Writers' Communities

[sartorias]

picked up Diana Glyer's The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien as Writers in Community, knowing that this is a book I will be happy to read piecemeal. Early on she takes to task Inklings scholars who insist, sometimes quoting from letters or diaries, that the Inklings, who met informally for nearly twenty years, had no effect on one

Comments

[houseboatonstyx]

[[ Most often given as proof, Lewis's "No one ever influenced Tolkien--you might as well try to influence a bandersnatch." And Tolkien's retort, "It's no use trying to influence you. You're uninfluenceable!" ]]

Good grief. And they didn't read Lewis's other comment on Tolkien, that he either paid no attention OR threw out the whole thing and started over from scratch?

As for "uninflulenceable", that doesn't sound like much of a retort to me. For one thing, Lewis's 'bandersnatch' comment is in third person, memoir-tense :-), looking way back, speaking to outsiders about Tolkien. The Tolkien quote is second person present, as though speaking directly to Lewis, while it's all going on. (Or not going on, as those scholars would have it.)

[sartorias]

Dunno--I was generalizing from the intro (maybe I'm misreading, I have a killer migraine today, alas) if so forgive me!

[houseboatonstyx]

Oh dear, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to sound like I was taking issue with you. I was taking issue with the scholars who would say that.

[sartorias]

It'sokay--I'm just really braindead today!

[zornhau]

"Writing might begin as an intense pleasure, getting down what is going on in your head, but finally, for most, if not for all, it's an act of communication, and for many it only becomes real when the pages have eyetracks other than one's own."

That's how I feel. Does my crit circle influence my work beyond the technical aspects? Probably not. They're not my target readership, and my bloodthirsty brand of neo-pulp would not normally find a place on their shelves - which is a good thing. People who like a genre, don't read critically.

[sartorias]

Perhaps not as much--but what after all is wrong with reading to enjoy...letting the critical barriers down?

[zornhau]

Because I want them to spot the continuity errors, bloopers, cliches... If they're too busy going "Yay! Charge!" then they'll miss the stuff that will get my work bounced.

(I check the fun levels using genre-friendly beta readers.)

[sartorias]

Ah! Of course.

[handworn]

I know exactly what you mean. It's so much easier rereading when you have very little free time. And the next level down would be reading a new book by a favorite author using characters you already know.

[sartorias]

I can't even manage that--it has to be nonfic, which of course I enjoy, but in a different way. I think the thing that defines the experience for me is: a good book pushes me through the window into the other world, and getting yanked back and forth is disagreeable. nonfic keeps me in this world, so I can switch tasks with less jolt.

[handworn]

Hmm. I'd recommend William Lee Miller's nonfic book Arguing About Slavery, but it might read a little too much like fiction, in the smooth sense. (Probably the best-written nonfiction book I've ever read.)

[sartorias]

Adding to list...

[windrose]

For me, the act of discussion with other writers/first readers is an integral part of the creation process. Sometimes, it's because I don't trust myself, and I need a more experienced voice to say, "No, you're on the right track, keep going," or to confirm that an area I feel is weak needs shoring up. Also, when my own enthusiasm is waning for whatever reason, having someone else who is excited about the project can help keep the momentum going, or see a way around a problem that I might not have noticed.

I also find other people's interpretations of my words fascinating. Four different people can read the same story and come away with four different reactions to it, it's wild. I actually had an argument break out in the comments of my fandom journal over whether or not a secondary character in a piece I'd written should be considered a villain. It meant I'd done my job, because I had deliberately kept that character's morality rather grey.

[sartorias]

*nodding* All makes sense, indeed.

[channe]

I've been reading a lot of short-story collections recently because I have the same problem with needing time for novels.

[sartorias]

That's another good way, indeed. I've been doing a bit of short story reading on the fly.