Infinite Jest

April 6th, 2007Blog0 comments

Plan your work, work your plan… I am switching soon from research/outline crafting mode to writing mode. I will be working this one in the library until it’s done.

Speaking of libraries, here’s a really good article on how libraries are often daytime homeless shelters. This article’s a long one but definitely worth reading.

Someone mentioned recently that they believe that writing should be artistically spontaneous like a lightning strike. That planning nullifies the spontaneity, and if you aren’t in the “mood” to write, you shouldn’t attempt it.

I think that this is dumb. We all have spontaneous thoughts and ideas, but you can’t always act upon them immediately. That’s why you carry around a notepad to jot them down. You bottle that lightning and save it up.

Spontaneity isn’t enough to carry you through writing 80 to 100 pages. You have to plan that process out and open up your bottles of lightning as you need them to power you through the marathon. Discipline, consistency. Long-form writing requires a very well structured cryptogram, not a single blown wad.

Recommended: The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

Horrific, funny, creepy, full of pain and laughter. Actually seeing a production of this play would be a pretty scary thing to sit through — kind of like an intelligent haunted house.

It has finally occured to me that there are all sorts of scary. There’s cheap “BOO!”-type movie scary and then there’s twisted, “I shall remind you of your impending death/doom” scary. Heart beating under the floorboards scary. The terror of permanent, indisputable truth.