Comments for No More Than Pen and Ink

Comment on An (Attempted) Defense of Fantasy by Rosemary

Rosemary — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:04:48 +0000

I am seriously surprised that so many educated people still look down on fantasy, actually.

And isn’t all reading a form of escapism, anyway?

Comment on An (Attempted) Defense of Fantasy by Marlin

Marlin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:26:17 +0000

I don’t think I quite met the burden of proof laid on me by the professor (who did not think highly of fantasy and would occasionally joke about me writing about elves or castles). But I at least presented some decent points. Definitely could have been organized better.

Comment on The Author/Text/Reader Relationship by Rosemary

Rosemary — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:29:04 +0000

A lot of it is review, but it’s interesting to see where you’ve taken it since then.

It’s interesting, because as an author, when I feel “inspired” (which doesn’t happen nearly so often any more as in, say, high school), it does indeed seem that I am simply discovering something that is already there, apart from me, or beyond me.

Nowadays I usually end up struggling in a very visceral way with whatever I write … but I think even in those “inspired” moments the author is producing the text; it’s just coming from a part of her she can’t access by force.

Comment on The Author/Text/Reader Relationship by Marlin

Marlin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:24:34 +0000

Sorry this is mostly review for you Rosemary, but I was reading my old papers from Crit Lit and thought this topic would be worth revisiting as a post.

Comment on My Relation to Media by Marlin

Marlin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:51:48 +0000

Looking back on this post, I think I should have mentioned song as a means of storytelling. But despite my immersion in a very music-centered family, I have never taken very strongly to music as a medium of story. In the past (in the days of bards and minstrels) stories were recited to music, before writing was a widespread practice. And even nowadays we have lyrical ballads that tell stories, but the attention span of listeners is so short and the taste in lyrics nowadays runs towards obscure figurative language that it limits the effect produced. But even just music alone with no lyrics has potential as a means for story, even if it is abstract and focuses completely on emotional progression. Still, there is potential for story there.

Comment on Reflections on Narrative Voice (Or Making the Best of What You’ve Got) by Rosemary

Rosemary — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:53:29 +0000

I can sort of see dialogue too … but just dialogue stories are in great danger of being cheesy or simply no good. Even when written by good authors. And I’ve never run across a good undergraduate-written one. It just seems to be drawing more attention to itself as a form than doing any service to the story …

Comment on Thoughts On Christianity in Fiction by Rosemary

Rosemary — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 03:51:54 +0000

I think perhaps it would be better to call Lewis an apologist rather than a theologian? Although he does venture into theological territory at times.

Lyn, I just read this Flannery O’Connor quote from the introduction (by Joseph Pearce! Yay!) of a book about her, and it reminded me of this post. She is talking about Catholic writing specifically, but it holds true for Christian writing in general.

“The [Christian] novel is not necessarily about a Christianized world [...] but one in which the truth as Christians know it has been used as a light to see the world by.”

If you haven’t read her collection of essays, “Mystery and Manners,” yet–you ought to. Her understanding of fiction is one of the best I’ve ever come across.

Comment on My Relation to Media by Marlin

Marlin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:09:06 +0000

I think I am planning on doing some more exploration in more detail into this topic. This is something that I have become rather passionate about. I love to explore story in all its forms.

Comment on My Relation to Media by Rosemary

Rosemary — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:52:07 +0000

This is a great post … I’d love to see you delve more deeply into some of these mediums. I am familiar with fewer of them–fiction and movies, yes, the others not so much–but the way story breathes in them and is experienced through them is different. I’d love to hear/read more of your thoughts.

Not rejecting something without exploring it reminds me of something Lewis once said: you can’t dismiss something as not art if you’ve never understood the appeal of it. (He said it much more elegantly than me, of course.)

Comment on Reflections on Narrative Voice (Or Making the Best of What You’ve Got) by Marlin

Marlin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:00:38 +0000

Yeah, I found the categories to be quite weird myself. I mean I can get behind some of them. . . but is “As a Play” really a form of narrative, or a completely different genre of writing? Isn’t Epistolary just a form of First Person Past (As Written) that goes back and forth in a Dialog (Okay, that one I can get behind being a different form of Narrative)? And what is the difference between First Past (Spoken) and (As If Spoken)?

The book was not the best organized, and it didn’t do the best job dealing with the subject. And I didn’t even go into all the details of how tight the box was.

And I was remembering some of the things I have heard about your draft and pov issues, Rosemary, when I was writing that section of the post.