I've always suspected that famous writers and composers of music and stuff are nothing but instruments of the another realm to transmit things into this world. i remember a bob dylan interview were he mentioned not remembering where he got the lyrics for a certain song of his. it just came to him like a flood or something. he said he felt like a medium or something, so, yeah, there is definitely a otherwordly thing to great writing and stuff which is why you shouldn't try so hard at it cuz either you have it or you don't. think about it.. great writing changes minds and sometimes the course of history itself. you have to be a chosen one. what say thee?
Bunch of hogwash. Artful ideas are just that, ideas. No more divine or supernatural than than realizing covering yourself up keeps you warm or cupping your hands together will allow you to hold water. It's a thought, and an intelligent one at that. Also, Bob Dyland was not only a pothead but he also did drugs- they all have some wild thoughts about the world based on their drug use. And we all know a chemically altered brain is a reliable source of information. Hell, even a religious person in the throes of a divine experience has more credibility and that's just not setting the bar high.
nah for realz. i read that the harry potter lady said on an interview that something took over her body and she suddenly became a writing virtuoso, thou granted she had some english literature background, so i guess you need to be somewhat educated so as not 2 look suspicious to the natural world, but she said she can't make sense of what took over her mind in those writing benders.
I kinda get that. It's nothing supernatural or anything, but sometimes I do feel like I'm plucking some of my material, especially when writing music, from some place where the songs/ideas already exist and I'm nothing more than a conduit or some such. It's not something I believe in 100% or anything, just how it often feels. I'm pretty sure it's just my mind mixing up stuff I've seen/heard/experienced/thought of before, hence the feeling of producing something familiar, something that already exists. Now, if someone loses control over themselves /their actions, I'd suggest seeking help.
yup, i totally agree with you. i just finished reading our mathematical universe by max tegmark and he agrees with us that all of our knowledge, talents and ultimate laws of physics reside outside of our physical reality in a sort of mathematical place. that stuff is just trickling down to a privilege few or maybe to minds that are ready for it or something. F*c.. some smart people here lol
I'd say it's actually rather interesting: Some people think that way in order to distance themselves from the responsibilty of action. Thinking of themselves as a the object rather than the subject of an action relieves pressure, making it easier to bare... Seeing as one won't have to take credit for its failure should it come to that... It's one of those thought processes that, while has no connection to the truth, it helps certain individuals deal with the world. Basically the same reason some people believe in fate and that sort of thing...
for 2long has free will reigned supreme, but smart people know that our lives and artistic accomplishments are not stochastic but deterministic.
Interesting idea. I do think there are some people who are more 'in tune' with the Universe than others. I think we all know people like that. People who are able to stand apart a little bit, and maybe offer insight that cuts through all the 'noise' of everyday life and makes sense of something that seems to be bigger. Maybe people who don't talk a lot, but when they do speak, people pay attention. People whose genius seems to flow, and they never produce crap. Wow. This process comes easily to some, and not so easily to others. To say you shouldn't work at writing, and that it should either just 'happen' or it won't—if that's the issue being discussed here—will eliminate most people who do have something worthwhile or enjoyable or beautiful to say. Not everybody has a hotline to god, but that doesn't mean they can't write, or aren't worth reading. There are songwriters out there who are not as facile or prolific as Bob Dylan, but whose songs are memorable and well-loved. By the way ...speaking as a person who is now 65 years old and remembers when Bob Dylan first arrived on the scene (and has seen him in concert) ...DON'T ever trust a Dylan interview! He's famous for saying whatever comes into his head on the day, then contradicting it the next time he speaks. It's his work itself that should do the speaking. Me? I'm a big fan of Dylan's songs, but I never trust anything he 'says.' Many have foundered on that particular rock.
I have sometimes wondered argh what changed?! when one day I'm super inspired and the words just flow out, then the next day it's like my brain has acquired the consistency -- and intellectual capacity -- of tar. So did I tap into the Universe's well of creativity, yet unplugged myself by accident moments later? Or is there like a cloud of awesome creativity that moves about, and when you're surrounded by it, art happens, yet when it leaves, it's welcome dry spell, bye-bye inspiration?
Sure, some people can't face their responsibilities, the world as it is etc. but I know it doesn't cover all who believe in something like what's discussed in this thread. I'm one of them, yet I have no problem taking the blame when I fuck up, and I actually like our world; that's why I want to experience the good (love, sex, arts etc.) and the bad (substances like booze, confrontations, other hardships etc.) to their fullest and enjoy all of it. I think just about anyone can become good at just about anything. Sure, the naturally talented have a slight headstart, but it pretty much only helps you in the beginning, the rest is all up to ridiculous amounts of the right kinds of practice. I think the same applies here; anyone can do it, no need for a specific tendency for it or anything. My guess is I probably stumbled on the extension cord and unplugged us both by accident. Now it's just a matter of plugging in again; it's up to us, no need to wait for divine inspiration or a cloud of inspiration.
Maybe it's a faulty cord, then, yesterday was certainly pretty good. Hope I won't stumble today either.
I don't think I'm a "tool and the writing passes through me" mostly because I don't write very deep things usually and I don't get "inspired".
@ yukine: you're still a tool whether you like it or not. is just that some tools are more distinguished than others, but still we all have something 2 contribute just like jannert so eloquently wrote.
yeah, classics. u see.. in a rush to explain her meteoric rise, people will always fall back on the fact that she is not a complete ignoramus from off the streets. But she said it herself. something took over her mind. she even had shakes and vomited for a few day. spooky.
To be honest, I don't think I understand what you are getting at. Her background is in Classics, that does absolutely nothing to explain her 'rise'. If it did then why don't more Classicists, then, make a living selling YA fiction if her background was important?
This is interesting. I think a lot of writers experience this with their first big project. JK Rowling was just lucky/talented enough/had the perfect background to do it so well. This sense of 'possession' is like flood gates opening, nothing can stop it and hours are lost in feverish scribbling. Once one becomes a writer, with ongoing projects, published or unpublished, the gates have been open for some time, and they are having mini-moments regularly, as they keep writing. But whether that trance-like intensity ever truly comes back, I'm not so sure. I never got into Harry Potter, I was studying like crazy for my degree when it was all happening, then working ridiculous hours and didn't read any fiction for years, but I'm reading her second crime novel now and I can definitely say there's not a 'virtuoso' in there. So I wonder if she'll ever manage to replicate it. The thing with those fantastically intense first projects, and they can span several books if you are lucky, is that they have to end. Sherlock Holmes had to end, Harry Potter too, and anything written after the author knows that the project is over, won't be of the same quality. Maybe ever. ps. Having said that, I think some people have a special gift of putting things in such a way that people really understand it. It's about instinctively knowing how to say it, rather than necessarily what to say. If they feel passionate enough about saying something, they get their message across rally well. I think this more than anything can make or break a novel. pps. She probably had shakes and vomited from exhaustion, dehydration, hypoglycaemia, and the rest that comes with forgetting to eat, drink and sleep until the story is finished.
While I agree great writing is rare , I also believe writing or art in general is a compiled wealth. Lesser contributions build to more profound work. Bob Dylan is a great example of this because he's covered dozens of lesser bands songs. It's art imitating art at its best. Also, maybe it's not so much the artist is a medium for otherworldly things as it is the artist interprets this very real world differently then most and is able to show the perspective of something that seems otherworldly.
Please don't put "cuz" to abbreviate "cause", you're on a creative writing forum. Not a text-slang community.
THANK YOU. And can we bring up the use of a numeral in place of the word "to"? I may be a tool, but I don't have to write like one.
We absolutely are not. My belief in God not withstanding I'm outraged that my hours of labor and toil could be dismissed so easily as the work of divine controller. I'm not a tool. No writer is. No artist is. Making ideas my seem like the work of another power to someone who has few, but anyone else will recognize it as the labor of concentration, experience, and will. And I'll let up on you when you when you start writing like you mean it.
