Month: July 2013
Do you remember the infamous incident from the 80s when David Geffen sued Neil Young for recording music that was “not representative” of Neil Young? I’m thinking of this in connection with recent posts by me and Shawn about commercial-versus-artistic, publishable-versus-unpublishable. Specifically this comment sent in by Susanna Plotnick: If we are working on our own, creating new forms, breaking rules, aren’t we courting ‘unpublishability’? Where do we draw the line between courting publishability and being a hack? An excellent question. But first back to Neil Young: When David Geffen launched Geffen Records in 1980, he paid big bucks to…
Read MoreA couple of weeks back, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas caught the film world’s attention by pointing to a trend within the industry. From Spielberg: “You’re at the point right now, where a studio would rather invest $250 million in one film for a shot at the brass ring than make a whole bunch of really interesting, deeply personal – and even maybe historical projects that may get lost in the shuffle. . . . “There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega-budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground,…
Read MoreContinuing our discussion about the difference between publishable and unpublishable: I said last week that real = unpublishable, and artifical = publishable. Let me qualify that a bit. “Artificial,” in the sense I intend it, does not mean fake, phony, made up. It means crafted with deliberate artistic intent. “Artificial” means employing artifice to achieve the expression of a Deeper Truth. The artist is seeking the real by means of the artificial. Have you ever seen any of Monet’s Water Lilies in person? If you stand back at a viewing distance of, say, twenty feet, the illusion is astonishing. The…
Read MoreWe’ve been talking for the past couple of weeks about making the leap from unpublishable to publishable. [More on “the Foolscap Method” in another week or so.] Some factors we’ve cited are artistic distance, thematic organization, the process of evolution from amateur to professional. Today let’s address the difference between real and artificial. In a nutshell: Real = unpublishable. Artificial = publishable. When I say “artificial,” I mean crafted with deliberate artistic intention so as to produce an emotional, moral, and aesthetic response in the reader. What do I mean by “real?” Real is your journal. Real are your letters…
Read MoreWas it one if by land, two if by sea, or two if by land and one if by sea? The sexton of Boston’s North Church paces the 1775-era floor, trying to remember Paul Revere’s instructions, to alert the colonists of British movements. Now which one was it? A few days before, Paul Revere sent advance word, letting the colonists know about the warning system: Paul Revere: Make sure you don’t do anything until you see the lights in the North Church steeple. Colonist #1: Not to do anything … even if you see the lights. Colonist #2: [hiccups] Paul…
Read MoreOn the theme of progressing from unpublishable to publishable (and taking off from Shawn’s Friday post, The Itch), I offer herewith a few words on a technique I call “the Foolscap Method.” The Foolscap Method is a way to get a big project started—a novel, a Ph.D. dissertation, a new business. It’s a trick, but a very wise and astute one. It’s not just a technique for organizing one’s thoughts, it’s a way to outfox Resistance. I’m going to continue on this subject for the next week or two, as well as putting up a couple of ten-minute videos. Details…
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