| Author | Message | ||
     Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.124 |
For any who might be interested, I was inteviewed by Jeff VanderMeer for the June issue of Clarkesworld: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/barron_interview/ CW might also be a market of interest to denizens of the RCBM. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.114.29 |
Much enjoyed Laird. I'm always fascinated about how author's have approached their writing - influences, development and such like. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.244.23.116 |
yes it was an interesting read, and I am especially curious to see how you would tackle a novel. | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 139.168.49.214 |
Enjoyed reading this, Laird. Is your wife a woodworker? | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.226.245 |
Your working space sounds very inviting. I've always wanted a rolltop desk, but alas really old ones are expensive and hard to come by. I confess I had to google for 'Brane theory'. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
Fascinating stuff, Laird - thanks for posting that. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.141 |
Thank you for posting this, Laird. It was very interesting to read about your background and writing habits, your influences, and your outlook and ideas about life. I couldn't agree more with the section near the end where you emphasise the need to instill fiction with poetry and lyricism, to transcend the merely utilitarian. I feel too many writers today fail to grasp this essential point. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.124 |
Ally, Hubert and Zed: Thank you all for checking out the interview. Tom -- I'd prefer to stick with mid range fiction, but due to a combination of factors I'm now compelled to write a novel or two. I'm dedicating my life from this coming autumn forward to getting one written....Maybe I'll end up embracing the form. ;) Lincoln -- she majored in sculpture, prefers wax, but can do almost anything well, including welding and some woodworking. I learned a lot about process from watching her sculpt lifesize wax figures. Huw -- Thanks. And speaking of utility, I also think there's much conflation of purely utilitarian prose (which we see in certain mass market potboilers) with prose that is elegantly sparse (such as selections from poets like Charles Simic). For me, there is a tremendous difference, but I think the distinction is often lost in conversation, reviews, etc. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.187.24 |
I think it can be a hard thing to pull off, that sparse style of writing that also succeeds in being elegant at the same time. I find that some writers have a sense for it and some just don't. On the other hand, I think that writers with a more ornate, descriptive style can just as easily mess things up if they don't have that 'way' with words, that feel for the rhythm and flow of language. It can easily become overblown and verbose if the tendency toward excessive wordiness isn't reigned in. I think both approaches can be equally effective, when handled by a skillful writer. Thanks again for posting the link. I'm going to read it again later. ;-) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I aim for the middle ground - that way is possible to salvage prose that goes astray. For a great example of poetic yet spare prose, look no further than our very own Joel Lane. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.42.249 |
I'd agree with that. You do a pretty good job of it yourself, you know. :-) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
:-) “He didn’t know this town but had been to countless others just like it. They were all the same, these places; deeply provincial, bursting at the seams with a misguided sense of their own importance. Tower cranes and construction sites; bright new shopping centres and transport links; flashy pubs and clubs and comedy venues. But none of this surface glamour could hide the age-old darkness that beat against the skin of these towns – a recent history of murdered industry, mass unemployment, poverty, and the sense that the denizens had all sold their souls in the name of empty progress. In place of mills and mines, there were malls and call centres. The souls of the dead rotted in plastic shrouds, buried from sight beneath awful tonnes of glass and concrete.” | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.243.23.145 |
Probably nobody did elegant spare prose better than Raymond Carver. Take "Cathedral" for example, perhaps the best short story I ever read. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
Yes, Carver's work is stunning. "Tell the Women We're Going" is my favourite story of his that I've read. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
'Boxes' is incredible. That moment when he puts the phone down and speaks to his wife... |