Comments (0)

By admin, August 26, 2010 6:16 pm

Newsweek today posted an article about Jonathan Frazen, author of The Corrections and the very-soon-to-be-released Freedom, that is relevant to the somewhat conflicting opinions I post on this blog. It addresses how a writer’s personal life can get in the way of a critical appreciation of their work. Here’s a snippet:

…the Internet has exposed writers to a level of personal scrutiny formerly reserved for pop stars and teen idols, making it difficult to separate how you feel about an author’s personal life from how you respond to his work, despite your best efforts to read the writing, not the writer.

My last post dealt with disappearing author interviews and how this kind of cultural contribution isn’t valued as much as it should be these days, but I’ve also posted in the past about how the social imperative to learn as much as possible about an author wears down the “writer mystique” and adds minimal value to reading their work.

So which is it? Should writers embrace the age of selfspoitation and present their lives to the world, or should they all pack up and live in an off-the-grid hippie compound?

Honestly, I’m not sure what the answer is. I truly feel that we’re losing something as a culture in not preserving and building upon the decades of progressive literary/cultural debate laid down by earlier writers, and that might mean more camera time for writers like Frazen, who really dislikes making these videos…

But can we blame him? To me, it feels like this game is being forced on some writers, and if they don’t want to play along, it can get ugly. Frazen’s publisher/agent/string-puller should recognize this. If he’s going to go about these videos in a sulking way, he risks turning people off of his books.

While a writer might have something positive to contribute to our culture, I think he or she has to do so willingly and passionately, rather than be subject to popular demands of the time. Yes, author videos are good, but not necessary.

Watching the above video makes me want to give Frazen a hug, if he wasn’t so ornery.

Comments (0)

By admin, August 22, 2010 5:57 pm

I sincerely hope I’m not the only lit geek who gets a kick out of watching video interviews with well-known writers. I take a lot of pleasure in listening to them talk about their work and the world as they see it. Often, these interviews influence whether I’ll pick up one of their books.

I think this kind of dialogue is becoming less valued in the mediasphere for a number of reasons: writers of our age, on the whole, are churning out fewer works to inspire debate; publishers are growing more wary of “different” work, betting instead on what they believe are sure-fire bestsellers; television entities are running scared and can’t financially justify developing what’s becoming “niche content”; it’s harder to hook an audience’s attention due to the many mediums and levels of cultural engagement we’re all exposed to on a daily basis.

On our side of the border, I would credit publications like The Walrus magazine for keeping the intellectual spirit alive in the mainstream. The Globe and Mail and National Post both have their moments, but generally, they shy away from appearing too high brow in their arts coverage — choosing instead to cover celebrity gossip and dress it up as news.

Cancelled CBC programs like CBC News: Sunday and the short-lived Hot Type (with Evan Solomon) did a great job while they were around. Now, that gap is being filled with programs like The Hour, whose “hip” exterior might attract younger viewers, but don’t satisfy the need for more meaningful engagement.

Continue reading 'Writer Geekery: The Disappearing Art of the Author Interview'»

Comments (1)

By admin, August 5, 2010 1:15 pm

I finally finished Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy the other day when I turned the last page on Cities of the Plain. I had put off reading the final book for a while, mainly because I had heard it was the darkest – and, after reading Blood Meridian a couple of years back, I knew how dark “dark” can be with McCarthy.

Many fans of The Road (myself included) likely appreciate the newly scaled back prose style that McCarthy has developed, eschewing the philosophical wanderings and twangy Faulknerisms of his earlier books. Some of his superficial quirks persist though: apostrophes rarely make an appearance; same with commas. Sometimes, in a group scene, you have no idea who’s talking to whom because the dialogue mostly goes unattributed and pretty much all of it sounds the same.

While the three “Border” books display the maturation of his formal style, the real evolution belongs to the ideas, characters and storylines upon which McCarthy fixates. Those familiar with the books that come after this trilogy might see the linear progression of his perspective, from that of a man who sees a great change coming (as shown in these books), to one who’s living in it and is confused by it (No Country), to one who is experiencing the apocalyptic fallout of it (The Road).

Continue reading 'The Border Trilogy: McCarthy’s Eulogy for the West'»

Comments (0)

By admin, July 29, 2010 6:32 pm

Lacadena, Saskatchewan

Today marks the 100-year anniversary of the Minogue homestead in Lacadena, Saskatchewan, so says my great-grandfather’s brother’s granddaughter, Leeann Minogue.

Although the original house where my great-grandfather lived has moved, it’s actually still standing. Which is great because now I’ve got my excuse to drive across the country again. (This time I’ll do it with rear shocks and a fully intact gas tank.)

Long-time readers of this blog might recall an early post I wrote about my ongoing research of my family’s connection to Ecuador. In a nutshell: my great-grandparents were missionaries there in the 1920s. I have a copy of my great-grandmother’s travel diary that traces their lengthy return trip to Lacadena after about five years of living in and around Latacunga and Riobamba.

It’s probably the most valuable family artifact I have, and its discovery was instrumental in kicking off what will likely be a never-ending journey to establish my place in my family equation.

Congrats to the Minogues still farming and living in Lacadena! Looking forward to meeting everyone some day and filling in the blanks in our story.

Comments (0)

By admin, July 26, 2010 4:30 pm

There are a few gaping holes in my literary education that I’ve been trying to fill since my days as an English major. Looking back, I didn’t so much mind the many mandatory Brit Lit courses that always seemed to have the same reading lists (Chaucer, Wordsworth, Donne, Byron, Shakespeare, Milton, etc), but I just wished there would’ve been more breadth to the books I consumed week after week, September through April.

In my third year I was lucky enough to have a prof who framed his course reading assignments with a socio-political perspective. Reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through the technophobic lens of her time was an eye-opening experience and tempered my growing reactionary attitudes towards 19th century lit.

Hungry for something more modern, I quickly became a Can Lit advocate who would almost always pick up a New Canadian Library paperback before touching a Chuck Palahniuk book. (Actually, that’s still true today.)  But mid-20th century American lit — especially works from writers like John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates — has, for the most part, remained foreign to me.

Many of my writer friends would probably say I’m not missing much. But I’m a geek. I like books and I like making sense of the world through what’s in ‘em.

The “Why” of Reading

I refuse to accept that it’s okay for today’s writers to go about their work, doggedly pursuing their dreams of Oscar-worthy screenplays, cult-honoured novels, or off-Broadway plays, without harbouring a certain hunger for the world of writing that lives and breathes around them.

That’s not to say an aspiring writer of horror scripts must be able to quote Edgar Allen Poe and HP Lovecraft on command. It’s the underlying willingness to learn from other writers that I think is important. Just a simple but lifelong acknowledgment that the world is bigger and more complex than what you can understand and convey through your own writing — so drink deep of others’ work.

Fast ‘n’ Loose in Post-War Suburbia

I picked up a slim, used paperback copy of Cheever’s The World of Apples for five bucks. After a few days of on-the-bus and just-before-bed reading, I was charmed. “He structures his stories like Simpsons episodes!” was a recurring thought I had during most stories.

The much-deserved success of Mad Men has reinvigorated interest in this era of Americana. It’s not so difficult to plug into the troubles of 1950s Massachusetts suburbia as it might’ve been a couple of years ago. These 10 to 20-page stories of suburban love, hate and politics aren’t told in a straightforward “A causes B resulting in C” narrative style. There are many false beginnings that seem like Cheever is just dicking around and can’t find the thread he wants to follow for a few pages.

I haven’t really encountered much of that loose approach lately. The kind wherein a reader has to slog through passages where the writer seems to be unsure of their path but aware that something must be said — and so they “chat” about things like their literary education, or the first time they really understood Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or maybe even their own cloudy perspective on literature.

Half-Written Titles Are

There’s a lot to be said for the more to-the-point writing that’s becoming increasingly popular (at least, with me it is), but those rambling sections of seemingly self-indulgent prose are usually what firm up an authorial voice for me. I’m not suggesting writers should be sloppier, I just think we as readers need to offer more trust to authors that they will get us where we’re supposed to be going… eventually.

My point? Reading books like Cheever’s The World of Apples is worthwhile because there should always be a certain amount of teasing in the author-audience relationship. Writers need to be aware of the reader’s expectations and tread that line with a certain amount of grace and forced clumsiness. Pertinent details should be left out. Scenes should be left half-described. A stretch of shops on a main street in a small town should be described for 40-some pages…

And readers should always reserve the right to skim past all that crap to get to the good stuff.

Comments (0)

By admin, July 15, 2010 8:13 pm

"The bucket symbolizes our persecution!"

You’ve all been thinking it. And now the LA Times went ahead and wrote about it (re: “Screenwriters find work is dwindling“, published on July 3, 2010).

I’m sure Richard Verrier, the writer of this article, is well aware that you could easily replace every appearance of the word “screenwriter” with “journalist” (just a hunch). Part of me actually thinks the mid-level screenwriters of Hollywood have paid for this article; the more discouraged newbies, the more work for the pros, right?

I don’t think anyone is surprised to hear that work is thinning out for writers in the film and TV biz. The weird thing is that I’m actually heartened by this article. While I hate the idea that the Western world’s entertainment industry is in jeopardy, I’m glad to hear the slowdown is reaching those higher up on the food chain. That will inevitably lead to more writers looking for different ways to get their work out there.

And the more people there are trying to find alternate routes to get work produced, the more “legit” those alternate routes will become. Case in point: web series. 10 years ago they would’ve been a total waste of time, money, and talent. Now they’re one of the more reliable ways to prove to broadcasters that your show can attract a following.

The real difference seems to be the amount of work you have to do to get something on the air or in theatres. The indie ethic isn’t an underground thing anymore; it’s a way of survival in today’s industry. Any writers holding their breath for that one big break, the kind that made all of us want to get into screenwriting in the first place, might as well let it out now.

What we’re all still waiting to figure out is where the money is going to come from to make movies in this new world. I can’t imagine the cash cow investors of yesteryear are still going to be interested in dumping the millions they made on pork stocks (or whatever it is millionaires invest in) into an indie flick that’s headed towards the festival circuit. Where’s the flash and sizzle in that?

On the plus side, the film industry might be purged of its douchebags. 

Basically, I think if a story is good, it’s good. And good projects will always get made somehow — especially if enough people believe in it and everyone’s willing to compromise a little.

Technical capabilities aside, if the struggling screenwriters the LA Times talked to for this article could write a screenplay as tight as Toy Story 3, they could probably still buy that beach house and fake nose they’ve always wanted.

Comments (2)

By admin, June 30, 2010 6:23 pm

The Austin Film Festival today announced they will be presenting David Simon, creator of The Wire, with their Outstanding Television Writer award this October.

The honour here is not in the award itself, but in the way AFF singles out an industry vet and shines a spotlight on their body of work.

There will most likely be a packed room for “A Conversation with David Simon”, as there have been in the past with previous honourees, such as Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz*, who took home the bronzed typewriter last year. (Yes, the award is a small-but-heavy fake typewriter.)

[* thanks for the correction, Veronica!]

In the coming days, they’ll also announce this year’s recipients of the Distinguished Screenwriter and Extraordinary Contribution to Film awards. All three “winners” form the marquee for the festival, helping to boost ticket sales and get more of us writers geeking out with each other.

And considering the growing masses of devoted David Simon fans, many a writer geek will likely find themselves in Texas this October with a Baltimore swagger, a DVD box set, and a sharpie for the man who’s responsible for turning so many of them (like yours truly) onto a strict diet of HBO series.

Check out the Austin Film Festival’s website for more info.

Comments (0)

By admin, June 15, 2010 6:11 pm

From NYTimes’ Paper Cuts blog:

The poster, designed by Anna Hurley and printed on thick card stock, is 15 by 30 inches of procrastinatory eye candy. But it’s candy for a good cause — proceeds go to 826 National, the nonprofit, multi-city publishing and tutoring organization born of Dave Eggers’s 826 Valencia in San Francisco.

Click on the poster image for more info.

Comments (0)

By admin, June 14, 2010 4:10 pm

It’s not uncommon to hear about media submissions getting rejected by the iTunes store gatekeepers.

I wrote a piece for The Straight last year about digital comics for mobile devices. In my interview with Michael Murphy, the owner of Texas-based iVerse Media, he talked about the delicate process of dealing with the iTunes censors who could easily say “no dice” to his latest web comic submission and dispense with any future revenue.

Selling anything through iTunes is very much a hoop-jumping exercise that can be best understood as “our house, our rules.” In a limited sense, I’ve got no beef with that; they’re the ones who invested all the money in creating a revolutionary media distribution system, why shouldn’t they be able to say who can access it?

My problem is that, with our culture’s continuous drive towards digital publishing, we’re looking at a unique scenario where the distributor is also the publisher and will likely hold an ever-increasing share of power over what kind of media you’ll be able to experience in the future.

Take this article from today’s New York Times. Part of me thinks Apple is totally justified in saying a cartoon naked breast is too much — but I think there’s a dangerous message being reinforced here: what if this was a future “classic” of fiction? Chances are no one’s going to lose any sleep over whether the web comic “Ulysses Seen” is represented as originally intended through Apple’s distribution portals — but who knows? Illustrator Robert Berry could be the Henry Miller of 2010.

Okay. Probably not.

But there might be other artists or writers we don’t know about who are failing in their efforts to juke and spin through the iTunes censors to distribute their potentially groundbreaking works to the world.

In possessing (and potentially monopolizing) the means of media distribution and exerting full editorial control, Apple is positioning itself as the Ultimate Tastemaker. Combined with growing iPad sales and the struggles of print publishers, there’s no question that their choices will directly affect our reading and viewing habits.

Writers, artists, and traditional publishers alike need to push for greater agency in Apple’s editorial policy. We’re looking at more than a digital “big box store” phenomenon here; imagine if Wal-Mart owned the roads and your car or bike.

Total control. It sucks.

Comments (0)

By admin, June 7, 2010 8:32 pm

The following three-part series of video interviews was produced by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for their 2010 awards ceremony. Check ‘em out to hear a bunch of screenwriters sound off on common topics such as their writing process, the highs and lows of being a writer, and where they’d be if they weren’t writing for a living.

There are tons more videos about screenwriting on WGA’s YouTube channel.

The Writer’s Life – Part 1

The Writer’s Life – Part 2

The Writer’s Life – Part 3