I never knew!

[elfs]

I never knew I was such a problem!

On the other hand, looking through the vast and strange array of novels written in the 1950s and 1960s, here on a single subject, I can only get more and more depressed. Who remembers any of these writers? Are they anything more than curiosities? Sometimes, writing just doesn't feel like something with an objective above and beyond just getting a momentary rush of attention.

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

No, I think it's the "90% of everything is crap" rule.

90% of ALL books are crap. 90% of gay erotica is crap.

So out of the 100% of everything (which includes all crap created) you expect something in the 10% of non-crap gay erotica from a specific two decades known for a highter-then-90% of crappiness, inside the tiny percentage labeled to be gay erotica to have floated to the top and be remembered?

Most likely there were a few good things out there, but (honestly) how many things can you name from that era? Personally, aside from Heinlein and Asimov I can't think of a blessed thing! Heck, I can't remember mch worth anything from five years ago, let alone fifty!

Don't sweat it. Trying to create a classic is, in my opinion, like that scene in "Dead Poets Society" where they read from the book trying to rate poetry in a scientific manner.

I love IMDB.com!

"Understanding Poetry," by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. "To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme and figures of speech, then ask two questions: One, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered and two, How important is that objective? Question 1 rates the poem's perfection; question 2 rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the poem's greatness becomes a relatively simple matter. If the poem's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness. A sonnet by Byron might score high on the vertical but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this matter grows, so will, so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry."

Shoot me now.

You write beause you have something to say, and at some level you think others want to hear it. Yes, there is the rush of attention, but the GOAL is to get the words out of your head. Of course there are always new words and ideas somewhere in there that demand attention, but that's for later.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

the GOAL is to get the words out of your head, because they won't leave you in peace until you do. At least, that's how it works for me with poetry. I *have to* write. I do not have the option not to write, because if I don't, it keeps plaguing me until I do. This has been going on since I was about eight, at the latest, and possibly started earlier; I used to tell stories to my brother and sister, before I learned to write, because there was no other way to get the words out of my head.

Once I have them written down, they leave me alone for a while, until the next time.