If you don't think, you won't write
Posted by Patrik Edvardsson | Posted in Babel , Holy Roller Novocaine , Hype , Joyce Carol Oates , Kings Of Leon , Kobra , Phoenix , SVT Play , The Strokes | Posted on 6:48 PM
There is some banana remains in my speakers. It has unknown impact on the audio experience which at this moment consists of Kings Of Leon's fantastic debut EP from 2003, The Strokes meets southern rock sounding Holy Roller Novocaine.
Swedish television program Babel (one of three programs I watch every week on SVT Play, the other two are Hype and Kobra) went to Princeton to sit down with one of the big American writers, Joyce Carol Oates. It a beautiful interview where she talks about herself and her writing. For her writing is thinking:
Writing is some form of expression of thinking. If you don't think, you won't write. So people who watch a lot of television, or have noise in their ears, from music, or see a lot of people, they can't write or create any art because they don't have any time to think about it. But they may not miss it cause they are so busy. And young people that have music in their ears all the time, well, they're probably not gonna be writers, they have no time to think.
And even though I don't completely agree, since I think a lot when I listen to music, and music was the reason I started writing, the concept of not having time to think, and that people who always surround themselves with people or other forms of stimuli do not have time to think, says something that I think is very true.
Update: The Phoenix concert I told you about this past Saturday is now sold out by the way. Don't say I didn't warn you!
i'm assuming babel is in swedish, or i'd be interested in watching
and of the writing groups that i've been part of, i have not seen music as a driving inspirational force (with the obvious exception of lyricists and librettos). there's only been a couple poems that i've written that are direct responses to music and no fiction pieces. there is a reason for that. music doesn't give you enough sustained relevance to pursue long-form fiction, or even short-form.
part of the hard work of writing long form is having the characters coalesce and breathe, and letting them talk to you. and it's more difficult and distracting to have conversations in a loud environment than in a quiet one (especially a loud environment where words are audible).
now i don't think she means that music can't be inspirational: sometimes you hear a song, and a line sticks with you or a chord and suggests an emotion/event/character. but then you have to disconnect yourself from the song before it comes together.
kian: Thanks for your comment, you do have many points. First of all, you are right, Babel is in Swedish, which is unfortunate, for the non Swedish readers.
For me music often works as a inspiring starting point, a line or something that becomes an idea, or just a feeling in a song that inspires me to write, I have a very strong connection to music in my writing, all my short stories are song titles and there are often references to bands and songs in my texts. But real inspiration always comes from real life, from people, events and stories I hear and experience, a song can never match real life.
I used to see Joyce Carol Oates running down the street in her big floppy hat when I was in high school. It's interesting growing up in a place full of intellectual celebrities.
I'm not going to take part in this debate, just wanted to say that I have my ticket to Phoenix! :)