Writing in the Minimalist style

Some writing tips gleaned from Chuck Palahniuk’s talk.

1. Read your work aloud
2. Don’t give it up – make the emotion happen in the readers mind

Devices to use:
- Gesture
- Dialogue
- Running narrative of factual stuff
All of these are effective at conveying the characters state of mind and convey the authority of your character.

If you can get your reader to believe the little factual things, you will get then to believe a big lie.

3. Keep things unresolved
4. Ask more questions than you give answers
5. Rope other people into your writing and your projects – they can help you stick to it
6. Start with stories no more than 6-7 pages. Be concise.
7. Use your writing as an excuse to do reach and be with people and collect their stories
8. Have a great life through writing – make every story a scrapbook
9. Give up on the goal of being liked – instead strive for making and impression and being memorable
10. Portray a state of mind – don’t be explicit in state of mind
11. Don’t use “is” or “has” – its too passive – write aggressive
12. Use your short stories as figure studies for larger stories

Posted by aynne at 04:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Radio-waves burn salt water. Fascinating to see where this research will lead.

Posted by aynne at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Todays something to love is the conceptual art project. The Thing. Artists will send a thing to your home. This thing will incorporate text and based on the artists participating (one of my favorite artists Miranda July is the first in the queue) The Thing Quarterly seems like a smashing idea.

Bravo!

Posted by aynne at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“If I had shown up dressed like a Ninja Turtle no one would care or notice either”

I am kind of tired of nonchalantness.

Everyone has to act like they don’t care or notice anything.

If you see someone pass out on the street one simply walk over them
If someone pulls out a gun and waves it around one gives a bored look
If there is a man dressed in a silver-spangled cat suit and combat books one might yawn and think about grabbing a bite to eat

I do it too, I confess.
I am nonchalant but since I was raised (more or less) here (and LA) one just is trained to be nonchalant.

Posted by aynne at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You can comment on bills facing the senate?

The California State Assembly

I encourage everyone to support Assembly Bill 1634.. Which would require most dogs and cats in California to be spayed or neutered.

Keeping the population of cats and dogs low is the first step in eliminating the need for the murder of countless innocent animals in shelters every year.

So - please for the sake of the animals - support this bill.

Posted by aynne at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

view my portfolio:
coroflot.com/aynne

Posted by aynne at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)