supporting the habit
Why is it in this day and age that writing is the habit that needs to
be supported by a "real" job? What happened to the Chekovian age when
medical degrees and vodka were the things that rather needed to be
supported instead by writing?
I suppose I've never often thought of telling stories as a business,
as something that was a commodity as much as a cup of instant noodle
soup. To think of something that can be published or not depending on
the numbers it would generate is so disparate from the story itself. I
suppose that comes from frequenting libraries rather than bookstores
and borrowing books rather than buying them - I don't get a sense of
money and publicity and the advetising engine that runs a publishing
house.
Back in the day, stories were simply sung, then told, then eventually
written and passed down through the family then the tribe. It didn't
cost a thing, but a memory block in your brain and a few minutes of
your time which you had more of then. You would just say, "Tell us
about the time..." and someone, usually older, who'd been around
longer and had seen enough to last two lifetimes would bring a hushed
silence to the group and the story would begin.
These days, before the story can even begin, you've got agents, you've
market research, you've got test groups, you've got one thing or
another to tell you your story isn't viable, isn't consumble, won't
sell like hotcakes off a spitting grill. It's sort of like telling
someone to not tell their story unless it's guaranteed to appeal to a
wide audience; forget the campfire crowd, it's the entire auditorium
or shut up.
On the otherhand, the storyteller now lives in blogs and links through
friends, through family, through the general populace at Friendster by
type and screen, at the cost of an internent connection and a few
minutes of your time. The oral tradition has traveled a long and
strange trip. Makes one wonder where and what the next stop is.
2:11 PM | |
