!Name Drop Alert! Brad Pitt once told me that each project is the antidote to the last. He’d just made ‘Meet Joe Black’ and was now making ‘Fight Club.’ Regarding writing and relationships, I had to agree. Do you?
Definitely. That’s the reason whenever I read anything altruistic, like The Once and Future King, I balance it out with one of your novels for good measure!
I don't think this is what you mean, but Re: writing, have you heard of The Creator's Curse? You supposedly get better with each thing you create, and so you always look back on your most recent work dissatisfied, since you're better now than when you began the project. I've definitely been through this with writing, and now that I think about it, I guess it applies to relationships as well.
I always think it goes in pairs- you write something awful, the next thing you don't think is so bad, you're in a good relationship, the next one is a bit shitty or you don't care as much. Maybe that is exactly what an antidote is really- it resets you.
I do sort of wish I liked everything I write though and every relationship was great......but then I'd probably be the sort of conceited little shit I wouldn't like.
So perhaps 'clock resetter' would be a better description that 'antidote'?
Absolutely. My second writing project was so much better than the first, and the third was better than the second and so on.
My second marriage is much better than the first.
Does that mean you believe Survivor to be a superior book to Fight Club? Even though you are the author, I believe they are both equally great. (Damned being your best work IMO in case you were wondering.)
Not going to argue with Pitt. The guy is (mostly) one of the best for picking scripts that keep his fans happy. In the nineties one of my housemates had a “Legends of the Fall” poster hung on her bedroom door. In the film after that one “Se7en,” Pitt refused to go shirtless (noted in the film’s commentary track by Pitt) and regretted it. Sometimes the fix causes other problems but at least you’re not stuck in a rut. I don’t think Fight Club was just an antidote to Joe Black as it also seemed like a response to his modesty on Se7en’s set. My housemate and I saw Fight Club together and, while I raved about the story, she seriously just raved about Pitt’s torso. He plays with high and low brow from film to film a lot but also has some exceptions (Was Mr. and Mrs. Smith an antidote to Oceans Twelve?). Seeing as it has kept his filmography mostly interesting, I respect the methodology. Then again, some people have found a good life in sticking to what seems to work even if it gets repetitive as hell. Sometimes the antidote is recycling or returning to what worked before but just fine tuning, isn’t it?
Does that mean each of your writing projects eventually become poison? And if you're seriously stuck on a project, like for years, will the next project be equivalent to chemo?
Personally, I think being able to finish something starts that healing process, the next project is continuation of that.
Agreed. There’s no reason to evolve without failure. Falling forward still comes with the risk of breaking your nose or chipping a tooth. Openness is the medicine to both: writing and relationships. Inviting the unexpected into your own story from the last place you’d look.
Openness to ugliness. It’s better than being boring and alone. And honestly, did you really like your perfect teeth that much anyway?
This made me think of something. Many people exit relationships only to date the complete opposite of their last partner. Which reminds me, I spent years focusing on a tragic love story only to stop everything I was doing to write a fairy tale adventure-fantasy with talking animals. I think we pendulate between extremes as a way of balancing things out. Date the bad boy only to settle for the quirky one at the end of the day. Top off a salty snack with a sweet one. Inhale, exhale. Catch my drift?
This train of thought is probably at the root of the fear of a creative been pigeonholed in their endeavors. Even if the creative doesn’t know what they want to do in the future, they’ll probably be concerned about doing the same thing over and over and never “evolving” or pushing themselves in other/new directions.
Absolutely. My father told me something similar once, regarding a failed relationship " some day you will say "I'm glad that relationship was over, so I could be in this one"
And Brad Pitt could have worn a shirt every single scene. It would have elevated the material and hint at the idea that Tyler never actually fought. Anytime it came down to business Jack was always the one taking off his shirt and ready to go. Tyler was more of the peacock.
Yes, seems like it to me. The new thing I’m working on has really gotten me out of what was quite a funk. I can’t wait to go back and forth between each piece I’m doing. I can already tell it’s going to keep me much more balanced and feeling less like I have all my eggs in one basket. Your dad gave great advice! I hope you’ll share more of it.
Good Ol' Google at it again. "Deadly Black Widow Spiders Feast on Males after Mating with Them and Liquefy Their Prey. Black widows spiders are notorious for their powerful venom and gruesome mating habits, which sometimes involves the females killing and eating the males after procreating."
Hey Chuck, I love when you talk about textures of information. Slipping in second person or third person, writing description or instructions or sound words. Adding a list. Definitions. Slogans. Warnings. It got me thinking about what else could be textures of information. Could tweets or hashtags be a texture? I'm always on the lookout for new textures.
One scene from the movie "Midnight at Paris" stuck with me ever since I heard it. Not sure if you guys seen it. Owen Wilson's character is sitting in a restaurant/bar and he's chatting with Hemingway to see if he can get Papa's opinion about a 400 page novel he wrote. And Hemingway replies, "My opinion is I hate it."
Owen's character responds with, "But you haven't even read it."
Then Hemingway comes back with, "If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing. If it's good, I'll be envious and hate it all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."
Scribble that on a post-it note and slap it right over my heart. But I'm conflicted about it. Part of me wants to think we're all in this together, trying to help each other out, and then wipe happy tears away when our peers succeed. But another part of me goes, "What do they got that I don't got? I can do that, maybe even better."
What do you think about their interaction? Is there any truth to it?
This reminds me of Alexander McQueen and Galliano. At the very beginning of the book Gods and Kings. "During their twenty-year reign, they poured their creative souls into fashion, helping companies turn into not only megaconglomerates but also names that will stand for decades to come. In return they were sacrificed in the name of capitalism.They were indeed kings, the sort history later hails as The Great. But kings come and kings go. And Gods remain.”
Seems to be the case with writing for me. Especially if I get feedback or reviews to improve. Each project is a chance to do better and to try out new things.
Moving to new cities might be the other. I always want to see new places. Some places I loved, some I am glad to leave behind.
Definitely. That’s the reason whenever I read anything altruistic, like The Once and Future King, I balance it out with one of your novels for good measure!
So was Snatch the antidote to Fight Club? Because that is one hell of a remedy
I don't think this is what you mean, but Re: writing, have you heard of The Creator's Curse? You supposedly get better with each thing you create, and so you always look back on your most recent work dissatisfied, since you're better now than when you began the project. I've definitely been through this with writing, and now that I think about it, I guess it applies to relationships as well.
I always think it goes in pairs- you write something awful, the next thing you don't think is so bad, you're in a good relationship, the next one is a bit shitty or you don't care as much. Maybe that is exactly what an antidote is really- it resets you.
I do sort of wish I liked everything I write though and every relationship was great......but then I'd probably be the sort of conceited little shit I wouldn't like.
So perhaps 'clock resetter' would be a better description that 'antidote'?
Yeah and my dog is the antidote to all my failed relationships. She's my soul mate.
Absolutely. My second writing project was so much better than the first, and the third was better than the second and so on.
My second marriage is much better than the first.
Does that mean you believe Survivor to be a superior book to Fight Club? Even though you are the author, I believe they are both equally great. (Damned being your best work IMO in case you were wondering.)
With all due respect to Mr. Pitt, he was speaking your words in a story of your making. If name dropping were to be done, it should be in the reverse.
Not going to argue with Pitt. The guy is (mostly) one of the best for picking scripts that keep his fans happy. In the nineties one of my housemates had a “Legends of the Fall” poster hung on her bedroom door. In the film after that one “Se7en,” Pitt refused to go shirtless (noted in the film’s commentary track by Pitt) and regretted it. Sometimes the fix causes other problems but at least you’re not stuck in a rut. I don’t think Fight Club was just an antidote to Joe Black as it also seemed like a response to his modesty on Se7en’s set. My housemate and I saw Fight Club together and, while I raved about the story, she seriously just raved about Pitt’s torso. He plays with high and low brow from film to film a lot but also has some exceptions (Was Mr. and Mrs. Smith an antidote to Oceans Twelve?). Seeing as it has kept his filmography mostly interesting, I respect the methodology. Then again, some people have found a good life in sticking to what seems to work even if it gets repetitive as hell. Sometimes the antidote is recycling or returning to what worked before but just fine tuning, isn’t it?
Does that mean each of your writing projects eventually become poison? And if you're seriously stuck on a project, like for years, will the next project be equivalent to chemo?
Personally, I think being able to finish something starts that healing process, the next project is continuation of that.
Agreed. There’s no reason to evolve without failure. Falling forward still comes with the risk of breaking your nose or chipping a tooth. Openness is the medicine to both: writing and relationships. Inviting the unexpected into your own story from the last place you’d look.
Openness to ugliness. It’s better than being boring and alone. And honestly, did you really like your perfect teeth that much anyway?
I love this writing group so much.
This made me think of something. Many people exit relationships only to date the complete opposite of their last partner. Which reminds me, I spent years focusing on a tragic love story only to stop everything I was doing to write a fairy tale adventure-fantasy with talking animals. I think we pendulate between extremes as a way of balancing things out. Date the bad boy only to settle for the quirky one at the end of the day. Top off a salty snack with a sweet one. Inhale, exhale. Catch my drift?
Also...why'd you have to post a picture of a Black Widow? Now I won't be able to sleep tonight lol
This train of thought is probably at the root of the fear of a creative been pigeonholed in their endeavors. Even if the creative doesn’t know what they want to do in the future, they’ll probably be concerned about doing the same thing over and over and never “evolving” or pushing themselves in other/new directions.
Absolutely. My father told me something similar once, regarding a failed relationship " some day you will say "I'm glad that relationship was over, so I could be in this one"
And Brad Pitt could have worn a shirt every single scene. It would have elevated the material and hint at the idea that Tyler never actually fought. Anytime it came down to business Jack was always the one taking off his shirt and ready to go. Tyler was more of the peacock.
Do I get better the more I, uh, write? Is this sentence the antidote to the first?
Im ready for an antidote to the current project.
No, but it's a great attitude when u need it.
Yes, seems like it to me. The new thing I’m working on has really gotten me out of what was quite a funk. I can’t wait to go back and forth between each piece I’m doing. I can already tell it’s going to keep me much more balanced and feeling less like I have all my eggs in one basket. Your dad gave great advice! I hope you’ll share more of it.
Good Ol' Google at it again. "Deadly Black Widow Spiders Feast on Males after Mating with Them and Liquefy Their Prey. Black widows spiders are notorious for their powerful venom and gruesome mating habits, which sometimes involves the females killing and eating the males after procreating."
Hey Chuck, I love when you talk about textures of information. Slipping in second person or third person, writing description or instructions or sound words. Adding a list. Definitions. Slogans. Warnings. It got me thinking about what else could be textures of information. Could tweets or hashtags be a texture? I'm always on the lookout for new textures.
Here's a totally random post!
One scene from the movie "Midnight at Paris" stuck with me ever since I heard it. Not sure if you guys seen it. Owen Wilson's character is sitting in a restaurant/bar and he's chatting with Hemingway to see if he can get Papa's opinion about a 400 page novel he wrote. And Hemingway replies, "My opinion is I hate it."
Owen's character responds with, "But you haven't even read it."
Then Hemingway comes back with, "If it's bad, I'll hate it because I hate bad writing. If it's good, I'll be envious and hate it all the more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."
Scribble that on a post-it note and slap it right over my heart. But I'm conflicted about it. Part of me wants to think we're all in this together, trying to help each other out, and then wipe happy tears away when our peers succeed. But another part of me goes, "What do they got that I don't got? I can do that, maybe even better."
What do you think about their interaction? Is there any truth to it?
This reminds me of Alexander McQueen and Galliano. At the very beginning of the book Gods and Kings. "During their twenty-year reign, they poured their creative souls into fashion, helping companies turn into not only megaconglomerates but also names that will stand for decades to come. In return they were sacrificed in the name of capitalism.They were indeed kings, the sort history later hails as The Great. But kings come and kings go. And Gods remain.”
Seems to be the case with writing for me. Especially if I get feedback or reviews to improve. Each project is a chance to do better and to try out new things.
Moving to new cities might be the other. I always want to see new places. Some places I loved, some I am glad to leave behind.