as a comment this was too large to fit into your journal comment section
i'm currently reading henry miller for my first time and i keep wondering why i keep reading. i think it's because the guy can write. i also think he writes passionately, but i don't think i feel anything close to what he's feeling. i might put the book down any minute for good, but somehow it keeps me focused. but he is somewhere else, some place i don't understand.
you will not get what i say here as i intend it. no one ever understands anyone fully, yet we do communicate something don't we. so henry miller is keeping me on board and truly i come from an era where the erotic writing just isn't interesting anymore (i mean i'm not impressed with 'dirty' writing as a novelty). yet -- miller's metaphors as metaphors; his ongoing style with commas and a million words as a new way to say the word or phrase before -- fascinating language use makes me keep reading. even if i don't get it, there's a continuous flow and opportunity for me to get the next sentence or chapter. and even if i don't get it (like get something out of it), there's a sense(!) of getting something out of it, sense enough to keep on.
i digress. i mean to say me and henry are miles apart and i don't think he'll have me feeling what he has felt.
this reminds me of a quote by oscar wilde which i may only be paraphrasing: all bad poetry comes from genuine feeling. (i think he said this either in 'the decay of lying' or 'critic as arist') while i am not sure what this means, i feel it to be true, at least in a sense. consider a person new to poetry and what do they do? they rhyme and write about love. or about lost love. and they rhyme some more. we know nothing is wrong with rhyme. but how easy it is done. and to say what one feels. well, it comes off shallow and cliche. so perhaps there is a difference between writing from feeling and wanting others to feel it and writing from ...a both passioned and filtered creative process(?)... so if one is new to poetry there are two things to do: read poetry. most people that decide they want to write it have never read it, or have read very little. also, one needs to keep writing, no matter how awful.
i think that your analysis can be your writing, but you're too busy analyzing. maybe you should just keep writing. i mean, ok, yes, it's pointless. and it sucks to keep writing and feel like you're spewing shit. but to continue to write is to continue to make a space where something good might happen. passion is hard to come by. but there will be no passion unless either A. one is lucky or B. one continues to write tortured until something takes off, full of passion and forward motion. much crap must be written first. and by passion i don't mean feeling or needing to share feeling. i mean its own will is alive and with purpose, even if the purpose is to move. and this move is roark being still. you don't need plot. you belong to your age. you like roark so much because you like character. so write characters. listen to them. hear their voices. hear your voices. plot will come later but i wonder if that really matters. and here we are asking what is the point. the point is whatever the next detail of character is. you say it's all internal. sounds like you're ready to describe the process of someone or something.
my question to you, or a question to ask yourself is, are you writing? this means, are you asking about why you're writing or are you writing? this is not to say one shouldn't keep a 'writing journal' which is a journal about your process of writing, including saying things like 'what's the point.'
of course writing is for reading, either by oneself or another. but it is a process, so if you're trying to get a feeling across to someone else, and you're trying to do that now, you may as well quit and ask why write? i dare you not to quit if pointlessness bothers you. also, write if you feel like you're exercising, if you feel it is basic training, if you feel that is complete crap and its only purpose is to get through with it and be done with it. and there shouldn't be any hope except that you're doing something 5 billion other people aren't. when writing, you're not hacking someone to pieces. that's a good start don't you think? and maybe, just maybe, as the process continues, you might find a word or a sentence that you put down that may never be translated properly, but will create some ripple that you could have never imagined. then, translated 'properly' ceases as a concept. perhaps you'll want more incorrect translations. perhaps you will find you are perfect in chinese even though you don't speak a word.
in the meanwhile, i say, to you, and to myself, stop analysing unless analysing is writing, and start writing, especially if it's complete crap.
you will not get what i say here as i intend it. no one ever understands anyone fully, yet we do communicate something don't we. so henry miller is keeping me on board and truly i come from an era where the erotic writing just isn't interesting anymore (i mean i'm not impressed with 'dirty' writing as a novelty). yet -- miller's metaphors as metaphors; his ongoing style with commas and a million words as a new way to say the word or phrase before -- fascinating language use makes me keep reading. even if i don't get it, there's a continuous flow and opportunity for me to get the next sentence or chapter. and even if i don't get it (like get something out of it), there's a sense(!) of getting something out of it, sense enough to keep on.
i digress. i mean to say me and henry are miles apart and i don't think he'll have me feeling what he has felt.
this reminds me of a quote by oscar wilde which i may only be paraphrasing: all bad poetry comes from genuine feeling. (i think he said this either in 'the decay of lying' or 'critic as arist') while i am not sure what this means, i feel it to be true, at least in a sense. consider a person new to poetry and what do they do? they rhyme and write about love. or about lost love. and they rhyme some more. we know nothing is wrong with rhyme. but how easy it is done. and to say what one feels. well, it comes off shallow and cliche. so perhaps there is a difference between writing from feeling and wanting others to feel it and writing from ...a both passioned and filtered creative process(?)... so if one is new to poetry there are two things to do: read poetry. most people that decide they want to write it have never read it, or have read very little. also, one needs to keep writing, no matter how awful.
i think that your analysis can be your writing, but you're too busy analyzing. maybe you should just keep writing. i mean, ok, yes, it's pointless. and it sucks to keep writing and feel like you're spewing shit. but to continue to write is to continue to make a space where something good might happen. passion is hard to come by. but there will be no passion unless either A. one is lucky or B. one continues to write tortured until something takes off, full of passion and forward motion. much crap must be written first. and by passion i don't mean feeling or needing to share feeling. i mean its own will is alive and with purpose, even if the purpose is to move. and this move is roark being still. you don't need plot. you belong to your age. you like roark so much because you like character. so write characters. listen to them. hear their voices. hear your voices. plot will come later but i wonder if that really matters. and here we are asking what is the point. the point is whatever the next detail of character is. you say it's all internal. sounds like you're ready to describe the process of someone or something.
my question to you, or a question to ask yourself is, are you writing? this means, are you asking about why you're writing or are you writing? this is not to say one shouldn't keep a 'writing journal' which is a journal about your process of writing, including saying things like 'what's the point.'
of course writing is for reading, either by oneself or another. but it is a process, so if you're trying to get a feeling across to someone else, and you're trying to do that now, you may as well quit and ask why write? i dare you not to quit if pointlessness bothers you. also, write if you feel like you're exercising, if you feel it is basic training, if you feel that is complete crap and its only purpose is to get through with it and be done with it. and there shouldn't be any hope except that you're doing something 5 billion other people aren't. when writing, you're not hacking someone to pieces. that's a good start don't you think? and maybe, just maybe, as the process continues, you might find a word or a sentence that you put down that may never be translated properly, but will create some ripple that you could have never imagined. then, translated 'properly' ceases as a concept. perhaps you'll want more incorrect translations. perhaps you will find you are perfect in chinese even though you don't speak a word.
in the meanwhile, i say, to you, and to myself, stop analysing unless analysing is writing, and start writing, especially if it's complete crap.