Patterns and Craft

Aug 19, 2009 08:14

I've been on the run showing my house guests all over Southern California. Too bad we can't do internet runs while sitting on the freeway. I could have caught up on every missed post going back ten years. Ah well, wait for the implants.

One observation before I get to the post I had some ideas about. Monday my visitors wanted to see The Getty Read more... )

wrting, art, links

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asakiyume August 19 2009, 17:47:45 UTC
Architecture suited to place--oh yes. So, so true. My father claims that the State University of New York at Albany was built from architectural plans originally intended for a site in India--it is airy and open and has fountains.... but in upstate New York, the fountains can only be turned on just as the students are leaving for the summer, and the expanses of open piazza collect snow and become slippery, messy places.

I love pre-electricity ways of staying cool--conceptually, anyway. I understand that in present-day LA's heat, you need something more. In Japan, wind chimes are meant to make you think of water, and help you cool down. I remember seeing, too, some building in Algeria--with thick clay walls, and a grillework pattern that let in breeze but only indirect sun...

And love and craft. You need both. Craft without love can feel facile or empty, love without craft, as you say, may not convey what it wants to.

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sartorias August 19 2009, 18:08:49 UTC
The question of love is a difficult one to pin down. If we are to be believed, Georgette Heyer loved her medieval novel--which reads like dry gravel. She despised the fans who enjoyed her easily-written Regencies (which follow predictable patterns) but they are far, far better in all ways than her beloved (but unfinished) masterwork. Craft was the same, the medieval had the love . . . but.

Then there is that strange man who was a janitor in Chicago who covered pages, and walls, with his beloved story--which to others read like a highly schizo, and often pornographic, version of The Land of Oz as I recall. Plenty of love there, but no craft.

These days, when I see a writer say "I just love what I wrote!" I think, great, that meant it was a joy to write. But alas, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be a joy to read.

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asakiyume August 19 2009, 18:17:34 UTC
I guess if someone just loves what they write, at least there's one happy reader (namely, the author him/herself). But most of us want broader audiences.

That's part of what being human *is*--finding a way to communicate meaningfully with one another.

Maybe it's easier to get better at expressing oneself with something that doesn't matter so viscerally --maybe that's why works that authors don't love as much get the audience love. But if you really want to share the stuff you love most, I guess you work hard to find a way to express it.

But there are no guarantees ever.

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sartorias August 19 2009, 18:29:45 UTC
No guarantees. I was just thinking about this as I did some food prep--I remember being in a workshop once many years ago. There was a writer around my own age (early twenties) who had a good ear for dialogue, and her plot sense zipped right along. But her favorite novel, which some of us began to dread her bringing up, was centered around a character that was just like her. This was not a Mary Sue in the full sense. The character was prettier than the writer, that is, everyone said she was prettier. The key thing was, the character showed all the writer's idiosyncracies and personality traits. This made for a vivid character . . . the falldown for the reader (and it took a long time for us clueless newbies to figure this out, and then no one could think of a way to express it) was that the other characters invariably thought her reactions were wonderful--funny--special. So even though the character wasn't a Mary Sue in the usual sense, she took a Sue's place by being the center of everyone's admiration. And some of those ( ... )

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asakiyume August 19 2009, 19:01:39 UTC
What I find bemusing about the situation you describe is that I don't know ANYone who thinks that their jokes, habits, etc., meet with universal approval. Most people are keenly aware of how (to their minds) they're NOT appreciated. How strange that this particular writer could observe herself so well, but couldn't see other people's reactions.

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sartorias August 19 2009, 19:36:11 UTC
I think what was going on was that she was puzzled by others' reactions, and in her story world, everything worked out. Looking back, I see a super smart math-mind type who had some serious social disconnects. Like she couldn't see how everyone in a room winced when she'd wave her hand violently, stand with her toes in, and say in a little girl voice "Hoppy brickle!" when it was someone's birthday. In her mind, she was adorable. In her story, people reacted the way she expected people to act around adorableness, not the odd, unpredictable way she found in RL.

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asakiyume August 19 2009, 19:39:59 UTC
That makes PERFECT sense. I've met people like her--exactly. Your "Hoppy brickle" example is perfect.

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