the end. There's a build up and then nothing.
Another friend went off the rails and put a comedic spin to the whole story.
Yet another said, "Don't tell me things like that. That's just creepy."
A fourth friend didn't really offer an opinion but helped flesh out the details of the events in the story.

To me the very fact that something doesn't happen at the end of the story and we leave it just as we begin, but with a greater awareness of what's going on is what creeps me out. It's a story that won't be difficult to write mechanically speaking but on subtler levels it still pops in and out of my thoughts every day since I came up with the original idea.

It's like the old saying about how you can't please everyone all the time. Different people have different life experiences and interpret the world through different filters. I suppose the trick to being a successful writer, or painter or musician is not the quality of the work you're making but with how many people it resonates with. Maybe it's an inverse proportion quality vs popularity, I hope not.

Jack Kerouac, Scrolls and Ginsberg

This is just kinda neat because it combines to things that I'm fairly passionate about, writing and photography. Jack Kerouac was photographed by fellow writer Allen Ginsberg.

Also interesting is that the original scroll Kerouac used to write On The Road has been published by Viking so if you want you can finally read the original draft of it. Somehow the idea of writing a novel on a scroll is very appealing to me. I can just see myself now carrying around a scroll and handwriting a novel or short stories on it.

Despite several friends and even two strangers giving me copies of the book I've never managed to read the entire thing which is something I plan on correcting this winter.

A Novel In Weeks, Six Weeks

Just about anyone can write a "light-hearted" novel in 6 weeks, probably less really given the popularity of NanoWrimo or a novel in a weekend or a Novel A Day contests. (Btw, nothing against them, I'm going to do Nano again this year.)

But when you're hired to write a novel in an incredibly popular series, one that is literally a household name, it seems to me that you should spend as much time as you think you need to hammer out something worthy of the brand you're keeping alive. Maybe this guy did, I dunno, I have not read his novel yet.

The deal is that:

Author Sebastian Faulks has revealed that he completed the new James Bond novel, ‘Devil May Care’ in just six weeks.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. I know a writer who clackity-clacks their way though 10,000 words in a day then doesn't touch their keyboard for days, and I know another who is lucky to get maybe 200 words a day every other week. Writing isn't about speed, it's about telling a good story. If this guy can do it -and do the brand justice- in six weeks more power to him I say. But that's something I, personally, wouldn't brag about unless it was for something like Nanowrimo.

Pushing Reality Aside At An Early Age

Reality is a hassle; that's why many people like to read and it's something that's not just attractive to young adults onward, apparently preschoolers can find themselves swept away by a good yarn...

A large part of enjoying a good book is getting immersed in the life of a character, especially a character's thoughts and feelings. A new University of Waterloo psychology study shows that preschoolers can already perform this impressive perspective-taking feat and get into the minds of story characters.