quote:All quotes originally posted by Crunchy Mr Bananapants:
how can you make your writing change things?
You have to give your writing to an audience; moreover, the more that you write with this audience in mind, the more likely your are to influence them--it is kinda' like a game (perhaps "dropped it-got it").
quote:how, and to what level of precision, do you decide what changes you want to make? how do you work out what information, style, feeling, or whatever, you need to communicate to what audience to make the changes you want to make?
Level of precision depends largely on the tolerance of your audience: for whom you are writing will (ideally) assist in the specific words and style of language you choose. Pay close attention to your audience's vocabulary, manner of speech, and the style of speaking, then imitate it (but not simply like a parrot, put yourself into their paradigm, but remain yourself).
As far as changes you want to make, it is best to have some sort of "master plan" (kinda' like an outline) which keeps you focused. Again, the plan will be more successful if it is tailored toward the mindset of the audience. Thus, do your best to pick out what sort of audience you want to have, and then tailor your writing to that audience. Hate to throw in such cheeze, but, "If you build it, they will come."
quote:what if you don't want to or can't write in that way?
Do it anyway, or practice, practice, practice, or alternatively, don't do it.
quote:what if the form you're writing in...calls for a stripping away of emotion, but what you're writing about is intrinsically connected to emotion? (how do you write 'theory' when you have to take breaks to curl up in the fetal position and cry because the stories you're 'theorising' about are so fucked?)
Yeah, this is rough. I tend to write the passion into my conclusion. If your audience is academic, after you've "wowed" them with your knowledge, comprehension, and logical cohesion, as you wrap it up, bash them over the head with your emotive stick. As for your bracketed question, try not to take the theories too seriously (I know this is not always as easy as it sounds), and try not to take your own writing too seriously either (even harder). As you say, they are all "stories." (If all else fails, think about Monty Python's "drunken philosophers song" (even if the ideas you are working with do not come from any of the people mentioned in the song), it helps in keeping a sense of humour about the theories we generate).
quote:what if the techniques you can think of for making people act on your writing are themselves dodgy - like trying to make them guilty? or if the rhetorical forms that seem most likely to mobilise people draw their power from fucked-up historical narratives of race, gender, whatever? what if the only rhetorical forms not compromised in such ways are so experimental as to be inaccessible and incomprehensible to most people?
Try to write from the heart, but as tempered by the head. Relate what you feel to be the truth of the matter with sincerity and honesty. As for the rest, I don't really know: I can only hope that what gets written and then given away stems from a deep well of human interconnection and self-knowledge--from a position that seeks to integrate and not enlarge the shadowy nature of humanity.
quote:how do you lace your writing with sigils? how do you connect narrative with magic?
how do you look stylish doing it?
I gotta' agree with Nick, all narratives are a form of magick--some magick simply comes from a more powerful source than others; which is to say, not every sigil cast works like a charm (Pee-Ew!). And I'm sure black leather is stylish (unless you are like me and look awkward and ridiculous in most forms of leather clothing).  |
