Dan said to dmb:
...I write on account of a feeling that I have to write. There are times when I
sincerely wish I could be like other people that I know who spend their lives
watching television and laughing and talking with one another about the shows
they watch. I wish I could accept invitations to go out drinking and
carousing and raising all sorts of hell smoking dope and eating mushrooms and
waking in the mornings with hangovers and strange women in the sack next to me.
I envy those who seem to fit in so easily with others while I have a hard time
even knowing what to say most of the time.
dmb says:
Yea, me too. That sounds awesome. Where do I sign up for this fun? But more
seriously, I'm not sure how this is relevant to the "ideal reader". Are you
suggesting that the ideal reader is some kind of social butterfly or party
monster, that he evaluates writing on the basis of hedonistic values? In any
case, that's not at all what I meant to say.
Dan said:
I have to write. And I know I cannot write well if I am drunk and stoned. So I
don't get drunk or stoned. Period. And I know from experience that when I go to
gatherings I sit alone most of the time thinking of better ways to tell my
story. I don't want to sit there thinking of ways to tell my story but I can't
help it. That's what I do.
dmb says:
I wonder if you're like a friend of mine who also feels compelled to write.
He's an epileptic, alcoholic, novelist. A very smart and interesting dude. He
tells me that he HAS to write and described writing as a way to get relief, as
a way to get the words out of himself, as if he can't feel comfortable or
relaxed until he does. Apparently, this compulsion has a name and everything. I
mean, it's something like a medical condition, one that can be recognized among
a certain percentage of writers - including some the best writers ever. This
friend of mine is pretty good at parties, however, and if he feels the need to
write, he simply stays home.
Dan said:
I don't give two good dams for the reader, much less an ideal reader. ... The
reader means nothing to me. Nothing. It is the story that drives me.
dmb says:
And yet you publish. I guess you mean that you don't care about the readers
when you're engaged in the writing itself. Would it be fair to say that you
want people to read what you write? And wouldn't you like it if those readers
really "get" you? Wouldn't you be a bit bummed out if they didn't?
Dan said:
...And if I did write to please the reader (ideal or otherwise) I am quite sure
my writings wouldn't be from the heart. They would be contrived. My words
wouldn't be my own. They would belong to someone else... someone I was trying
to imitate... someone I was trying to please.
dmb says:
Well, yea. That would just be pandering. The ideal reader I'm talking about is
NOT designed to help one produce contrived imitations. Quite the opposite. I
think the idea is supposed to give the writer a frame of mind that allows him
to write the kind of thing that he would most like to read himself. It's a
device that sort of gives you "permission" to write exactly what you think is
good, to write the book that you'd want to read.
Dan said:
...But I'm pretty sure my mother wouldn't be pleased reading most of my
stories.
dmb says:
Right, and if it met with your mother's approval you'd probably be in big
trouble as a writer. See, my ideal reader would have known that I was ending
with a joke, one that undermined everything I'd just said. Taking a victory lap
is putting yourself on display for the crowd while basking in their approval
and working for the sake of parental approval is not something an adult should
ever be doing, no matter what kind of work it is. That sort of thing would be
in stark contrast with finding your own voice and so that closing line was
meant to provoke laughter, not debate.
Regardless of what you say about your approach to writing, it seems pretty
clear to me that your approach works and I have no intention of trying to talk
you out of it. The post was aimed at Matt and the ideal reader is basically a
device whereby you project your own standards of excellence onto a fictional
reader and then write for him.
Moq_Discuss mailing list
Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc.
http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org
Archives:
http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/
http://moq.org/md/archives.html
