Gillian Polack's Blog, page 80
February 21, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-02-22T12:24:00
I've come to a natural break in my morning's work. I needed just a small time away from the book, for I was hating it muchly (and lots of people have already reminded me that this is a stage, and I know it's a stage, for I've been in this place many times before, but that didn't stop me hating it muchly) and needed time out. The only time out I could afford today was other work, so that's what I've done.
I've now completed 2/3 of my day's other work. Which is a terribly clinical way of saying that I've been comparing one particular twelfth century view of what a hero is with one particular twenty-first century view. And my conclusion so far is that I never want to meet either. I'm not sure that I want to even inhabit the same country as either. I also suspect that Tony Abbott was invented by Joe Abercrombie on an overcast day that threatened bitter cold, but that is not related to notions of heroicism. Unless the problem with modern Australia is that we've entered an age of heroes. This is possible.
My next trick is to finish the work I meant to do this morning (the last stack of notes for the book) before I'm allowed lunch. That way I get some food in between me and the real work of the day.
Some days have to be planned rather like military campaigns, don't they? This means that the only reward for it is when they're over and the task is done and you can move on to the next task. If you're lucky, there is chocolate along the way. There is no gold and there is no glory. But maybe, if you're lucky, there's chocolate.
All this post shows you is that my heroes (should I choose to write them) will be plodding foot soldiers who make it to the end, despite the vainglory of others.
I've now completed 2/3 of my day's other work. Which is a terribly clinical way of saying that I've been comparing one particular twelfth century view of what a hero is with one particular twenty-first century view. And my conclusion so far is that I never want to meet either. I'm not sure that I want to even inhabit the same country as either. I also suspect that Tony Abbott was invented by Joe Abercrombie on an overcast day that threatened bitter cold, but that is not related to notions of heroicism. Unless the problem with modern Australia is that we've entered an age of heroes. This is possible.
My next trick is to finish the work I meant to do this morning (the last stack of notes for the book) before I'm allowed lunch. That way I get some food in between me and the real work of the day.
Some days have to be planned rather like military campaigns, don't they? This means that the only reward for it is when they're over and the task is done and you can move on to the next task. If you're lucky, there is chocolate along the way. There is no gold and there is no glory. But maybe, if you're lucky, there's chocolate.
All this post shows you is that my heroes (should I choose to write them) will be plodding foot soldiers who make it to the end, despite the vainglory of others.
gillpolack @ 2014-02-21T21:09:00
My brain needs a break from thinking about genre, so I'm blogging. I'm nearly finished with genre, but it's going to be a long night. I need to get all these notes into the right e-files while my mind has a clear picture, and that means, if possible, finishing with all of them tonight. Turning paper into rubbish. Right now, at this very moment, it's my brain that's turning into rubbish...
All this is terribly exciting. So is my leg, which the physio stuck pins and needles in today. OK, maybe just needles. It turns out she has also trained as an acupuncturist. The big thing is that stuff is happening and that one day I shall be able to do all things. And dance. I really miss dancing.
And in other news, all the untellable things are either falling off the radar (one, today, due to it being a bit ahead of its time, I think, and therefore taking too many resources) or waiting for more input. It's terribly exciting at this end, but far less so in the talking-about.
Almost tellable is that Women's History Month is taking shape and looking delightful. And my open question post is getting rather interesting. Worth checking up on, just to note that there are areas I really know not a thing about.
There, I found something useful to say. Now let me see if I can find something equally useful to say on the subject of genre.
All this is terribly exciting. So is my leg, which the physio stuck pins and needles in today. OK, maybe just needles. It turns out she has also trained as an acupuncturist. The big thing is that stuff is happening and that one day I shall be able to do all things. And dance. I really miss dancing.
And in other news, all the untellable things are either falling off the radar (one, today, due to it being a bit ahead of its time, I think, and therefore taking too many resources) or waiting for more input. It's terribly exciting at this end, but far less so in the talking-about.
Almost tellable is that Women's History Month is taking shape and looking delightful. And my open question post is getting rather interesting. Worth checking up on, just to note that there are areas I really know not a thing about.
There, I found something useful to say. Now let me see if I can find something equally useful to say on the subject of genre.
February 19, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-02-20T13:27:00
Post-thunderstorms, my brain is beginning to pick up pace. I say 'beginning' because it's totally wonderful with things scholarly and totally abysmal with the stuff of every day. I waited an hour to meet with two people I didn't know, and then came home to find that they thought one date and I thought another. Next week, I will get to repeat the process.
The upside of this is that I spent the time over an extended cup of coffee sorting my next day and a half and I've learned how to make notes on my mobile and send them to my email. Those notes are all on stuff I needed to think of for the book. What I need is a separate book on the stuff of my today's new notes, but I can't leave it out entirely and I can't deal with it entirely, so what I think I shall do is spend a couple of pages on it. More, if I can find examples that are less annoying than Holy Blood Holy Grail. I'm not sure I can, though. I'll do my few pages and leave the discussion open for another day, and hope that that's OK. I'm not OK with it (which is why I'm dwelling on it here and why I sent messages to myself from my mobile) but it's one of the subjects that is more can of worms than side comment.
I was thinking about cultural appropriation, you see, yesterday, during the storms. And I'm Jewish. And so cultural appropriation led, sure as sure, to historical appropriation - what happens when your history is no longer the way you defined it and if it perverts your perception of yourself? What happens when you lose rights to your own history? And it made me realise (belatedly) that fiction has a tendency to do this to some historians. Mary Stewart, for instance, popularising Geoffrey of Monmouth has changed Geoffrey's stories in the same way Geoffrey changed the stories of others when he himself wrote. There's not necessarily anything wrong with this redefinition. There *can* be things that are very wrong with it. And that's why it's a can of worms, and that's why I can't avoid it, and that's why I'd rather be able to write 300 pages on it and will probably just put an alert in to what the main issues are.
At the heart of it is the fact that cultural borrowing isn't always a problem, but cultural appropriation is, and that there is no clear dividing line between the two. Historical borrowing for the sake of telling stories in fiction isn't a problem in and of itself, but historical appropriation is. The question is what the rights to story and history are. And that's an enormous question and a vexed one. Why is my telling more valid than someone else's? When is it more valid? Who does that validation and how?
Recently, I've been exploring the cultural borrowing/appropriation issues from a new angle (for me) through the practical experience of editing people from different backgrounds to my own. I have the historical theory to explore the history side, but can't get into it yet. And quite obviously, I'm going to be writing about it, if life permits. Which it doesn't, until I finish this book, the Beast, an article and a chapter, for three are promised and the fourth is essential if I don't want to throw out years of work.
When people tell me "Everything's been studied" I look at them in surprise. When yet another talented writer uses fairytales for their PhD core, I am even more surprised (although relieved, because it means I won't be asked to examine them - I *can* examine some work on fairytale and folk studies, but most people don't know this, so I'm not asked - which is a good thing, because I'm rather tough on poor research in those areas). There are so many big subjects that can be explored best through a combination of fiction and scholarly research. So very many. And I want to do all of them at once, and right now it's really annoying me that I can't.
And now I'm totally scatty. I shall eat my missed lunch and write up three more chapters of notes before dinner. And I shall leave issues of cultural boundaries until the right chapter and then I shall be very, very disciplined in how I handle them.
The upside of this is that I spent the time over an extended cup of coffee sorting my next day and a half and I've learned how to make notes on my mobile and send them to my email. Those notes are all on stuff I needed to think of for the book. What I need is a separate book on the stuff of my today's new notes, but I can't leave it out entirely and I can't deal with it entirely, so what I think I shall do is spend a couple of pages on it. More, if I can find examples that are less annoying than Holy Blood Holy Grail. I'm not sure I can, though. I'll do my few pages and leave the discussion open for another day, and hope that that's OK. I'm not OK with it (which is why I'm dwelling on it here and why I sent messages to myself from my mobile) but it's one of the subjects that is more can of worms than side comment.
I was thinking about cultural appropriation, you see, yesterday, during the storms. And I'm Jewish. And so cultural appropriation led, sure as sure, to historical appropriation - what happens when your history is no longer the way you defined it and if it perverts your perception of yourself? What happens when you lose rights to your own history? And it made me realise (belatedly) that fiction has a tendency to do this to some historians. Mary Stewart, for instance, popularising Geoffrey of Monmouth has changed Geoffrey's stories in the same way Geoffrey changed the stories of others when he himself wrote. There's not necessarily anything wrong with this redefinition. There *can* be things that are very wrong with it. And that's why it's a can of worms, and that's why I can't avoid it, and that's why I'd rather be able to write 300 pages on it and will probably just put an alert in to what the main issues are.
At the heart of it is the fact that cultural borrowing isn't always a problem, but cultural appropriation is, and that there is no clear dividing line between the two. Historical borrowing for the sake of telling stories in fiction isn't a problem in and of itself, but historical appropriation is. The question is what the rights to story and history are. And that's an enormous question and a vexed one. Why is my telling more valid than someone else's? When is it more valid? Who does that validation and how?
Recently, I've been exploring the cultural borrowing/appropriation issues from a new angle (for me) through the practical experience of editing people from different backgrounds to my own. I have the historical theory to explore the history side, but can't get into it yet. And quite obviously, I'm going to be writing about it, if life permits. Which it doesn't, until I finish this book, the Beast, an article and a chapter, for three are promised and the fourth is essential if I don't want to throw out years of work.
When people tell me "Everything's been studied" I look at them in surprise. When yet another talented writer uses fairytales for their PhD core, I am even more surprised (although relieved, because it means I won't be asked to examine them - I *can* examine some work on fairytale and folk studies, but most people don't know this, so I'm not asked - which is a good thing, because I'm rather tough on poor research in those areas). There are so many big subjects that can be explored best through a combination of fiction and scholarly research. So very many. And I want to do all of them at once, and right now it's really annoying me that I can't.
And now I'm totally scatty. I shall eat my missed lunch and write up three more chapters of notes before dinner. And I shall leave issues of cultural boundaries until the right chapter and then I shall be very, very disciplined in how I handle them.
February 18, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-02-19T16:18:00
What a strange day this is. Loads of small things going wrong, but still, life continues and work continues and I'm getting through things. I had a storm-break this afternoon, which fortunately happened while my work experience student was here, so i sorted stuff and she sorted stuff and we both avoided by thinky things. Next week she gets to do an interview, with luck, and to learn about bibliographies.
Tonight I shall achieve much, but the rest of this afternoon I think I shall do some light reading. I have seven books to lightly read, three of which could usefully be returned to the library tomorrow. And my eyes are recovered from the storm, but my brain isn't, so I shall read until dinner and then do much work on the non-novel tonight. (Despite the strangeness of the day, I've done three hours of work on it already, and taught, so really, things are OK - I just want everything done yesterday.)
As an aside, one of the things that went wrong today was a spammer stealing my email address. If anyone writes to me and the message bounces, send me a note through LJ and I'll find you an alternate address. Only one of my email addresses has been affected by this, so it's still easy enough to contact me.
Tonight I shall achieve much, but the rest of this afternoon I think I shall do some light reading. I have seven books to lightly read, three of which could usefully be returned to the library tomorrow. And my eyes are recovered from the storm, but my brain isn't, so I shall read until dinner and then do much work on the non-novel tonight. (Despite the strangeness of the day, I've done three hours of work on it already, and taught, so really, things are OK - I just want everything done yesterday.)
As an aside, one of the things that went wrong today was a spammer stealing my email address. If anyone writes to me and the message bounces, send me a note through LJ and I'll find you an alternate address. Only one of my email addresses has been affected by this, so it's still easy enough to contact me.
February 17, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-02-18T17:30:00
I'm trying to work out why my day has passed so quickly, and I can't. I'm guilty of time travel, perhaps. Or of delaying my first coffee until far too late in the day.
Mostly I've been writing today, and getting Women's History Month stuff together. It's going to be a totally fabulous celebration this year on my blog but it won't be too shabby off my blog, either. I have just been invited to be a guest at the public debate at the Albert Hall. I seldom get invited to be in debates, which amuses me because I was a university debater, way back when. I don't look like a debater, though, and I make too many bad jokes. And this one I get to watch, but as a guest, which is nice.
Speaking of bad jokes, do you know how hard it is to write a second serious non-fiction book running? One with no bad jokes in it? I snuck quite a few into the cookbook, but can hardly squiggle any into the Beast and there will be none at all in this week's work. None. And no chocolate. It's all quite wrong. It's especially wrong because some of the authors I interviewed a decade ago made bad jokes, and so far not one of them fits into what I'm saying. This afternoon it's all sober stuff about the relationship between credibility and verisimilitude and genre.
This means my next piece of fiction will be some sort of protest. I would be worried if I weren't the one whose sense of humour is being repressed through undertaking serious writing.
Talking of that serious writing, it's coming together. It's a bit slow because things like physio work and life in general get in the way, but I should have done the drafting I need to have done by about Saturday. Then I get two days of solid and focussed writing. Then I send a proposal out and you don't hear about it for almost forever. And I return to the seventeenth century for a bit, or to the Middle Ages.
The century I go back to is actually outside my control, but I should know by Friday. Watch this space. Also, please remember that once I was funny, even if I am not so any more...
Mostly I've been writing today, and getting Women's History Month stuff together. It's going to be a totally fabulous celebration this year on my blog but it won't be too shabby off my blog, either. I have just been invited to be a guest at the public debate at the Albert Hall. I seldom get invited to be in debates, which amuses me because I was a university debater, way back when. I don't look like a debater, though, and I make too many bad jokes. And this one I get to watch, but as a guest, which is nice.
Speaking of bad jokes, do you know how hard it is to write a second serious non-fiction book running? One with no bad jokes in it? I snuck quite a few into the cookbook, but can hardly squiggle any into the Beast and there will be none at all in this week's work. None. And no chocolate. It's all quite wrong. It's especially wrong because some of the authors I interviewed a decade ago made bad jokes, and so far not one of them fits into what I'm saying. This afternoon it's all sober stuff about the relationship between credibility and verisimilitude and genre.
This means my next piece of fiction will be some sort of protest. I would be worried if I weren't the one whose sense of humour is being repressed through undertaking serious writing.
Talking of that serious writing, it's coming together. It's a bit slow because things like physio work and life in general get in the way, but I should have done the drafting I need to have done by about Saturday. Then I get two days of solid and focussed writing. Then I send a proposal out and you don't hear about it for almost forever. And I return to the seventeenth century for a bit, or to the Middle Ages.
The century I go back to is actually outside my control, but I should know by Friday. Watch this space. Also, please remember that once I was funny, even if I am not so any more...
February 16, 2014
Writers and motivation
Just over a decade ago, I circulated questionnaires around writers who used the Middle Ages in their fiction. I wrote (and published) a couple of papers about the answers. I'm returning to this work now because I want to integrate it into my study of history in fiction. It's really interesting: tens of thousands of words* of authorial thought on their writing, ten years later.
My current item of note is that I included a few short story writers in the group. They all had novels written and all the novels were looking for homes. When asked about their motivation, they were the only group who said "We're in this mainly for the money." They were all male and around the same age. None of those novels were published during the ensuing decade. None of these writers have yet had commercial success.
I find it interesting that those writers with the desire to make significant amounts of income from said fiction as their major drive for writing it are such a minority and that they've not succeeded. I'd be rather interested to know if this is a blip (ie that my subset is not typical). I suspect that so few fiction writers make an income from writing fiction that other reasons for writing are paramount for most of us. I need bigger datasets, though, and bigger datasets I do not have.
Expect more curious insights as I revisit this material. Maybe expect them in more readable English. The reason I'm editing my old notes rather than committing new writing is because both need to be done and today is my day for writing prose that's not particularly readable.
*I wrote 20,000, but that was just the first round of answers. It was a vast and wonderful outpouring and researchers should ask writers these things more often. Some of you were involved in this project - I still owe you a debt for opening my eyes.
My current item of note is that I included a few short story writers in the group. They all had novels written and all the novels were looking for homes. When asked about their motivation, they were the only group who said "We're in this mainly for the money." They were all male and around the same age. None of those novels were published during the ensuing decade. None of these writers have yet had commercial success.
I find it interesting that those writers with the desire to make significant amounts of income from said fiction as their major drive for writing it are such a minority and that they've not succeeded. I'd be rather interested to know if this is a blip (ie that my subset is not typical). I suspect that so few fiction writers make an income from writing fiction that other reasons for writing are paramount for most of us. I need bigger datasets, though, and bigger datasets I do not have.
Expect more curious insights as I revisit this material. Maybe expect them in more readable English. The reason I'm editing my old notes rather than committing new writing is because both need to be done and today is my day for writing prose that's not particularly readable.
*I wrote 20,000, but that was just the first round of answers. It was a vast and wonderful outpouring and researchers should ask writers these things more often. Some of you were involved in this project - I still owe you a debt for opening my eyes.
February 15, 2014
Open Question Post
It's been a while since I've done an open question thread and I'm in writing mode most of this week and will need occasional breaks. Ask me questions! A question about my shoesize has already been answered, and so has "How long is a piece of string?" If you want to ask a question just to make sure that I will do this again sometime, how about asking about my suddenly-close relationship with GUFF? Or what my LonCon paper will be about? (Or even "What on earth is LonCon and why should I go?")
The rules are that the questions don't have to be serious, but they can be. I'm very happy to help with background to whatever you're working on currently. If I don't have an answer to hand, I'll say so, but I won't go hunting, for it's writing week this week and I don't have time. If I can, I'll point you in the direction of resources.
I won't answer anything that takes vast amounts of time, for it's writing week this week. Do I sound like a broken record?
I'll only answer the questions you post here, for otherwise I can't keep track (so the friends who think of a question and just pop it into the first post they see, or ask me on FB - don't). And I'll only answer questions that don't require long and thought-out answers, for I am an Evil Teacher-Type and believe that people should (mostly) do their own work. Or they should pay someone. Besides, it's writing week this week.
I don't do question posts in writing time normally, but I've got a handle on the shape of the week and the writing in question is not only non-fiction, but requires much bringing together of previous thoughts, which gives me quite a different brainspace from when I write fiction.
As usual, anyone is welcome to ask questions, even if they don't know me and have never read my blog. Those people might want to know that my first PhD was in Medieval stuff and that my second was in science fictional stuff and that I have been known to teach the guides at the Jewish Museum in Melbourne and that I am occasionally a foodie. If anyone who knows me wants to explain anything crucial I've missed, go for it!
This thread will be open for a full week.
The rules are that the questions don't have to be serious, but they can be. I'm very happy to help with background to whatever you're working on currently. If I don't have an answer to hand, I'll say so, but I won't go hunting, for it's writing week this week and I don't have time. If I can, I'll point you in the direction of resources.
I won't answer anything that takes vast amounts of time, for it's writing week this week. Do I sound like a broken record?
I'll only answer the questions you post here, for otherwise I can't keep track (so the friends who think of a question and just pop it into the first post they see, or ask me on FB - don't). And I'll only answer questions that don't require long and thought-out answers, for I am an Evil Teacher-Type and believe that people should (mostly) do their own work. Or they should pay someone. Besides, it's writing week this week.
I don't do question posts in writing time normally, but I've got a handle on the shape of the week and the writing in question is not only non-fiction, but requires much bringing together of previous thoughts, which gives me quite a different brainspace from when I write fiction.
As usual, anyone is welcome to ask questions, even if they don't know me and have never read my blog. Those people might want to know that my first PhD was in Medieval stuff and that my second was in science fictional stuff and that I have been known to teach the guides at the Jewish Museum in Melbourne and that I am occasionally a foodie. If anyone who knows me wants to explain anything crucial I've missed, go for it!
This thread will be open for a full week.
gillpolack @ 2014-02-16T08:32:00
The upside of impossibly chatty neighbours (7.50 am on a Sunday morning this time, which meant another night of less than 6 hours sleep) is more awake-time this morning to do admin stuff. I shall have finished with a bunch of paperwork before I meet an old friend for coffee. Then I shall finish the messages that the smoke interfered with. Then I shall wonder where my morning went.
This afternoon, I'm giving up on doing things in rational order and I'm finishing collating my notes on what credibility means to writers of fiction. If I'm lucky, I get to start actual writing (I know, shocking thing!) Specifically, this section is on what credibility means or ought to mean to writers of fiction that invokes history. I'm focussing on genre more than Important Works, because I see a big gap in our understanding of how novels work and I intend to fill it.
I'm keeping my brain honest and refreshed by watching four episodes of season 2 of Vampire Knight, which goes back to its owner on Wednesday.
This evening may be devoted to the same chapter (it depends on how quickly my brain works) or I may be continuing my analysis of Abercrombie. If I want more doom and gloom, then my choice is obviously going to be Abercrombie. If I want to be really uncheerful, I will examine my table of contents over again, for I noticed that my revised chapter outline has developed its own problems. This is the colour of my February: everything develops its own character and this normally means revision and more work.
Everyone around me appears to be writing fiction, inspired by the start of the awards season. My fiction is on hold until I get four NF projects out of the way. Maybe my neighbours know this and are giving me extra hours in the day, out of the kindness of their heart.
ETA: The messages can wait. I want less paper in my week and the only way to achieve that is to write. I'll have my coffee and come straight back and write annoying prose on how writers convince us they know their stuff and have researched even when they fabricate everything.
This afternoon, I'm giving up on doing things in rational order and I'm finishing collating my notes on what credibility means to writers of fiction. If I'm lucky, I get to start actual writing (I know, shocking thing!) Specifically, this section is on what credibility means or ought to mean to writers of fiction that invokes history. I'm focussing on genre more than Important Works, because I see a big gap in our understanding of how novels work and I intend to fill it.
I'm keeping my brain honest and refreshed by watching four episodes of season 2 of Vampire Knight, which goes back to its owner on Wednesday.
This evening may be devoted to the same chapter (it depends on how quickly my brain works) or I may be continuing my analysis of Abercrombie. If I want more doom and gloom, then my choice is obviously going to be Abercrombie. If I want to be really uncheerful, I will examine my table of contents over again, for I noticed that my revised chapter outline has developed its own problems. This is the colour of my February: everything develops its own character and this normally means revision and more work.
Everyone around me appears to be writing fiction, inspired by the start of the awards season. My fiction is on hold until I get four NF projects out of the way. Maybe my neighbours know this and are giving me extra hours in the day, out of the kindness of their heart.
ETA: The messages can wait. I want less paper in my week and the only way to achieve that is to write. I'll have my coffee and come straight back and write annoying prose on how writers convince us they know their stuff and have researched even when they fabricate everything.
February 14, 2014
gillpolack @ 2014-02-15T18:00:00
You'll be pleased to know that, although I don't quite have my brain back, post-smoke, it's nearly there. I'm not past making stupid mistakes, though, so I'm still doing work-lite. Later tonight, though, I see real work looming. It'll be a relief to be able to get it done without having to worry about re-doing it (why I've been doing work-lite these last few days).
What I really want to do, now that the rain is here and the smoke isn't (and I'm very PMT and etc - much etc) is sleep for a day. Instead, I shall go do some more of those small things that always seem to clutter my landscape. Unclutter will be a rather pleasant state to emerge into, when my brain finishes reconstituting itself.
What I really want to do, now that the rain is here and the smoke isn't (and I'm very PMT and etc - much etc) is sleep for a day. Instead, I shall go do some more of those small things that always seem to clutter my landscape. Unclutter will be a rather pleasant state to emerge into, when my brain finishes reconstituting itself.
gillpolack @ 2014-02-15T13:44:00
Today's market visit gained me many figs and peaches, the ingredients for osso bucco, and salad vegies. The visit to the physio afterwards gained me the knowledge that my leg will be better in a couple of weeks. She's a very good physio, gentle and explanatory. The bushfires are abating because we finally have rain.
And with all this good news, I think I shall have a nap before I pick up my messy self and catch up on all the work the smoke slowed down, last week. The fact that I did other work in its stead is immaterial, unfortunately - I still have to catch up.
And with all this good news, I think I shall have a nap before I pick up my messy self and catch up on all the work the smoke slowed down, last week. The fact that I did other work in its stead is immaterial, unfortunately - I still have to catch up.
