I’ve hit the 25K mark in my novel, but there’s no way in hell that I’m feeling smug about it. No, ma’am. I’m fully aware that the manuscript could sabotage me at an unexpected moment, or the unruly words could stage a revolt upon my consciousness, or the characters might decide that the thoughts and feelings they’ve been nice enough to reveal to me are now off limits. No, humility and a work ethic is the only way to keep going on this. And for all I know, the novel may suck ass.
sprezzatura on Eggers: “Dave Eggers the person is all right with me. Dave Eggers the writer is another story. The very distinction, you feel, would exasperate Eggers, since he has staked his creative life on an identification of decent living with good writing. The conviction that good-intentioned people necessarily make good art is what lies behind the hectic innovative blurring of fact and fiction in Eggers’s work, and in the work of the writers he publishes.”
Torchwood is pretty much a lost cause. At its best, it’s hilariously awful (at its worst, it’s just plain awful without the hilarity).
Where are you on Doctor Who? The second season wasn’t so hot but the third season is shaping up well enough. Tennant still can’t fill the void left by Eccleston, though.
Is the excerpt of Eeeee Eee Eeee representative of the book as a whole? Because I gotta say, that selection transcends badness and enters the realm of the pitiful. The sense of confusion/malaise just seems gratingly affected, and is frankly boring. “Surreality” and all.
Miranda July’s blurb certainly describes the writing, but I have a hard time understanding it as praise. Boredom? Vacancy? Laziness? Yes, I see that very clearly, but come on. I have enough of my own, and limited time. I don’t think it’s closed-minded to ask for a little more from a book.
That said, I really, genuinely want to know what anyone sees in this. Can someone explain it to me?
Thanks Ed – you gave me a good laugh with this one!
hi eric. i think it is representative of some of the book. there is a ‘realism’ aspect of the book that wasn’t in that excerpt. to me i think that excerpt is funny. that is what i see in it.
tao lin — Thanks for the reply. I guess we’re on different wavelengths.
Torchwood is pretty much a lost cause. At its best, it’s hilariously awful (at its worst, it’s just plain awful without the hilarity).
Where are you on Doctor Who? The second season wasn’t so hot but the third season is shaping up well enough. Tennant still can’t fill the void left by Eccleston, though.
Is the excerpt of Eeeee Eee Eeee representative of the book as a whole? Because I gotta say, that selection transcends badness and enters the realm of the pitiful. The sense of confusion/malaise just seems gratingly affected, and is frankly boring. “Surreality” and all.
Miranda July’s blurb certainly describes the writing, but I have a hard time understanding it as praise. Boredom? Vacancy? Laziness? Yes, I see that very clearly, but come on. I have enough of my own, and limited time. I don’t think it’s closed-minded to ask for a little more from a book.
That said, I really, genuinely want to know what anyone sees in this. Can someone explain it to me?
Thanks Ed – you gave me a good laugh with this one!
hi eric. i think it is representative of some of the book. there is a ‘realism’ aspect of the book that wasn’t in that excerpt. to me i think that excerpt is funny. that is what i see in it.
tao lin — Thanks for the reply. I guess we’re on different wavelengths.