High Table, Lower Orders
February 3rd, 2010
radio
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Everything to love about Mark Taverner is in this show – Murder, insect specialists, claret drinkers, food lovers, pompous farts, wheezes, lazy old men, reunions with former girlfriend, pulling pants down to moon at authorities and rudeness. Especially the rudeness.
“Listen to this,”
“On the face of it…”
“Ugh.”
“What?”
“Unnecessary verbiage. What’s wrong with ‘outwardly’, or ’superficially’?”
“‘Superficially, this ancient seat of learning…’”
“No! No! No! What is this? A heroic attempt to win the world cliche record? Just ‘Cambridge’.”
“Superficially, Cambridge looks as it always has…”
[undertone] “…a bastion of privilege.”
“A bastion of privilege. Ugh! Shut up and listen!”
“But as the colleges prepare for their carol services…”
“Oh no! OH NO! Spare us in my mercy! Don’t tell me – ‘truly this is a bleak mid-winter for higher education’.”
“…truly this is a bleak mid-winter for higher education.”
“Tell me, what first attract you to a career in journalism?”
“Alright, so I’ve just got a bit rusty.”
“Rusty?”
“Go on then, you do it.”
“‘Superficially Cambridge looks the same’, colon. You know what one of those are, don’t you?”
“Ha ha.”
“‘Majestic dons make pronouncements of great brilliance and quaff clarets of great vintage.’”
“A bit OTT.”
“SSsssh!”
“‘The picture is forced. As colleges prepare for their carol services, the hymm they intone: Money don’t get everything it’s true; What it don’t get i can’t use; I want money.’ How’s that?”
“Bit flurry. Bit over-written”
Sleeping with John Updike by Julian Barnes
February 2nd, 2010
books, elsewhere
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Resentment, jealousy, dishonesty simmers along (for 40 years?). Nothing boils over in this story of two women on a train on the way home. Found here on guardian books.
“They liked that story of yours about Graham Greene.”
“They usually do,” Jane replied with a slight air of complacency.
“I’ve always meant to ask you, is it true?”
“You know, I never worry about that any more. It fills a slot.”
Pleased
January 31st, 2010
Pictures, Treats
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A great article on the 1950s vs 1980s and 1990s Pelikan M400 tortoise. I was looking at this article wondering which year was the pen I bought from the nice uncle in the China Square flea market. The newly bought 1980s version has a cleaner, shinier nib than the 1990s version – I think it’s not often used.
I’m relieved I didn’t blow a lot of money on this pen. I’ve been pen crazy for a week, looking at FS section on PENguin (Rick Propas). I’m now done. The madness will stop.
1990s Pelikan M400 (top) and 1980s Pelikan M400 (bottom)
Travelling to a parellel universe
January 25th, 2010
Writing
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Saturday, I hit on a marvelous idea of sending my MC into a “piao-liao” universe where the story begins. I’m really disappointed that one way travel to a parallel universe requires a lot of energy.
Pen Clinic by Mr Nagahara Yukio
January 23rd, 2010
Pictures, Treats
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I waited for more than an hour for my turn in Aesthetic Bay before Mr Nagahara, the Pen Whisperer, saw my pens. He said to the Sailor music I gave him, “Smooth! More smooth!” and then it was glass smooth.
He said that to the OBB that was absolute rubbish, “More smooth!” and OMG it was. He’s so cute. I was trying out the new nib and I whispered to myself in wonder, “How did he do it?”. Mr Nagahara heard and said “Magic!” and “Genius!”. I giggled like a school girl.
I had been so excited Friday morning I forgot to pack the camera but I found a picture of him at work.
I wanted to have the ink flow fixed on the Sailor music. He looked at it through the loupe, hummed at the pen, looked at it and hestitated. I think lots of pen folks brought their music nib and asked for a stub. He said he would regrind the nib and it became a really sexy stub. The line variation is really distinct now (HOT!). Still, this morning I woke up missing the fat nib. If I hadn’t already bought the Binder music nib, I would have bought another 1911 music nib.
I am glad I turned up to the cocktail and wine reception. It was then when someone told me about available slots in his schedule for today. I put my name down to see the Pen Whisperer again. I brought an ATX Cross to him. He opened the pen up and showed me what a slob I had been. (I might have, once or twice, let ink dry out in the pen. But I hate the Cross! It was rubbish!) He had to scrap out bits from the pen feed. He smoothened the nib to a better than Pelikan standard factory fine. I don’t think it had enough tipping to be as smooth as a Sailor but it’s so good I’m going to use it as a work pen with the P51. The two tone Pelikan fine is now as smooth as a Pelikan gold factory medium. Lovely.
Now that I don’t have nibs that I hate, I am going to have trouble trying to use all these pens I have. How do other people do it?
Pen Lust
January 17th, 2010
Treats
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At one time I wanted to sell off the Sailor music nib but I couldn’t find buyers. I’m glad I didn’t get it sold now that I’ve moved into my fat nib phase. Lately I’ve been wanting another fat nib. I love the Sailor music nib that I have but the ink flow is funny. It takes a stroke or two for the pen to ’start-up’ and the ink capacity is low.
I tried a Nakaya music nib last evening, in addition to Pilot music pen and a Custom 742 music nib. Now that I’ve been completely spoilt by the Sailors and Pelikans that I own, I find the Pilots rough. The Nakaya is extremely lovely and I’ve been told that the two tines on the Nakaya equals better ink flow. The price of a Nakaya is out of my budget. Even if I were to win 1st prize in 4D, I still wouldn’t buy it – it is so expensive that I would have to leave it in a case untouched so I won’t scratch the lacquer while writing.
A Sailor 1911 Realo (music nib) could work an alternative but I can’t justify having one. It’s the same as the 1911 (same complaints) except that the Realo has a slightly larger ink capacity (1.5ml) vs the convertor (0.9ml) and the price is 50% higher than the standard 1911. It probably makes better sense to buy a music nib from Richard Binder to fit into the old Pelikan. Or Greg Minuskin (mmmmm…oh but I don’t want to part with the P51!).
A decision was made….
January 15th, 2010
Writing
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A decision was made to go to the woods because of a desire for a deliberate existence and for exposure to only the essential facts of life, and for possible instruction in its educational elements, and because of a concern that at the time of my death the absence of a meaningful prior experience would be apprehended.
Hilarious! What he was butchering was :
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of nature, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
And other good tips found here
- The words derived from Latin are the enemy—they will strangle and suffocate everything you write. The Anglo-Saxon words will set you free.
Clarity. If it’s not clear you might as well not write it. You might as well stay in bed.- Simplicity. Simple is good.Writing is not something you have to embroider with fancy stitches to make yourself look smart.
- Brevity. Short is always better than long. Short sentences are better than long sentences. Short words are better than long words.
- Humanity. Be yourself. Never try in your writing to be someone you’re not. Your product, finally, is you. Don’t lose that person by putting on airs, trying to sound superior.
- You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?”…One thought per sentence…There’s no sentence too short to be acceptable.
Pen folks online
January 15th, 2010
Treats
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I was looking for pen stuff when I found Leon’s blog online – he arranges all the pen meets – and Ruby who loves paper and takes beautiful pictures.
Supernatural + Plotting
January 14th, 2010
Writing, screen
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I am so hooked on Supernatural I’m reading fandom essays on the show. This meta about the brothers and the plotline of Supernatural has very useful writing advice.
A character’s motivation is rooted in plot and plot spins directly out of a character’s needs and desires. So plot and characterization are like a snake swallowing its tail, where one ends the other begins. And Sam and Dean’s relationship with the story and their conflict tiger roles illustrate the circular-nature of this debate perfectly. More than anything, this story is about two brothers who are fundamentally different but work together all the same. And I think the same is true for how Sam and Dean are tied to the plot and how their characterization is dealt with. Each are accomplished in different ways and delivered through different means, but somehow they compliment each other and are used in tandem to forward the story.
Q&A on Writing
January 14th, 2010
Writing
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From reddit IAmA *New York Times* Bestselling Novelist thanks to keyist
How long did it take to get your first book published? At what point (if ever) did you quit a day job to pursue novel writing full time?
Took me ten-plus years, which is pretty typical. There’s a saying in this business: “It takes ten years to become an overnight success.” I quit my day job about the time my second novel came out.
IAmA NYT novelist as well — good for you, I have the same career track, only it took me about 15 years to reach true success. I’ve got 30+ books out and I still haven’t managed to quit my day job. That insurance coverage is powerfully addictive stuff.
Almost every successful musician, author and actor that I know(and I know more than a few) has been at it for ~10 years at the bare minimum, with ~15 being more common. It is perhaps one of the hardest things for young artists to grasp that success takes a long time and along the way you might not have any reassurance that you’re even on the right track. Just gotta keep at it, keep getting better and do what is best for your work.
How do you write? I suck at writing. For example, say that I’m trying to write about winter. I’d write: “The weather is cold and the ground is covered with snow”. Exciting, huh? How do you get the creative juice flowing? What’s the process of writing a single good sentence like? Do you write whatever’s on your mind first, then come back to revise each sentence? In contrary, do you give a lot of thought on each sentence before writing it? I want to know how to write, but for the life of me I just can’t.
Everything you need to excel in fiction-writing can be learned. Except for loving it. If you don’t love it, you probably won’t succeed. As for books to improve your mechanics, I’d recommend Gary Provost. He’s got a number of How-To books on the subject.
Creative juices: It’s like anything else. The more you practice creativity, writing, plotting, etc., the better you’ll get at it. Later, I’ll be posting some brainstorming tools that have helped me.
Because I’m always on a deadline, I now edit as I write, but that’s a skill that took many, many years to develop. The best way to do it is get everything down on paper without worrying about how it sounds, or looks, or whether you’ve misused a semi-colon, then go back and re-write. Writing is rewriting.
You can do it. It just takes dedication and a willingness to suck at it until you don’t suck at it anymore.
~
I really like this found here:
Chekhov was, by profession, a doctor. He also became one of the best drama and prose writers ever (in the west, he’s best known for plays, but his prose is brilliant, too).
About having two professions, he said “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.” Anyway, I guess I’d say you should do both. If your writing takes off and you get famous, you can quit your day job.
The other option, I’d say, is to become a high school English teacher or an English professor. That way you’d have all summer to write. But trust me, poverty sucks and it really sucks to have debt collectors calling you; and it sucks when you start trying to time which bills you pay because you can’t pay them all. It double sucks when you have a family.
