Graham Greene is a f****ing genius! I'm in awe and in envy. His pages are packed with little bits of wisdom, tenderness, strength, humor and crudeness all wrapped together. Damn I wish I could write like this.
" 'Vegetarianism isn't only a question of diet, Mr Brown. It touches life at many points. It we really eliminated acidity from the human body we would eliminate passion.'
'Then the world would stop.'
He reproved me gently, "I didnt' say love,' and I felt a curious sense of shame. Cynicism is cheap--you can buy it at any Monoprx store--it's built into all poor-quality goods."
The Comedians, Graham Greene, pg 21
By: Nippy | Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 4:21 PM | | 
Just watched the new comedy movie "Due Date" with Lee last night. So disappointed. All hype and hot air. It wasn't because the situations weren't funny, it is because there was no structure to the story. It really felt like a number of funny situations were thought out and then dumped onto a road trip setting. But the story had no gravity, no center. So it was loose and made no impact.
Made me think of my own story, it is exactly the same, I am afraid it lacks structure and a central impetus to make the readers want to turn the page. A series of events is not enough to keep someone interested, not for long.
By: Nippy | Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:44 AM | |
I've been feeling depressed and grouchy lately. Just got into a fight with Lee. Me, exclaiming he is unfocused. He, saying that I am working at a glacier pace for my goals. I guess it is the weather. When it gets cold and grey like this, I get sad so easily. Crying in bed for no real reason, not anything even worth mentioning. But my sadness is just passing blues, of no real substance. I decided to get myself chocolate, which always helps, and went for a walk.
Today, it was the end of Daylight Saving Time here in the U.S, and the days get dark so early now. On my way to the BART station, I saw migratory birds leaving. I once read somewhere that scientists believe that it is not the temperature that alerts birds that it is time to move to the warmer South, instead it is the amount of sunlight. As the days get darker earlier and there is less and less sun, even the birds have taken off. As I watched those birds in the sky, standing there gawking on the pavement like an idiot, I saw a piece of rainbow, barely visible, like an illusion out of the grey rain clouds. And when I turned around to look back home, the sky was a brilliant red, like it was on fire. And then I felt better.
Birds will fly half way around the globe when sunlight on one hemisphere fades, and rainbows will appear almost magically on the darkest of days, the sun still sets bringing with it its fiery brilliance to bring light to abother side of the world. And I'm just a passer by, who is lucky enough to stumble upon all these beauty. So why should I be sad, when I'm lucky like that?
By: Nippy | Monday, November 08, 2010 at 1:39 PM | |
"She kept her clothes on more and more. I noticed that. She came into the bathroom, once, she never dreamed of knocking, she hadn't got a stitch on. Me neither, I was just drying off after my bath. There we both were, captured in the mirror, me young and slim and trim and tender, she vast, sagging, wrinkled, quivering. I couldn't help but giggle. I shouldn't have. I could have slapped myself, afterwards. But I couldn't take that giggle back.
'That's all very well, Dora.' she said, 'but one fine day, you'll wake up and find you're old and ugly, just like me.'
Then she cackled. I'd never even thought that, years back, she might have been pretty. She cackled and she cackled. All the same, she went to get a dressing gown before she came back to have her wee and there was a coolness between us, after that, lasted for months."
--Angela Carter, Wise Children, pg 94
Characters: Do not spare your characters or let them off the hook too easily, this is one thing that really great writers taught me. Writers must not be weak and give in to glorifying or excusing characters, because a reader will always see through that. The best writers put their characters up to the light. Every flaw and strength exposed. If that character is worth any salt, he can withstand the reader’s judgment. This is not an issue of morality on the writer's part, but one of the integrity of story and character. We don't trust characters when all we see is their strength. In turn, we will lose trust in the writer too. For this, the writer has to trust that the reader is willing to forgive. This is one of the best things about literature and stories, it appeals to the readers' magnanimity and their willingness to follow you wherever you want to lead them. If they are giving up their common sense to follow you, they want you to bring them places worth going, and they trust that you won't short change them for purpose of censoring or false righteousness on the parts of characters.
Technique: Sentence structure. "There we both were, captured in the mirror, me young and slim and trim and tender, she vast, sagging, wrinkled, quivering." Amazing, amazing sentence. Reads a poem. And the meaning is revealed in the structure.
Labels: Writing Lessons on BART
By: Nippy | Friday, November 05, 2010 at 8:52 AM | |
Think writing lessons on BART may be paused for the time being. I'm reading Angela Carter's
Wise Children, a really fun and riotous read after Ondaatje's quiet, poetic prose. But I'm reading it for the first time and usually on the first reading, I read for the enjoyment and get carried away by the story. I will read it again, and do more writing lessons on it.
But meanwhile, the GIANTS won the world series last night. Not like I'm a fan or even understand the game, and I like how the entire city celebrates. That history class long time ago "Sports and History" was right. Sports is about communities. It brings people together. I like the sound of far off fireworks and happy cheers resounding from lit windows. I like the cars honking on the streets and the people responding with whoops of cheering.
By: Nippy | Wednesday, November 03, 2010 at 1:56 AM | |
