Writing with the doors closed?

There may be subtle differences, which the common man cannot discern. Unless you're an expert in nutrition, chemistry,psychology, food science, and biology(also economics), you're not qualified to say one flavor might not in some ways be superior to the other. So be careful in your statements.

 

*takes a puff*

Have you ever read any Gilles Deleuze? That's some deep shit, man.

"A book is a small cog in a much more complex, external machinery. Writing is a flow among others; it enjoys no special privilege and enters into relationships of current and counter-current, of back-wash with other flows — the flows of shit, sperm, speech, action, eroticism, money, politics, etc."

 

So... who writes with the door closed, literally? I have cats who get very nervous about being shut in anywhere (probably because they're all rescues who had to live in a cage for months) so I don't think I've ever written in a room with the door closed.

Could this be why I'm not published yet?

 

I actually like to be in a room with other people while I write, which sounds strange, but I have two young kids, so it's not often possible to lock myself away and I've come to enjoy the ambient sounds.

 

Aw man, you guys all finished arguing before I had a chance to fire my big gun. :C

*pouts, kicks rock, slithers back to den*

 

Typical them, really.

 

I think it's totally derivative to write historical fiction - you're taking a world that already exists, doing all kinds of research instead of being totally creative and making your own world.

It's also cheap to be inspired by anyone else's writing - a real writer keeps their work pure by not reading anything written by anyone else, ever.

True writers also refuse to speak to anyone at any stage of the drafting process, because they might inadvertently absorb some element of the other person's speech pattern, opinions, personality, or odor, and that might somehow be transmitted into the holy writ.

 

It's the same way it's shitty to tell someone who self-published "well, you're not really published." Whether or not I think self-publishing as less than or equal to traditional publishing, I wouldn't condemn what someone does as compromised, or unoriginal.

It's shitty because you're putting one method as unique, uncompromised. And you're putting another method as compromised, unoriginal.

So, because I discuss my stories with my friend, you're saying that I'm not a creator of my own work. If that's not a bit shitty, I'm not sure what is.

 

I have to be in a room full of supermodels to write well, myself.

 

I'm very sorry to have offended you. My opinion of the creative process hasn't changed, but I should have learned long ago that there comes a point where I should stop expressing it. This is a philosophical argument that nobody is ever going to win. I suppose the proof of the pudding, so to speak, comes with the eating. If you write good stories, should it matter where they come from or whose ideas have helped you envison them? Perhaps not. And you're right that everybody is entitled to use and develop their own writing process.

 

I'm not offended, jannert. You'd have to work a lot harder than that to get to me. I was just having a conversation. I don't think you should stop expressing your opinion, but maybe not refer to other people as compromised and unoriginal. That would be a pretty good start. There are ways to phrase things which don't condemn others and still express the same thought.

 

I am seriously asking the question here, because I don't like offending people. How would you phrase those concepts so I can express them, but they don't offend people? Or how would you have put my argument, if you'd been in my shoes?

I started my contribution to this thread by responding to the OP's topic ...is it better to show work to people at an early stage, or to keep it to yourself? My opinion is and was that it's best to keep it to yourself until you've finished the first draft, because then the work is all your own.

From there, the discussion got more and more awkward. If I played a part in making that more awkward, I'd love some pointers in how I could have expressed the opinion differently without compromising my position.

 

I have to be in a room full of stfu to write well.

 

Maybe something like...

"Would you like to hear my unsupported prejudices about other people's writing? Here they are!"

 

I guess I just wouldn't label the practices of other people as unoriginal and compromised.

 

I'm going to jump in here on Jannert's behalf. If ever there was a constructive, non self serving member here, who genuinely enjoys helping(and praising) other writers, it's Jannert.

Disparaging other writers was probably so far from her mind when she wrote those posts, that I bet it never even occurred to her that someone might be offended. She was just giving her opinion.

 

But if you felt that a practice DID interfere with originality, how would you express that?

 

Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Say my bit, clarify it once or twice, if need be. Then stop. You're right. I should never have let it carry on as long as it did.