Stories are about risk.
The world shifts. Something is changed – for good or bad. The character reacts to this to either try to make things go back to how they were, or to make things better.
Steve Albini and Aristotle
Steve Albini – ““When I talk about recording an acoustic instrument, what I really mean is recreating the sense memory of having heard an acoustic instrument. I say that because acoustic instruments have an extremely long tradition. Every part of the world uses some form of acoustic stringed instruments, and we all have engrained in us personal and cultural memory of these instruments. So when I say I’m trying to make an accurate recording of an acoustic instrument, what I mean is I’m trying to evoke the sensation of having heard that instrument in life.””
Aristotle opens Poetics by describing poetry as a species of imitation. There are different ways to do that, different mediums and different ways. Painting, too, is imitation, Aristotle points out.
In our stories, that’s what we do. We imitate to recreate sense memory.
Rising Emotion
Marking Character
Whatever Worked Last Time...
Brian Eno has a card in his Oblique Strategies set suggesting: Whatever worked last time, never do it again.
That might be more extreme than we always need but the sentiment is a good one. Just because it worked last time doesn’t mean it would work again. And just because a client has one idea in mind with their story, it doesn’t mean that’s the best way to narrate their own journey.
Structural Strength of Your Manuscript
The Murakami Approach to Feedback
What Can You Cut?
Finding Your Own Road
More Courage
Trusting the writing the process and following it where it goes takes strength and dedication. Finishing the song, putting it down to the record, then turning to the next tune is a cycle that meant they learnt so much in their process, and were open to new ideas to weave into the songs the next time around.
Hire an Elf
John Swartzwelder is a reclusive writer best known for writing a huge amount of the strongest early Simpsons episodes. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live. Now he writes novels. His writing process involves getting the idea out quick. Finish the first draft as fast as possible. Then work deeper in the rewrite.
Writing to Communicate
People read to connect with a story. Or they read to learn. They talk about the story with friends because it connects with them. They see themselves in the text. Or they’ve learnt something important from reading it.
Rarely has someone sat down with a friend over coffee and gushed over complicated sentences they couldn’t understand.
Trusting the Writing Process
Writing With Technology
AI Policy in Ghostwriting
The only time AI is The Answer is when you’re talking about Philadelphia basketball.
The rise of AI and LLM in creative fields is, at least at the moment, concerning. It takes the human element out of what should be about human expression. And in other applications, like the military, the application of this technology dangerously takes away the human element of decision making.
It also seems to me that AI is a misnomer at this point in mid-2024. The technology has been burdened with that name and all the promises that comes with that title but without the ability to deliver.
I have talked with clients who have used AI through ChatGPT, Jasper and others for blog posts, social media content, and even video scripts. The general consensus is that they wouldn’t use it for a finished product. They strictly use it for idea generation.
My own stance is that I do not use these tools when writing. The only part of my ghostwriting process where AI is used is in transcribing interviews.
It baffles me as to why you would want people to spend time and energy in reading your book if you didn’t put that energy into it. Nick Cave, via Stephen Fry, put that more eloquently.
When I’m ghostwriting your manuscript, it will all be written by me.
On Assumptions
The legend goes that while recording When Doves Cry, Prince was unhappy with the mixing process. He said to the another singer that he wished he could remove the bass line. The singer asked why he couldn’t?
Steven Wright & The Creative Process
This clip with Steven Wright from Conan O’Brien’s podcast is a wonderful moment of two comedians talking about creativity.
It’s more than about writing jokes. It covers a core point about the creative process.
The Way It Is Meant To Be Done
When Brian Eno was working with U2 and Luciano Pavarotti for the song Miss Sarajevo, he observed that opera singers are cheats. Or professionals, depending on your perspective. No matter how the work is done, the professional or the artist understands that the right way is the way that works for them.