Daniel O'Brien's Blog, page 80

I just finished your book and it was so perfect and I'm recommending it to all of my friends/people I know because I don't really have friends. I really want to tell stories, but I can never bring myself to write more than a few pages because I get really

I hate giving and reading writing advice because I never want to discourage anyone or post any “rules,” because rules are dumb and what works for me might not work for you, and that doesn’t make either one of us a stronger writer than the other. So as always, take what I say with a grain of bullshit.

In my worthless opinion, it looks like your writing goal right now is to write something great. You lose confidence because your ambition is to write something that kicks ass, and three pages in you stop because the ass your kicking isn’t as large and as firm as you’d initially intended. So you quit, having crumbled in the shadow of your massive goal.

So I’d say change your goal. Right now, your goal is to make something great; have you considered shifting your goal to “make something PERIOD?” Don’t try to write Gatsby, just focus on finishing something (knowing you can come back later to bring it a few more inches closer to perfect). If I had focused on making any one chapter of my book perfect in the first draft, the book never would have gotten written. The thought process was “Just get through this fucking chapter and then future Daniel will fix it later.”

If you want to get into running, you shouldn’t start out saying “I’m going to run a marathon and break world records TOMORROW.” That’s how you get hurt, burn yourself out and quit, because you’ve given yourself a goal you can’t achieve.

First drafts are never great, but they are complete, and that’s all you can ask of a first draft.

I just finished your book and it was so perfect and I'm recommending it to all of my friends/people I know because I don't really have friends. I really want to tell stories, but I can never bring myself to write more than a few pages because I get really

I hate giving and reading writing advice because I never want to discourage anyone or post any “rules,” because rules are dumb and what works for me might not work for you, and that doesn’t make either one of us a stronger writer than the other. So as always, take what I say with a grain of bullshit.

In my worthless opinion, it looks like your writing goal right now is to write something great. You lose confidence because your ambition is to write something that kicks ass, and three pages in you stop because the ass your kicking isn’t as large and as firm as you’d initially intended. So you quit, having crumbled in the shadow of your massive goal.

So I’d say change your goal. Right now, your goal is to make something great; have you considered shifting your goal to “make something PERIOD?” Don’t try to write Gatsby, just focus on finishing something (knowing you can come back later to bring it a few more inches closer to perfect). If I had focused on making any one chapter of my book perfect in the first draft, the book never would have gotten written. The thought process was “Just get through this fucking chapter and then future Daniel will fix it later.”

If you want to get into running, you shouldn’t start out saying “I’m going to run a marathon and break world records TOMORROW.” That’s how you get hurt, burn yourself out and quit, because you’ve given yourself a goal you can’t achieve.

First drafts are never great, but they are complete, and that’s all you can ask of a first draft.

Hey DOB, I'm writing an editorial for my school paper and I was wondering, do you feel that Pop Culture deserves serious study? (P.S. You're my favorite Cracked writer, loved your book)

Thanks! And to answer your question, probably? Pop culture is so broad and vague and pervasive that I’m not really sure how you’d begin. I took a pop culture class at Rutgers and while it was one of my favorite classes, we never really found a common thread throughout the year, we didn’t leave the class with any kind of coherent thesis. We studied the Rolling Stones one week, comics the next, Michel Gondry the next. The professor kept things purposefully open, so we just spent a semester saying “Hey, this thing exists in pop culture; anything we can learn from it?”

That’s the fun and problem with trying to look critically at life and art without the benefit of context that we gain from having years and years of separation.

wordsofdiana:Hail HydraOne of my favorite things about...

wordsofdiana:

Hail Hydra

One of my favorite things about Captain America and Winter Soldier is that me and the other six people who watched Kings can sit back and watch everyone else discover Sebastian Stan for the first time. That show was kind of spotty, but he was always great and this scene in particular was absolutely amazing. When it was cancelled, I was bummed until Sebastian Stan was cast as Bucky, because I knew what it meant for the future and ooooooh everything’s working out.

Hey, Check Out These Books

I’ve gotten a bunch of asks in my inbox recently about what I’m reading currently, so here are some suggestions:

How to Fight Presidents: Shut up, I’m not allowed to recommend books without mentioning my own or else my publisher will be mad. If you have already, check out the book that Speculative Post review calls “one of the smartest, funniest books I’ve ever read.”

The Serpent of Venice: This is the latest novel from Christopher Moore (over whom I’ve previously gushed already). It absolutely blew me away with its total balance of dick jokes, beautiful language, attention-to-detail and gripping narrative. It’s a bizarre re-imagining of Othello and Merchant of Venice (though you don’t need to be familiar with either to appreciate the book) and I’m so mad that I already finished it.

The Obstacle is the Way: Full disclosure, author Ryan Holiday is a buddy of mine. That said, he’s written a bunch of books that I haven’t plugged, so I think it’s fair to say I’m not TOO biased. Ryan’s great at giving historical accounts a real narrative feel and this book is a nice, swift kick in the ass if you need motivation to do literally anything.

Room: I’m late to the party, but I finished this book two weeks ago and it is absolutely haunting. A novel about a five-year-old boy who just found out he’s lived his entire life in captivity.

cracked:More importantly why is Ferris a sociopath and why is...

cracked:

More importantly why is Ferris a sociopath and why is everyone cool with that?

11 Reasons Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Is Secretly Terrifying

I made this.

Hi! I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I just finished your book, How to Fight Presidents, and thought it was one of the funniest books I have ever read. I'm from Canada and got a lot of friends asking, "Why are you reading a book

Thanks for the kind words about my silly book! I am a fan of your country but not, as I’ve now learned, any of your friends.

Hi! I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I just finished your book, How to Fight Presidents, and thought it was one of the funniest books I have ever read. I'm from Canada and got a lot of friends asking, "Why are you reading a book

Thanks for the kind words about my silly book! I am a fan of your country but not, as I’ve now learned, any of your friends.

Hi! I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I just finished your book, How to Fight Presidents, and thought it was one of the funniest books I have ever read. I'm from Canada and got a lot of friends asking, "Why are you reading a book

Thanks for the kind words about my silly book! I am a fan of your country but not, as I’ve now learned, any of your friends.

Hi! I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I just finished your book, How to Fight Presidents, and thought it was one of the funniest books I have ever read. I'm from Canada and got a lot of friends asking, "Why are you reading a book

Thanks for the kind words about my silly book! I am a fan of your country but not, as I’ve now learned, any of your friends.