~~Angst: the One True Way.
Dec. 1st, 2002 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkais it me, or is there some sort of `pride' to uphold among angst writers? *laughs* as in, we, the angst writers, do our honorable deed, and any deviation is a shameful, embarrassing thing, because by writing angst we make a Statement about the world, a deep, meaningful statement, and if we renege on that Statement, we aren't worthy of our Angsty Heritage. ahem.
our Angsty roots need watering, our Angsty Credo needs upholding.
we, the few-- the proud-- the Angst Writers. *coughs*
it's not any one person-- i see this again and again-- i mean, mostly in jest i guess, but still. what is it about angst writing that makes one think it's some sort of defining -thing- about you as a writer, and maybe as a person? why is it so different than writing satire or pure drama, or mythical romance or what have you?
i've never seen humor writers beat their chests, proclaiming themselves to be Proud, to be on the One True Path, the practicioners of the great Art and Science of Satire. *chortles*
i mean, it would be funny if one said-- i've been writing too much angst and drama. i need to go back to my satiric fluffy roots.
personally, i just write stuff. if it comes out fluff or angst or sweet gooey wuv (not so often), i don't really care. i'm not out to cultivate an image i hold of myself-- if anything because i have no clue what that image would be. actually, i'm sort of a satirically inclined angst writer. not so much that my characters -suffer-... ok, so they suffer. it's just-- i certainly don't write about happy love. neither do i write about doomed love. to me it's all kind of confused and undefined. no love is one or the other entirely. that's the beauty of it-- love is everything all at once. i never thought any character was really doomed unless i plan to kill them-- and i only kill characters in jest, really. or as a metaphor for transformation.
well, that's just me.
still, it's weird to me that a number of people feel -uncomfortable- with the lighter side, even if they write it. it's like, it's not as deep, not as meaningful-- like it's a lie, somehow, they're lying to themselves and the readers. if they're writing Doomed Love, well, they're telling the truth then.
i mean, this is definitely a case of the writer seeping into the writing, i guess. your life has been sucky, so if your characters are ok, they're like, in some insane little dreamworld, surely. it seems to imply some sort of personal resentment and jadedness that is seeping into your work. not that that's easily avoided-- after all, your work is a part of you. still, if you're not going to go beyond your own views and opinions on the characters and on life, your work is going to be hobbled, and if you judge what you write as you write it or beforehand, you're running the risk of skewing it, taking away the magical, indefinable quality that makes it beautiful, that makes the reader speechless.
and yes, my favorite writing, the things i consider magical and truly great, work beyond angst and satire and fluff and encompass all of them. that is the goal. that is the One True Path, for me anyway. say, shakespeare was never entirely one or the other, even though he wrote "comedies" and "tragedies". he never struck just one note. it just bothers me to see writers even jokingly refer to the need to write angst, as if it's more worthwhile, more "real". what's real is the emotion throughout, not the eventual result, not the -nature- of the emotion. i hope anyway.
~~
EDIT: anyway. more interestingly.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ztrin. ginny. evil. i-- am-- dead. as in, oh my -gahd-, if i ever write evil and ginny and tom, let me be half, a quarter, a third as good as this. um. yah.
our Angsty roots need watering, our Angsty Credo needs upholding.
we, the few-- the proud-- the Angst Writers. *coughs*
it's not any one person-- i see this again and again-- i mean, mostly in jest i guess, but still. what is it about angst writing that makes one think it's some sort of defining -thing- about you as a writer, and maybe as a person? why is it so different than writing satire or pure drama, or mythical romance or what have you?
i've never seen humor writers beat their chests, proclaiming themselves to be Proud, to be on the One True Path, the practicioners of the great Art and Science of Satire. *chortles*
i mean, it would be funny if one said-- i've been writing too much angst and drama. i need to go back to my satiric fluffy roots.
personally, i just write stuff. if it comes out fluff or angst or sweet gooey wuv (not so often), i don't really care. i'm not out to cultivate an image i hold of myself-- if anything because i have no clue what that image would be. actually, i'm sort of a satirically inclined angst writer. not so much that my characters -suffer-... ok, so they suffer. it's just-- i certainly don't write about happy love. neither do i write about doomed love. to me it's all kind of confused and undefined. no love is one or the other entirely. that's the beauty of it-- love is everything all at once. i never thought any character was really doomed unless i plan to kill them-- and i only kill characters in jest, really. or as a metaphor for transformation.
well, that's just me.
still, it's weird to me that a number of people feel -uncomfortable- with the lighter side, even if they write it. it's like, it's not as deep, not as meaningful-- like it's a lie, somehow, they're lying to themselves and the readers. if they're writing Doomed Love, well, they're telling the truth then.
i mean, this is definitely a case of the writer seeping into the writing, i guess. your life has been sucky, so if your characters are ok, they're like, in some insane little dreamworld, surely. it seems to imply some sort of personal resentment and jadedness that is seeping into your work. not that that's easily avoided-- after all, your work is a part of you. still, if you're not going to go beyond your own views and opinions on the characters and on life, your work is going to be hobbled, and if you judge what you write as you write it or beforehand, you're running the risk of skewing it, taking away the magical, indefinable quality that makes it beautiful, that makes the reader speechless.
and yes, my favorite writing, the things i consider magical and truly great, work beyond angst and satire and fluff and encompass all of them. that is the goal. that is the One True Path, for me anyway. say, shakespeare was never entirely one or the other, even though he wrote "comedies" and "tragedies". he never struck just one note. it just bothers me to see writers even jokingly refer to the need to write angst, as if it's more worthwhile, more "real". what's real is the emotion throughout, not the eventual result, not the -nature- of the emotion. i hope anyway.
~~
EDIT: anyway. more interestingly.
ztrin. ginny. evil. i-- am-- dead. as in, oh my -gahd-, if i ever write evil and ginny and tom, let me be half, a quarter, a third as good as this. um. yah.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: subjective is such a good word
Date: 2002-12-02 06:02 am (UTC)Hold up.
Is this a joke? Know thyself, Horatio!
The majority of your fic is *not* angst. I am cracking up.
Think back, way back, *pixie dust falls, you cough* when was the last time you wrote angst? Which, in my NOT humble opinion, is not evil fic (see Draco) or Ron being a bastard, it's someone wallowing in the mud of self-pity or existential tribulation.
Have no fear, I call myself out on this, too. I think I will now publicly declare myself a humorist and say that comic writing is the highest form of art since it is so much more difficult to get right (was that pretentious enough, R?) *also, the preceeding was in and of itself satire* Thank you, I will go to class now.
Re: subjective is such a good word
Date: 2002-12-02 09:00 am (UTC)The majority of your fic is *not* angst. I am cracking up.
shut up, hamlet. christ. okay, whatever she said as she's really been there from the jump start knows better than i do. i am not an angster or a humorist, i am a hacker, and damnit, i like it that way.
Re: subjective is such a good word
Date: 2002-12-02 01:55 pm (UTC)*laughs and laughs*
*waves banners*
-->*K is a Humorist~!!*<--
*laughs some more*
gahd, that made my day >:D