These past few weeks, hearing my voice has become more
demanding to discern among the whispers and groans darting about in my
head. Listening to the voices of others have
become rather difficult as well. I'm not
sure if it was a happy accident or evil genius, grouping me with two sports
writers to whom I have nothing to say. While one writes with clarity and
cleverness both blogs make me want to eat a hollow point. It has nothing
to do with their ability or creativity. It's the topic that drives me to
thoughts of snuffing it. Perhaps my topic has the same effect on
them. And that's probably the lesson here. By learning how to critically read content
that, down the simplest biological terms, holds no interest to us - we can
ourselves become better writers.
I don't have anything to say with words. I
have plenty to say with the visual. If I wanted to write in my present
field I'd have been a news producer. I definitely have the aptitude for
it. I can copy and paste with the best of them. What interests me
are effects, animations, 3D, editing, graphics - anything visual. The
content that I fashion these effects for is another story and one I'd like to
distance myself from. I wretch every time I use one of my effects to
transition to yet another overnight house fire video. Or punch up a mug
of a nouveau zombie who, high on bath salts, prefers dining on another man's
face. My objective: to get out of the news business but to continue
expressing myself with video and graphic design. There are plenty of
outlets where positive media is produced and none more prolific than the
web. My interactive voice will be seen, not heard or read.
I'm not a music critic and I don't claim to
be. But I'm glad I got to play one.
My friend whose band I had the honor of reviewing loves my piece. I may try to have it published on a punk rock
web site in the near future. Still, my interactive writing voice seems
muzzled. It hasn't stopped me from focusing on the quest. My plan
for this program is twofold. I want to teach video production at the
university level. I also want to leave myself open to other opportunities
that come into focus as the program trundles along. Among careers not
sought - writer. Most especially after this experience. If part of the plan is to separate the wheat from the
chaff - then consider me chaffed.
Vonn, it's funny because I was having the reverse of this conversation with a friend who is a graphic artist. I said, "I am just NOT naturally good at design and video. I can write all day long. But I don't seem to have the knack for design. It's painful."
ReplyDeleteAnd she looked at me like I was a complete idiot. Her response, "Maybe you just haven't done enough of it yet."
It seemed so basic and obvious. Of course I haven't done it; I'm bad at it! And don't we avoid doing things that we are not good at?
And so I share this very obvious advice with you as well. The more you write, the better you will get at writing and the more you'll realize that you're good at it.
After all, you've got the skill to express thoughts and ideas in a profound way through visuals. Just substitute words instead.
Absolutely. your friend makes a great point. my plan is to write...right or wrong...just write.
ReplyDeleteYou're already better off than 50% of writers, because you can spell. And you know the difference between right/write/rite and their/they're/there. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe truth is - I can't spell to save my life. I spend a lot of my time reading what I've written - over and over and over and over and spell checking an equal number of times. Then having my English major/ex-reporter/PR Account Exec. wife proof my work. It's painful.
ReplyDeleteI like your writing. This is coming from a less-than nice person, and I consider you my friend, which takes sugar coating completely out of the equation.
ReplyDeleteYour writing reminds me of guttural singing in a good way, with a hint of fangoria.
Personally, while I like books, graphic novels, and moving pictures (both animated and not) - I find that words are the most visual for me. It's because I'm not getting any visual stimulation that I need to work harder. Look at the post above: "Dressed in shadow and siting direct lineage to Vlad Tepes these androgenes kooks slither in slow motion behind a permanent bank of artificial fog." That was more visual to me than a video clip. So as far as I'm concerned, you are doing a great job combining writing and visual. You just need to continue writing visually and focusing on visual things. That's your strength.
(And if it's ok with the teacher you can switch to our group, our third member is not very active. I like the writings of our one eyed friend, but sport... sigh. It took me a week to read the Zissner chapter about it.)
Thanks for the words. going to get back on the saddle. last week was really tough for me to write...I did get a sun tan though.
ReplyDelete