« Susan Henderson on Memoir; What I scanned in the news this morning | Main Index | The Sleepers Launch next thursday, Sunday's Topic Alert, Bits and Pieces »
January 31, 2006
Inspiration, Typography, Creative Impulses, and my very own writing excercise for you to sample
I was flicking through the Computer Arts magazine that my son borrowed from my library stash and saw the following quote from Bruno Mag:
Legibility is dependent on what we're used to reading, so when you introduce something new, it will be less legible.
I began thinking about how this applies so well to my writing; the way I find I turn prose around so its theme can be 'legible'. And I am thinking of older pieces that did not receive such a treatment and whether I might one day pick them out and give them the finishing school attack.
Further to this passing reflection, I happened to look through Graphis--spurred on to do so by the fact that I had to return the magazine to the library because it could not be renewed again. Oh Lord, won't you give me a subscription! Anyway, I got to reading an interview with Me Company (Graphis 351) and to looking through a selection of images; taking special note of Cymbidium 2.1 2001 of which Paul White says:
It is one of a series of images that present our interpretation of orchids, 'the deceivers of the plant kingdom'. It's about seeing the plant as an insect would see it. Exploded microscopic xylem and phloem.
And about Bjork Alarm Call--doesn't this sound like what we are up to in microfiction:
The dots are representative of an electron-microscopic way of seeing the world... at this magnification her face is appearing in the shape of the atoms. It's like unwrapping something till you reach a point where you fear it will dissappear.
So here is my excercise which seemed to me an extension of the no, 49, Binary Oppositions, that I read in 3 am Epiphany.
Give yourself 5 random words and put them at the top of your document. Take an older piece writing (I took mine out of a folder named 'Discards') and paste below the words. Judiciously throwaway bits and pieces without worrying too much about keeping logical connections. Then add to the skeleton you have, bit by bit, stopping just this side of coherence. Take your 5 words and look for ways to incorporate them into the work.
A second part to this is to put it up, as I did, in an online workshop and keep fiddling till it's right. For me, posting something works like an extra creative spur. I find things to add and subtract that don't seem to come to me any other way. Perhaps it has to do with a feeling of being on stage.
Enjoy.
Posted by girija at January 31, 2006 02:34 PM