--Samuel McChord Crothers--
From: Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[email protected]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[email protected]> Subject: Re: I am spamming your head I am spamming your head Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:51:11 -0700
Rob:
Creating music is hard hard hard hard hard.
Dave:
I have a friend, Ted Larson, who is one of those guys who, at a church retreat, can decide at lunch time that he's going to write a song for the campfire that night and do it.
Don't we all have a Ted Larson striking a chord within our lives?
But I think the aforementioned spammer was referring specifically to multi-faceted music; as in a full set of instruments coming together to create some coherent noise as opposed to say, a guy ad-libbing with an acoustic guitar.
Rob:
I also write lyrics. The Grand Machine is the result of my writing, and was inspired by The Time Ships by Brin's buddy S. Baxter.
And Dave again:
Writing is also hard. Maybe not hard hard hard hard hard, but certainly hard hard hard.
I wouldn't say that it's necessarily "hard" per se. But it depends of course on whence you come. For if you mean that those sublime moments of profound insight into the human condition as expressed by the author through the _character_ are hard, then yes, I suppose they are. We are after all somewhat limited in our profundity (see - partial digression below).
If however you meant that the methodical construction process and everything that comes with it is difficult, then I disagree. Tedious yes, at times, but hardly hard. Albeit you _do_ have to be on your game to write something decent all the same...
A partial digression (pardon the messy link):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0152052089/qid=1114703314/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4510934-2317420
In her dandy little book, Very Far Away From Anywhere Else (87 pages), Ursula K. Le Guin uses her main character, Owen, to dole out erudite insights like they're goin' outta style. In fact, such is the compact air of intellectual complexity surrounding Owen, that he makes Anne Rice characters pale in comparison.
As one reviewer put it, "I still can't believe Le Guin fit so much into such a short book."
And that my friend is the mark one who reads but doesn't write. Meaning that the above comment shows a naivete towards the writing process - specifically that it was a difficult task to squeeze so much insightfulness into such a small space - whereas such thinking is, in actuality, antithetical to the truth; i.e. it would have been much more difficult (if not impossible) to sustain such writing throughout a longer novel.
My degree's in writing, but not lyrics. The tough part is making it rhythmical (and maybe even rhyming) without making it doggerel.
I think I read the doggerel bit in a textbook once...
As for the first sentence, could you elaborate a little?
-Travis
PS - I'll check out the tunes soon, Rob.
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