Meme
Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you. (Please note: If you simply wish to comment on something I've said but don't want to participate in the meme, that is fine. I will only give you five words if you specifically comment you with 'Words!')
neifile7 gave me: Lyrical, classical, Lost, Bulgakov, Renaissance woman
lyrical - My prose style has always been wordy and overwrought. Excess, I am your friend. I think it stems from a childhood and teenage passion for camp, fin de siecle culture, etc. I used to do a zine called Lushbaby Weekly and live a home dubbed the Lushbaby House because I loved the connotations of lavishness, excess, and passion. My 21st birthday was a cross-dressing ball dedicated to excess. I played miniature golf carrying a parasol AND a cane AND a long cigarette holder (and my club) and wearing a picture hat. I had multiple names and personas, instead of just one. I think sometimes it's a desire, a need to describe something adequately so that others can see exactly what I see in my head - though I know that's impossible. Almost every readable piece I've ever written started as a flow of words and images, often in the form of poetry. Then the writing is the process of stripping out, cutting away, culling, shaping. And I am not brutal enough to make all of the necessary cuts which is why I always need a stern beta reader. I do love language almost more than reality. Well, sometimes more than reality. Rather than a cool, spare, white space I will take a layered Central American jungle, fleshy leaves hiding ancient pyramids and temples, the smell of rot and the dirt rising in the rain. When I am working on a piece, I almost always read it aloud as I am revising. Hearing the words spoken helps me to shape a piece.
classical - I studied Latin for 7 years. I enjoy reading works by dead guys. Long dead guys. I like old ideas because when you peel back the hard shell you discover the fruit is still green, unripe, waiting for us to tease it out and work with it.
Lost - The idea of being lost, being yanked from out of one's normal life, to discover that all of your life there have been these machinations going on, this behind the scenes stuff that has impacted you and you never knew it, questions of sanity vs insanity and whether there is a difference, the idea of destiny and of the locks that time travel places upon our actions, monsters, unseen watchers, secret societies, eternity, breaking the laws of nature, underground rooms with giant pendulums that sway over a map of the world, that there are concerns larger than human concerns and a time frame that doesn't take us into account, a story that doesn't present all of the answers and never will so that we have the pleasure of conjecture and interpretation.
Bulgakov - Heart of the Dog, Master and Margarita, The Fatal Eggs - absurdity and sharp critique. The best of these is TMAM. Did you know Bulgakov rewrote it from memory because he burned his draft? And that it was circulated via samisdat for years before it was published? And that it's about a writer and there's a story within the story? It's such a pleasure! I've given away so many copies of this book over the years.
Renaissance woman - I dabble. In a lot of stuff. Easily bored, easily distracted, obsessive on occasion, given to taking copious notes on things since I was a child, still have a spiral I filled with interesting words when I was 10 or 11, there are too many books and ideas and things to know in the world (universe) and I desperately try to catch everything read everything know everything even though it's impossible. And everything is connected, so every avenue of investigation takes one onto surprising paths. I go days without really sleeping, getting up after 2 or 3 hours in bed, and that gives me time to read and think. The problem is that everything is interesting. I would love to live forever because I would study everything.
neifile7 gave me: Lyrical, classical, Lost, Bulgakov, Renaissance woman
lyrical - My prose style has always been wordy and overwrought. Excess, I am your friend. I think it stems from a childhood and teenage passion for camp, fin de siecle culture, etc. I used to do a zine called Lushbaby Weekly and live a home dubbed the Lushbaby House because I loved the connotations of lavishness, excess, and passion. My 21st birthday was a cross-dressing ball dedicated to excess. I played miniature golf carrying a parasol AND a cane AND a long cigarette holder (and my club) and wearing a picture hat. I had multiple names and personas, instead of just one. I think sometimes it's a desire, a need to describe something adequately so that others can see exactly what I see in my head - though I know that's impossible. Almost every readable piece I've ever written started as a flow of words and images, often in the form of poetry. Then the writing is the process of stripping out, cutting away, culling, shaping. And I am not brutal enough to make all of the necessary cuts which is why I always need a stern beta reader. I do love language almost more than reality. Well, sometimes more than reality. Rather than a cool, spare, white space I will take a layered Central American jungle, fleshy leaves hiding ancient pyramids and temples, the smell of rot and the dirt rising in the rain. When I am working on a piece, I almost always read it aloud as I am revising. Hearing the words spoken helps me to shape a piece.
classical - I studied Latin for 7 years. I enjoy reading works by dead guys. Long dead guys. I like old ideas because when you peel back the hard shell you discover the fruit is still green, unripe, waiting for us to tease it out and work with it.
Lost - The idea of being lost, being yanked from out of one's normal life, to discover that all of your life there have been these machinations going on, this behind the scenes stuff that has impacted you and you never knew it, questions of sanity vs insanity and whether there is a difference, the idea of destiny and of the locks that time travel places upon our actions, monsters, unseen watchers, secret societies, eternity, breaking the laws of nature, underground rooms with giant pendulums that sway over a map of the world, that there are concerns larger than human concerns and a time frame that doesn't take us into account, a story that doesn't present all of the answers and never will so that we have the pleasure of conjecture and interpretation.
Bulgakov - Heart of the Dog, Master and Margarita, The Fatal Eggs - absurdity and sharp critique. The best of these is TMAM. Did you know Bulgakov rewrote it from memory because he burned his draft? And that it was circulated via samisdat for years before it was published? And that it's about a writer and there's a story within the story? It's such a pleasure! I've given away so many copies of this book over the years.
Renaissance woman - I dabble. In a lot of stuff. Easily bored, easily distracted, obsessive on occasion, given to taking copious notes on things since I was a child, still have a spiral I filled with interesting words when I was 10 or 11, there are too many books and ideas and things to know in the world (universe) and I desperately try to catch everything read everything know everything even though it's impossible. And everything is connected, so every avenue of investigation takes one onto surprising paths. I go days without really sleeping, getting up after 2 or 3 hours in bed, and that gives me time to read and think. The problem is that everything is interesting. I would love to live forever because I would study everything.