Hello everyone On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 11:35 AM, david buchanan <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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: No, not at all. I was attempting to convey why I write, not the ideal reader. I have no idea what an ideal reader is, to be honest. I suppose there must be such a creature but I don't know how to define it or to go about writing for him or her. > > > > 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: Well, I'm not an epileptic, an alcoholic, or a novelist. I'm more of a stone sober story teller kind of writer attempting to stretch my short stories out into novellas. And I am terrible at parties. I'll go on occasion but I usually slip off as soon as no one notices. As far as having a medical condition, I have no idea. These days it seems everything is a medical condition. > > > 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. Dan: That is correct. dmb: Would it be fair to say that you want people to read what you write? Dan: That is a really good question. Actually, no. I'd rather they didn't. But at the same time, it seems better if people do read what I write. It is a bit of a conundrum that I haven't worked out completely yet... I'd enjoy being able to write more than I do at present, let's put it that way. And in order to do that, I realize that I have to market my writing in an effective way. I am in the process of learning how to do that by studying other authors who are marketing their books in big numbers. But that doesn't mean I am writing to make a living. I need to write and I need to make a living so it seems better to combine the two rather than scratching around in real estate and fixing a few motorcycles each spring and trying to write in the spare time that is left over. So do I want people to read what I write? I'd rather they buy my books and then they can do what they want... either read them or not read them. How's that? Is that terrible? dmb: And wouldn't you like it if those readers really "get" you? Dan: Doesn't matter. Readers read at different levels and for all kinds of reasons. I believe if a reader "doesn't get" a writer it is their own fault, not the writer's. Take Robert Pirsig's books as an example. How many people read them and actually get what he is on about? I'm guessing maybe 2 out of 100. Oh, all right... 3. Personally, I've given out at least a dozen copies of ZMM and LILA and no one has ever read them. When I ask, they say, oh, it's too hard to read... I put it down and will try picking it up again later. Or, I thought it would be about something else... I'm not interested in what he's saying. Or, they'll say: what on earth do you find interesting about some crazy guy riding his motorcycle cross country? It is really stupid! Now, how do I go about answering those brilliant critiques? dmb: Wouldn't you be a bit bummed out if they didn't? Dan: Again, it doesn't matter. That isn't why I write. I'd consider it a failure on the reader's part, not mine. > > > > 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: Ah! Then I'm doing something right! > > > > 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. Dan: Yes, I know. I was being a bit facetious as well... >dmb: > 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. Dan: Of course. I was simply attempting to show my own feelings on the subject and how they might contrast with other writers. Thank you for the opportunity, Dan 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
