Comments on: What You Have to Give Up to Write

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:07:53 +0000

“I prefer rather making mistakes then committing the sins.”

The problem is that making the mistakes makes your message unintentionally ambiguous (for example, when people are unsure whether you intend “then” or “than”). Which is poor writing in any book.

Again: Lecturing anyone on the aims and goals of writing when you apparently cannot aim a single sentence toward its goal is rich with irony; attempting to rationalize such a thing, as you have so poorly done here, is merely farce.

Please come back when you can actually communicate, Volodymyr.

By: Volodymyr

Volodymyr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:48:32 +0000

I prefer rather making mistakes then committing the sins. At the first place – it’s a nice work out for the editor. On the other hand – playing an old myth of the Shakespeare’s theater. John, have you ever heard of Roland Barthes or Derrida’s vision of writing?

By: Matthew Graybosch

Matthew Graybosch — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:12:19 +0000

I hope for Volodymyr’s sake that English is not his mother tongue.

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:07:50 +0000

“Writing is a responsibility, the ability to find answears and questions, to response to the century, open eyes.”

The irony of such a statement coming from someone with such obviously poor command of the language is pronounced.

By: Volodymyr

Volodymyr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:55:16 +0000

Hello, all of you sound like an outfit of the informational globalization that turnes a man, a writer into the insect. Man you can almost see why Hemingway actually had to leave and sturve in Paris, because it didn’t have that James’s spirit. Writing is not a job. Writing is a responsibility, the ability to find answears and questions, to response to the century, open eyes.

By: Stephen Buchheit

Stephen Buchheit — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:18:24 +0000

(and they don’t get upset with me when I screw up they’re, there, and their).

By: Stephen Buchheit

Stephen Buchheit — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:17:39 +0000

Groupies? Damnit, now I’ve got to move to Alaska. They got groupies there.

Okay, well, I’ve got groupies, but their all Amish girls.

By: Jim Wright

Jim Wright — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:00:50 +0000

Exactly.

Writing is a job. And like any job, it requires a certain degree of discipline. A lot of writers suffer because they lack that discipline – then they don’t finish stuff, then they don’t get paid, so then they don’t eat. Cause and effect. But the thing is, a lot them wouldn’t have the necessary discipline in any job. They show up late, don’t finish shit on time, don’t pay attention to detail. They took up writing because they thought it would easy. Guess what? It’s fucking work.

Certain you need to give up some things up to be a decent writer – like the tendency to sit around all day in your underwear playing Halo. You are going to have to lock yourself in the den in front of the word processor for a couple hours every day and you’re not going to be able to go outside and play ball with your kid until later. You’re self employed, the taxes for that are a huge pain in the ass (here in the States anyway), you’ve got to buy your own health insurance or not get sick, you’ve got to run a business and learn the trade. It does take sacrifice.

Same as any job.

On the other hand, the benefits are pretty good. Flex hours, groupies, wild parties…

By: Craig Ranapia

Craig Ranapia — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:54:32 +0000

Jim Wright @ 170:
And not to get off topic into a BSG discussion, but your observation is a good one on the current subject. I seriously doubt that all of the BSG writers were depressed and suffering anti-social misanthropes with suicidal tenancies and drinking problems. You don’t have to suffer in order to write convincingly about suffering. You see it on the news every night. You know people. You empathize. You use your imagination.

Certainly — and I’ve seen recent interviews with Ron Moore and Jane Espenson, where they’ve both said one fun thing about Caprica is that they can hit a few tonal notes — including jokes — that just weren’t appropriate for the universe of BSG. But you’re right — Ron Moore certainly likes an occasional ciggie and a fine Scotch while recording a podcast, but I rather doubt he’d have the kind of career he does if he spent every waking moment self-medicating away the existential angst. It’s exhausting being that fucked up 24/7. :)

By: mythago

mythago — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:42:02 +0000

No, the difference is that Scalzi writes about people who like themselves, who have piles of self-esteem, who regard life as some kind of adventure instead of a crushing burden.

And they actually like other people and get along with them pretty well; when they don’t it’s the normal friction of human interaction, not towering, angsty hatred and misunderstanding. The main baddie on OMW isn’t so much a cackling evil genius as he is kind of an asshole.