How can you be a writer if you don't read much? in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.
- Oct. 16, 2021, 1:09 p.m.
- |
- Public
I’ve been asked this a lot.
I’m literate, in that I can read, that’s not an issue. I just find it difficult to “read” books for pleasure. And somehow there’s an elite attitude of “Well, gosh, I’m better than you because I READ LOTS OF BOOKS.”
Yeah, you sound like someone judging us for not knowing how to use stone tablets. Useful? Yes. Necessary? Well, no.
Thing is, we can get information in a metric gluteal ton these days. I watch movies. I watch series. I watch reviews of movies. I can not state just how much youtube I watch. Listening and watching things on how to write, how to lift. Hockey highlights. Reactions and thoughts to works I enjoy.
I didn’t learn about Chekhov’s Gun in a book. I learned about it online.
Moreover, listening to audiobooks is a perfectly valid way to enjoy a book. (Not mine; just giving a shout-out.)
I’m not writing it out, but let me rehash a thought I had earlier for my nanonovel. A take on the classic Big Sausage Pizza Delivery Guy Porno. Two girls order a pizza with Extra Sausage. Delivery guy arrives. There is a pizza. There is long, thick sausage on it. First twist:
He randomly has Extra Thick Sausage in his pants. As in, in his pockets. The girls play it straight and are impressed by his sausages.
Second twist: when he goes to unzip his pants, they’re horrified, kick him in the balls, and get him out of their doorway.
Punch line..... Maybe one of them says “Why do guys with big sausages have to be such colossal dicks?”
Last image… one of them biting their teeth into one of the links of big, thick sausage.
I don’t know. Because of my depression I downplay myself. I feel like scenes like that write themselves, yet… Not everyone can? Not everyone can just play it out in their head.
So… as a veteran of NaNoWriMo, you can see why I have zero anxiety over hitting wordcount next month. And. I still don’t fully know what I’m going to write. That’s half the fun. Discovering the scenes as they happen. It’s like the story was there, I just had to find it.
Like the sculptor who claims the finished statue was there all along, they simply unveiled the rock covering it.
Fun fact: I tried outlining for NaNoWriMo one year. It was to be my BIGGAYDAN novel. I had 30 chapters planned, one chapter per quota. What happened? All my creativity was gone. It was too rigid.
I don’t fully know what I’m going to write for my novel any more than you know what entry you’re going to post tomorrow.
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ October 16, 2021
I think you need to read to write well. But I think observation and ideas count for at least as much.
Maybe you should write YouTube skits or screenplays. Or do a comic. Or songs. The world needs talented voices.
But I still feel you gotta read to write well, as a writer of written things anyway.
I barely watch YouTube and I don't have the attention or insight to appreciate it.
Also I've heard people learn 4 ways: through reading, sound, visual, and experience. But I figure one should combine them.
Also I don't know what Chekov's gun is.
Timmy™ Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ October 16, 2021 (edited October 16, 2021)
Edited
Chekhov's Gun is like... conservation of observation in terms of the third person perspective of how you view the world.
...Okay.
Let us suppose the main character enters a bar. You set the scene. You happen to describe a gun on the wall.
By the end of the novel, that gun should be removed from the wall and fired. Otherwise, there is no point in telling the reader that the gun exists.
It's not an absolute, but it is a good rule of thumb. Set-up, and pay-off. Right up there with the rule of three. Introduce something. See something again as a reminder. So now it's in the reader's mind. Then after some gap it comes back for a massive pay-off.
<hr>That whole "learning languages" has been debunked. We all do indeed need to combine all senses as best we can.
<hr>For youtube, I say work the algorithm. What ARE you interested in? Search for things you are interested in. Over time, it will pull things that will make you go "I didn't know I wanted to see this, but wow." The algorithm has literally combined interests of mine over the years. People insult the algorithm, but I say work it to your advantage.
Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ October 16, 2021
Why do you have trouble reading? I don't always read for pleasure but generally find it pleasurable. But sometimes I don't like books as much as I tell myself I should. Also I sometimes feel I limit myself by preferring books over other methods and media.
Timmy™ Sleepy-Eyed John ⋅ October 16, 2021
Put simply, I have trouble visualizing it. A lot of dialogue in writing comes off as disembodied voices.
This is amusing, as I like just listening to reviewers on youtube, who effectively become disembodied voices.
Maybe I really should give audiobooks a chance.