Ramblings
Last year a big group of my friends went on a big fitness kick. They all got memberships for a local gym, they would all workout together, and everyone made a big deal about how much they were workin out and how much better they feel as human beings.
Except me, and I mearly continued to workout at home, daily, as I had for the last few years.
What I wasn't expecting was how...irritating I found this whole experience. You'd think I would be thrilled that I could share another part if my life with my nearest an dearest, but instead I wanted to claw their eyes out.
Was I jealous that they're suddenly giving and receiving praise and attention for something that I've been doing for nothing? Maybe, but I have an alternate theory: I just hate having to repeatedly hear things I already know.
In the last few months my roommate suddenly found a sense of fulfilment in his work...which is pretty much exactly the same line of work as me. Again, amazing news and now I have someone who I can share my passion of character/world creation with...but holy fuck I want to punch him in the eyes. He gets so excited about his work, going on and on about how he's coming up with these races of people and their religions and blah blah... All things that I have been doing for years. My spare time is dedicated to creating people and the environments that make them who they are.
His sudden interest in all of that doesn't take anything away from my own..but goddamn.
And today, another small incident that prompted me to write this: a very close friend of mine voiced concern for my current situation and she wished me nothing but good things an offered her support. She's one of my all time favourite people and Also one of the few who have been through similar things as I. She also sent me an article she found interesting ... And it's left me fuming. Why? Because it's all shit I already know and ideas that I've already written about extensively.
"Did you know that the meaning of life goes beyond the search for happiness? " yes. Yes I did. Now excuse me as I dive out this window.
This same phenomena can make reading for my classes quite aggravating. When I read things I already know I can feel my nerves wind up in frustration and bitter anger and I typically won't be able to finish whatever I'm reading.
Anyway, none of that is especially interesting, I just needed to get some irritation off my chest.
Something that IS interesting: The non-physical (metaphysical?) dimensions of books. A book can have height, width, and depth. A good book will be generous in height and depth, while most poorly written books will only have width.
I was thinking about Tolkein's collection if works and why I find them so incredibly enjoyable. I normally have difficulty reading fantasy as I find it lacking in over-arching ideas or any real substance, but his work is different. I was confused as to why that is, as there aren't any major ideas being presented in his work, and it occurred to me that he makes up for that in depth of detail. From the creation of a universe down to the grammar of fictional languages, he made all of it. No detail was too small to be considered an woven into the larger narratives. Absolute engagement in one's own work is admirable.
So to explain myself: depth of a work is the level of detail and attention paid to those details.
The opposite if this is superficiality of detail. Cliches thrown in with no thought, or little to no detail at all.
The ideas I normally look for in a work would be represented in height. The loftier the ideas being handled, the taller the work.
A squat book doesn't stray far from the ideas you can pick off the ground - people stuff, or things that sound interesting but have no practical application. Stuff like "The secret" and "the power of now" have collapsed so far in on themselves they're even under the dirt.
And width is pretty obvious: the extent of the work. In a book or trilogy it equates to the amount written. Ideally a book's height and depth would be proportionate to its width. There's nothing I hate more in a book than a shittionne of words that say nothing. "Girl with the dragon tattoo" was one of the worst offenders for that in recent memory.
If your book takes place in modern day, with modern technology and ordinary circumstances, it doesn't need to be 500 + pages long. That immediately tells me you have no idea what you're doing.
I'm imagining all of this as a big 3D structure with opaque sides (dark purple) which allow for interior space that is dependent on the depth - which is why depth is so important. I imagine all the details filling up the dark space on the inside, that you'll never see! Which makes it so...appealing.
Posted via m.livejournal.com.
Except me, and I mearly continued to workout at home, daily, as I had for the last few years.
What I wasn't expecting was how...irritating I found this whole experience. You'd think I would be thrilled that I could share another part if my life with my nearest an dearest, but instead I wanted to claw their eyes out.
Was I jealous that they're suddenly giving and receiving praise and attention for something that I've been doing for nothing? Maybe, but I have an alternate theory: I just hate having to repeatedly hear things I already know.
In the last few months my roommate suddenly found a sense of fulfilment in his work...which is pretty much exactly the same line of work as me. Again, amazing news and now I have someone who I can share my passion of character/world creation with...but holy fuck I want to punch him in the eyes. He gets so excited about his work, going on and on about how he's coming up with these races of people and their religions and blah blah... All things that I have been doing for years. My spare time is dedicated to creating people and the environments that make them who they are.
His sudden interest in all of that doesn't take anything away from my own..but goddamn.
And today, another small incident that prompted me to write this: a very close friend of mine voiced concern for my current situation and she wished me nothing but good things an offered her support. She's one of my all time favourite people and Also one of the few who have been through similar things as I. She also sent me an article she found interesting ... And it's left me fuming. Why? Because it's all shit I already know and ideas that I've already written about extensively.
"Did you know that the meaning of life goes beyond the search for happiness? " yes. Yes I did. Now excuse me as I dive out this window.
This same phenomena can make reading for my classes quite aggravating. When I read things I already know I can feel my nerves wind up in frustration and bitter anger and I typically won't be able to finish whatever I'm reading.
Anyway, none of that is especially interesting, I just needed to get some irritation off my chest.
Something that IS interesting: The non-physical (metaphysical?) dimensions of books. A book can have height, width, and depth. A good book will be generous in height and depth, while most poorly written books will only have width.
I was thinking about Tolkein's collection if works and why I find them so incredibly enjoyable. I normally have difficulty reading fantasy as I find it lacking in over-arching ideas or any real substance, but his work is different. I was confused as to why that is, as there aren't any major ideas being presented in his work, and it occurred to me that he makes up for that in depth of detail. From the creation of a universe down to the grammar of fictional languages, he made all of it. No detail was too small to be considered an woven into the larger narratives. Absolute engagement in one's own work is admirable.
So to explain myself: depth of a work is the level of detail and attention paid to those details.
The opposite if this is superficiality of detail. Cliches thrown in with no thought, or little to no detail at all.
The ideas I normally look for in a work would be represented in height. The loftier the ideas being handled, the taller the work.
A squat book doesn't stray far from the ideas you can pick off the ground - people stuff, or things that sound interesting but have no practical application. Stuff like "The secret" and "the power of now" have collapsed so far in on themselves they're even under the dirt.
And width is pretty obvious: the extent of the work. In a book or trilogy it equates to the amount written. Ideally a book's height and depth would be proportionate to its width. There's nothing I hate more in a book than a shittionne of words that say nothing. "Girl with the dragon tattoo" was one of the worst offenders for that in recent memory.
If your book takes place in modern day, with modern technology and ordinary circumstances, it doesn't need to be 500 + pages long. That immediately tells me you have no idea what you're doing.
I'm imagining all of this as a big 3D structure with opaque sides (dark purple) which allow for interior space that is dependent on the depth - which is why depth is so important. I imagine all the details filling up the dark space on the inside, that you'll never see! Which makes it so...appealing.
Posted via m.livejournal.com.