Everything you see here is a trick. A strong, emphatic code is hidden by every line. It is not a subtext. Did anyone say it was? The biggest trick, La Grande Illusion, the disappearing tiger – well, surely you know? Originality. The original is the familiar presented in a new way; a smugly comforting thought for me as I write this. But is it true? Everything has been thought of by someone already. Even that. But:
.¿sdrawkcab ti etorw I fi tahw.
It wouldn't matter, that's the original Da Vinci Code, is it not?
Another of the tricks is the contract: between writer and reader. The writer promises … what? Hmm.. I didn't sign anything, did you? Suppose there were a contract: what would it say.? I promise to pay the reader one plot, some character and conflict. Or would we draw up some more obfuscatory rigmarole departing from the party of the first part and arriving pell-mell at the sanity clause? No, I think the contract is unfair; another trick on me and you. I cannot promise to be writing what you think you are reading. Why should I?
So, if you read on, would I tell you a story? If I wrote on, would it be something new? Would it be a shining jewel or a polished turd?
I think we both know the answer.
Comments
celticman | September 21, 2009 - 10:23
The trick is making yourself and others think you are saying something new.
FTSE100 | September 21, 2009 - 11:28
Blabberfnips come in pairs. Bet nobody's ever said that before! Makes yer fink though, dunnit?
threeleafshamrock | September 21, 2009 - 12:03
suppose...I only want one then? gwon, answer me that then!
chuck | September 21, 2009 - 14:14
My belief and/or disbelief has/have been suspended so any comment I may or may not make would not be credible.
lenchenelf | September 21, 2009 - 14:18
Mille Feuille
'I cannot promise to be writing what you think you are reading. Why should I?'
Crispy layers with oodles of custard :-) :-)
atb Lena x
Ewan | September 21, 2009 - 17:27
Well, FTSE, I think, you are missing the point. Whilst your neologism might be original, it probably isn't any good. Don't you think that anything that is actually any good, usually turns out to have been written before?
Most of what we seem to like is a stylistically pleasing rehash of something else, no?
Think I might give up, at least for a while.
chuck | September 21, 2009 - 17:44
I've heard that before. Bet you keep making notes.
threeleafshamrock | September 21, 2009 - 19:30
I started writing backwards and people said it was an improvement :(
insertponceyfre... | September 21, 2009 - 19:36
if you like what you're doing, and most of the time other people do too, does it actually matter?
FTSE100 | September 21, 2009 - 19:57
I think I made a similar point some time ago, but nobody noticed because I had my red nose on at the time. "There's only one story in the world: people do things. The rest is just detail."
http://www.abctales.com/story/ftse100/dear-literary-agent
So how original do you want to be? My mum used to say that people are just bags of feelings. My butcher says they're bags of guts. Somewhere in between lies the truth ... maybe.
Crackersville | September 21, 2009 - 20:00
Our Synod's biggest problem. Say something new Ewan-EL, we already know there is no solution! Meanwhile, I have to let you all know that there is no solution of any kind, and if it has already been said, I have no other option but to rest my feet on my meta-nihilist head.
FTSE100 | September 21, 2009 - 20:04
And another thing...
FTSE100 | September 21, 2009 - 20:10
Sorry, it was just going to be the same again but in different words.
insertponceyfre... | September 22, 2009 - 11:16
I don't think you should give up
celticman | September 22, 2009 - 17:10
You play(ed) rugby. I play football on a Friday night with the 'boys'. I'm not actually very good, but so what? I enjoy it. If you no longer enjoy writing that's reason enough to stop. I was thinking about this the other day. Writers such as Orwell pumping out thousands of words a day. A younger me would have said fuck him. Doesn't know what work is. You've also had a literay education. And only you can transcribe the vast reservoir of words and images inside yourself. Somewhere, somehow, something you have said resonates within another person and they recognize it as being true. There's nothing new under the sun, but there's only one George Bush? Sometimes we've just got to be greatful.
Crackersville | September 24, 2009 - 17:29
There's nothing new under the sun,
That is the problem: And OMG (lol) I have an original solution! I think we need a new sun!
celticman | September 25, 2009 - 11:23
Cracker of a creative solution Crackesville, but I'd already thought of that...:@
Ewan | September 25, 2009 - 17:24
There is no original solution, only the 7 Per Cent Solution, which is no more original than the Wide Sargasso Sea... they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Elementary then, I'm away to marry Holmes off to a mad Afro-Caribbean woman.