Joseph Grammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "learning"
Marathons
I'm atrocious when it comes to running. I'm no fan of pacing, consistency, or doing the same thing twice in one week. It's not part of my hardware. But when it comes to writing a book, all that stuff is necessary (unless you're into the avant-garde, but even then you need some patience).
Six months ago I wasn't even writing every day. I was working in an office and only wrote fiction for fun, when I felt like it, to feel creative and inventive and all that jazz. Then my girlfriend Anna (www.2lch.com) created a word-tracking web app called Twords (www.twords.2lch.com) to help spur my writing career when I confessed I wanted to do it professionally (or at least attempt to).
I am not an app person, and I am technologically stunted even though I am 24 years old. Anna frequently giggles at the way I interact with 21st-century devices. But Twords got me writing every day, which made me feel less like a hobbyist and more like a person who actually values writing fiction for dollars.
Sure, I did NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) a few times, but Twords helped build my habit of writing because I could log in every day. This process felt like slamming my head against a cabinet for a few weeks, and then slowly got easier. Now I get antsy if there's the possibility of me not having Internet access to log my word count. Odd how swiftly you can depend on things that used to enrage you.
I always marveled at people who ran marathons; they were like insane superheroes with tighter clothing. But now I see the appeal, even if my own version has nothing to do with leg muscles or fanny packs of GU Energy Gel.
Every day I push my book forward. Some days suck, and other days fill me with the kind of joy new episodes of Invader Zim used to instill in me. Most days are just OK, which is fine with me. At least I'm stumbling in a single direction.
P.S. It's sad how I felt weird about writing "one direction" because of the band. Did they really have to ruin that phrase for me? Oh well, get over it, Joe. Go eat some GU.
Six months ago I wasn't even writing every day. I was working in an office and only wrote fiction for fun, when I felt like it, to feel creative and inventive and all that jazz. Then my girlfriend Anna (www.2lch.com) created a word-tracking web app called Twords (www.twords.2lch.com) to help spur my writing career when I confessed I wanted to do it professionally (or at least attempt to).
I am not an app person, and I am technologically stunted even though I am 24 years old. Anna frequently giggles at the way I interact with 21st-century devices. But Twords got me writing every day, which made me feel less like a hobbyist and more like a person who actually values writing fiction for dollars.
Sure, I did NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) a few times, but Twords helped build my habit of writing because I could log in every day. This process felt like slamming my head against a cabinet for a few weeks, and then slowly got easier. Now I get antsy if there's the possibility of me not having Internet access to log my word count. Odd how swiftly you can depend on things that used to enrage you.
I always marveled at people who ran marathons; they were like insane superheroes with tighter clothing. But now I see the appeal, even if my own version has nothing to do with leg muscles or fanny packs of GU Energy Gel.
Every day I push my book forward. Some days suck, and other days fill me with the kind of joy new episodes of Invader Zim used to instill in me. Most days are just OK, which is fine with me. At least I'm stumbling in a single direction.
P.S. It's sad how I felt weird about writing "one direction" because of the band. Did they really have to ruin that phrase for me? Oh well, get over it, Joe. Go eat some GU.
Review Day
So Thursday, in my apartment, is supposed to force me to look over past notes, outlines, and musings so I can feel justified in keeping piles of moderately useful paper in a 650-sq. room. Today I reviewed Russian grammar.
I majored in Russian at the University of Maryland, College Park, which does not a proper Russian speaker make. My teachers were great; it's just Russian is an exceedingly challenging language. It takes time and practice to be good. In my case, years, since I am so slow to accomplish anything. And by my standards, I am atrocious.
On that note, here is my attempt to write a story in Russian. No doubt it is riddled with errors and complete nonsense, but it's what I made. Go me?
The story is unfinished, by the way, but I wanted to get at least 200 words in today. For non-Cyrillic readers, I'll post a translation soon. Basically it's about a guy named Zhenya Orgutsov who loses all his money in a card game and goes home to his apartment, which his dog Dog has chewed up. For the first time ever he reflects on his life.
Не сделав ничего полезного, Евгений Оргуцов открыл новую банку Кока-Колы и, в первый раз в своей невыгодной жизни, стал раздумывая про свою невыгодную жизнь. Он только что закончил играть в карты с некоторыми малозубными знакомами -- и проиграл. Ещё неудача в этой жестокой неделе. Бабушка сдохла во вторник. Или умерла -- Женя постоянно забывал вежливо думать о семье. И так о себе, но это было неважно.
Жуком, катающий мяч навоза, Женя ловко скрутил папиросу и сразу вдыхал. Через несколько секунд, задул шлейф дыма. Ароматный. Освобождение стресса. Но, конечно, не вся. Единственного движения, которое могло польностью снизиться тоску -- нету. Даже не смерть. Смерть просто ухудшилась проблему.
<<Пёс, что мне надо? Денег офигонно нету. Деньги надо. Семья меня ненавидет, но я их люблю. Семья надо. Что ещё?>>
Пёс, который не жевал всю полуразрушенную мебель в квартире, пока Женя пришёл домой, взглядил смущенно на Женю.
<<Ах, Пёс, тебе тоже надо. Ты никогда не отвечаешь меня. Ты прав -- мне надо становиться самостоятельным. Но как?>>
Достижение этой благородной цели казалось Жене совершенно невозможно. Трудно было суп готовить. Когда Женя старалось очищать картошку, например, он всегда резал палец. Успех не стоит проливание крови, на его взгляд. Но Женя часто проливал кровь за неудачу. Вот разум.
I majored in Russian at the University of Maryland, College Park, which does not a proper Russian speaker make. My teachers were great; it's just Russian is an exceedingly challenging language. It takes time and practice to be good. In my case, years, since I am so slow to accomplish anything. And by my standards, I am atrocious.
On that note, here is my attempt to write a story in Russian. No doubt it is riddled with errors and complete nonsense, but it's what I made. Go me?
The story is unfinished, by the way, but I wanted to get at least 200 words in today. For non-Cyrillic readers, I'll post a translation soon. Basically it's about a guy named Zhenya Orgutsov who loses all his money in a card game and goes home to his apartment, which his dog Dog has chewed up. For the first time ever he reflects on his life.
Не сделав ничего полезного, Евгений Оргуцов открыл новую банку Кока-Колы и, в первый раз в своей невыгодной жизни, стал раздумывая про свою невыгодную жизнь. Он только что закончил играть в карты с некоторыми малозубными знакомами -- и проиграл. Ещё неудача в этой жестокой неделе. Бабушка сдохла во вторник. Или умерла -- Женя постоянно забывал вежливо думать о семье. И так о себе, но это было неважно.
Жуком, катающий мяч навоза, Женя ловко скрутил папиросу и сразу вдыхал. Через несколько секунд, задул шлейф дыма. Ароматный. Освобождение стресса. Но, конечно, не вся. Единственного движения, которое могло польностью снизиться тоску -- нету. Даже не смерть. Смерть просто ухудшилась проблему.
<<Пёс, что мне надо? Денег офигонно нету. Деньги надо. Семья меня ненавидет, но я их люблю. Семья надо. Что ещё?>>
Пёс, который не жевал всю полуразрушенную мебель в квартире, пока Женя пришёл домой, взглядил смущенно на Женю.
<<Ах, Пёс, тебе тоже надо. Ты никогда не отвечаешь меня. Ты прав -- мне надо становиться самостоятельным. Но как?>>
Достижение этой благородной цели казалось Жене совершенно невозможно. Трудно было суп готовить. Когда Женя старалось очищать картошку, например, он всегда резал палец. Успех не стоит проливание крови, на его взгляд. Но Женя часто проливал кровь за неудачу. Вот разум.
3x3: The Old Inter-Roman Boy
Over Christmas I watched Oldboy, The Interview, and Roman Holiday -- three very different movies that all helped me analyze some ideas about writing.
1. In Oldboy, a Korean drunkard is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years, for no apparent reason. When one day he is inexplicably released, he embarks on a strange and violent journey to discover why he was abducted.
2. The Interview concerns a douchy entertainment host named Skylark who lands an audience with Kim Jong Un, dictator of North Korea. When the CIA discovers the interview, they intercept Skylark and convince him to poison the world leader. Upon meeting the man, however, Skylark decides he is cool as shit, and has second thoughts about assassination.
3. In Roman Holiday, Princess Ann (of an unnamed country) tires of her over-scheduled life, and absconds from her family and servants while on a public relations tour in Rome. In the streets she meets a stranger named Joe, a news reporter who conceals this fact when he figures out he's encountered royalty. Joe attempts to secretly interview the princess without letting on that he knows who she is, which gets them into various slapstick antics while the princess "lets loose" on her first day in obscure, civilian life.
Summaries achieved! Now what do these three films have in common?
1. Two of them deal directly with hard-to-get interviews. I could bend the rules and say Oldboy is about a hard-to-get interview as well, since Oh Dae-Su, the protagonist, is hunting down a mysterious man who knows the reason for his abduction.
2. What's more, **SORT OF SPOILER** the movies all end on a weirdly upbeat note. Even Oldboy, which is a pretty dark movie. **END OF SORT OF SPOILER**
3. All the main characters learn something meaningful about themselves (like any good main character, I suppose). Even in a bro-comedy like The Interview, Skylark "discovers" the horrors of North Korea and chooses to do something noble for the first time in his life. Princess Ann and Joe learn about their own values, and a bit about the lives of the common man and royalty, respectively, which helps them come away with a better and less cynical worldview. Oh Dae-Su learns some pretty heavy stuff about himself and completely changes from the careless drunkard of the film's beginning.
What can these three films teach about telling stories?
1. Oldboy taught me about twists. Surprise, tension: all that stuff. The plot uses an element found in the first Sherlock Holmes story, so it is not a straight-up mystery because there's no way you can predict the ending based on the information you were given at the beginning. However, I didn't care about that; it was just a cool, unexpected movie. I learned that you don't have to follow all the rules of logic from this film, especially when you can squeeze as much shock and emotion out of the denouement as Oldboy did. Watch it at 4am and tell me what you think.
2. The Interview taught me that good comedy (which The Interview only has some of) comes less from over-the-top raunchiness and more from lovable characters being adorable. Kim Jong Un, when we first meet him, is a silly, awkward, closet-lover of Katy Perry. Since I expected him to be visibly insane, or at least a hardass, it was funny to me when he is introduced as a goofball. That goes a lot farther, amusement-wise, than a series of fart jokes or meaningless swearing, all of which were unfunny to watch in the film. However, there is a finger-biting scene that is hilarious in its unexpected extremeness (especially because extreme violence is used only sparingly, i.e. at the end).
3. Roman Holiday taught me an old lesson, which is to mix seemingly opposite characters together and watch them realize how similar they really are. At first glance, you have the rich princess and poor reporter. They seem unalike; but when they meet, they have a good time together, and eventually develop feelings for one another. The script didn't go heavy on sentimentality, which worked in the film's favor -- and this is useful to remember, too.
Have you seen any of these three movies? Have you learned any lessons, writing or otherwise, from them? Hit me up.
Peace and love.
1. In Oldboy, a Korean drunkard is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years, for no apparent reason. When one day he is inexplicably released, he embarks on a strange and violent journey to discover why he was abducted.
2. The Interview concerns a douchy entertainment host named Skylark who lands an audience with Kim Jong Un, dictator of North Korea. When the CIA discovers the interview, they intercept Skylark and convince him to poison the world leader. Upon meeting the man, however, Skylark decides he is cool as shit, and has second thoughts about assassination.
3. In Roman Holiday, Princess Ann (of an unnamed country) tires of her over-scheduled life, and absconds from her family and servants while on a public relations tour in Rome. In the streets she meets a stranger named Joe, a news reporter who conceals this fact when he figures out he's encountered royalty. Joe attempts to secretly interview the princess without letting on that he knows who she is, which gets them into various slapstick antics while the princess "lets loose" on her first day in obscure, civilian life.
Summaries achieved! Now what do these three films have in common?
1. Two of them deal directly with hard-to-get interviews. I could bend the rules and say Oldboy is about a hard-to-get interview as well, since Oh Dae-Su, the protagonist, is hunting down a mysterious man who knows the reason for his abduction.
2. What's more, **SORT OF SPOILER** the movies all end on a weirdly upbeat note. Even Oldboy, which is a pretty dark movie. **END OF SORT OF SPOILER**
3. All the main characters learn something meaningful about themselves (like any good main character, I suppose). Even in a bro-comedy like The Interview, Skylark "discovers" the horrors of North Korea and chooses to do something noble for the first time in his life. Princess Ann and Joe learn about their own values, and a bit about the lives of the common man and royalty, respectively, which helps them come away with a better and less cynical worldview. Oh Dae-Su learns some pretty heavy stuff about himself and completely changes from the careless drunkard of the film's beginning.
What can these three films teach about telling stories?
1. Oldboy taught me about twists. Surprise, tension: all that stuff. The plot uses an element found in the first Sherlock Holmes story, so it is not a straight-up mystery because there's no way you can predict the ending based on the information you were given at the beginning. However, I didn't care about that; it was just a cool, unexpected movie. I learned that you don't have to follow all the rules of logic from this film, especially when you can squeeze as much shock and emotion out of the denouement as Oldboy did. Watch it at 4am and tell me what you think.
2. The Interview taught me that good comedy (which The Interview only has some of) comes less from over-the-top raunchiness and more from lovable characters being adorable. Kim Jong Un, when we first meet him, is a silly, awkward, closet-lover of Katy Perry. Since I expected him to be visibly insane, or at least a hardass, it was funny to me when he is introduced as a goofball. That goes a lot farther, amusement-wise, than a series of fart jokes or meaningless swearing, all of which were unfunny to watch in the film. However, there is a finger-biting scene that is hilarious in its unexpected extremeness (especially because extreme violence is used only sparingly, i.e. at the end).
3. Roman Holiday taught me an old lesson, which is to mix seemingly opposite characters together and watch them realize how similar they really are. At first glance, you have the rich princess and poor reporter. They seem unalike; but when they meet, they have a good time together, and eventually develop feelings for one another. The script didn't go heavy on sentimentality, which worked in the film's favor -- and this is useful to remember, too.
Have you seen any of these three movies? Have you learned any lessons, writing or otherwise, from them? Hit me up.
Peace and love.
