Comments on: Getting Back to Business http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html selling out since 2005 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:05:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: gordon http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-33536 gordon Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:15:56 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-33536 Hey Armand, I've been reading Unclutterer for a few months, off and on. It could be just a case of getting older and less flexible, but I definitely need an uncluttered mind and space to be productive these days. I see we may be on the same track there. I'll take your advice and add that on. Any other good links to share? Hey Armand,

I’ve been reading Unclutterer for a few months, off and on.

It could be just a case of getting older and less flexible, but I definitely need an uncluttered mind and space to be productive these days. I see we may be on the same track there.

I’ll take your advice and add that on. Any other good links to share?

]]> By: Armand http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32641 Armand Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:17:21 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32641 Gordon- this fragment of your post … ‘finding small and consistent moments to write…’ really struck a chord with me. It does feel like, between family obligations, paying the bills and keeping our lives in some sort of order, we’re all trying to find tiny spaces in our lives for writing. By strange association, I think you should consider adding this site to the afterthemfa blog roll: http://unclutterer.com/ I’ve lately come to the realization that I tend to allow clutter (mental, physical and temporal clutter) take up valuable space that y I could be using for writing instead. Keep on working on that screenplay – Armand Gordon- this fragment of your post … ‘finding small and consistent moments to write…’ really struck a chord with me. It does feel like, between family obligations, paying the bills and keeping our lives in some sort of order, we’re all trying to find tiny spaces in our lives for writing.

By strange association, I think you should consider adding this site to the afterthemfa blog roll: http://unclutterer.com/ I’ve lately come to the realization that I tend to allow clutter (mental, physical and temporal clutter) take up valuable space that y I could be using for writing instead.

Keep on working on that screenplay –

Armand

]]> By: gordon http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32509 gordon Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:26:06 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32509 @JDW -- that's really it for me, too: fun and provoking, really do help set the stage for everything else to follow, including moving, challenging, perplexing, inspirational, etc. I read that EW article, too, and didn't feel it's argument was as strong. It is talking about Hollywood, after all. The last place we should be looking for "new" ideas. @JDW — that’s really it for me, too: fun and provoking, really do help set the stage for everything else to follow, including moving, challenging, perplexing, inspirational, etc.

I read that EW article, too, and didn’t feel it’s argument was as strong. It is talking about Hollywood, after all. The last place we should be looking for “new” ideas.

]]> By: gordon http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32507 gordon Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:22:59 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32507 @Todd, you just happened to name the writers who have engaged me the most over the last 5 years or so -- guess that's no coincidence. Thanks for the encouragement. @Todd, you just happened to name the writers who have engaged me the most over the last 5 years or so — guess that’s no coincidence.

Thanks for the encouragement.

]]> By: JDW http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32281 JDW Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:42:26 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32281 Funny, EW contributor Mark Harris was arguing the opposite about Sci-fi, asserting its staleness (found <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20169296,00.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>). Of course, he's talking 24 frames per second, not words on a page, but there's always been a solid line relationship between celluloid and paper. It is significant that Gibson is setting his fiction in Today, not Tomorrow. And it is significant that many of the blended works -- the tweak genres -- lean heavily on past works, iideas, and even cliches. The Road is great, but it's not a new form, it's another story of the apocalypse, and the movie (there will surely be a movie) would be a great on a bill with A Boy and His Dog, Soylent Green, and Logan's Run. Many of the tweak genres -- books and movies -- really are just retreads. Anyway, I don't see New and Old as particularly valid metrics in their own right, and neither is as important as Fun or Provoking. Funny, EW contributor Mark Harris was arguing the opposite about Sci-fi, asserting its staleness (found here).

Of course, he’s talking 24 frames per second, not words on a page, but there’s always been a solid line relationship between celluloid and paper. It is significant that Gibson is setting his fiction in Today, not Tomorrow. And it is significant that many of the blended works — the tweak genres — lean heavily on past works, iideas, and even cliches. The Road is great, but it’s not a new form, it’s another story of the apocalypse, and the movie (there will surely be a movie) would be a great on a bill with A Boy and His Dog, Soylent Green, and Logan’s Run. Many of the tweak genres — books and movies — really are just retreads.

Anyway, I don’t see New and Old as particularly valid metrics in their own right, and neither is as important as Fun or Provoking.

]]> By: Todd http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32251 Todd Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:38:48 +0000 http://www.afterthemfa.com/archives/getting-back-to-business.html#comment-32251 Fiction isn't dead, and science fiction isn't the only hope for pumping life into its corpse. Tastes, though, fluctuate, and the taste seems diminished for realistic short stories, which seems the model form for creative writing schools. That taste probably will return at some point. It sounds as if you're on the right track, learning new forms. Genre-crossing is how art is produced, as John Gardner notes in the Art of Fiction. Philip Roth, Michael Chabon, Margaret Atwood, and Cormac McCarthy blend genres and forms --- satire, history, comic books, post apocalyptic adventure stories --- to create their fiction, as the Wired article points out. So, don't give up. Keep writing. Keep discovering new forms, applying them to your writing. Develop reader's tastes instead of bowing to a tired genre. Fiction isn’t dead, and science fiction isn’t the only hope for pumping life into its corpse. Tastes, though, fluctuate, and the taste seems diminished for realistic short stories, which seems the model form for creative writing schools. That taste probably will return at some point. It sounds as if you’re on the right track, learning new forms. Genre-crossing is how art is produced, as John Gardner notes in the Art of Fiction. Philip Roth, Michael Chabon, Margaret Atwood, and Cormac McCarthy blend genres and forms — satire, history, comic books, post apocalyptic adventure stories — to create their fiction, as the Wired article points out. So, don’t give up. Keep writing. Keep discovering new forms, applying them to your writing. Develop reader’s tastes instead of bowing to a tired genre.

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