andrewmck | Nov. 30th, 2008

Snaffled from just about everywhere:

1. Put your (Ipod) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got the idea from.

(No tagging from me, just do it if want, or don't if you don't)

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
I'm Not in Love (10CC)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
The Hollow (A Perfect Circle)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
What You Need (INXS)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
True Love Way (Kings of Leon)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Slip of a Girl (Duke Special)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Rats (Syd Barrett)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Flower (Eels)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Stop Whispering (Radiohead) [shame it didn't skip to '2+2=5'!]

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Save Me (The Cruel Sea)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Drunkshop of Lanterns (The Mars Volta)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Hoodoo (Muse)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Bitten By The Tailfly (elbow)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
One Love (Bob Marley & The Wailers)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Directionless (Sophia)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Heaven Coming Down (The Tea Party)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Day of the Dead (The Church)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Highway Chile (Jimi Hendrix)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Love (The Smashing Pumpkins)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Station Approach (elbow)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Someone Special (The Church)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
I Can't Wait (The White Stripes)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Synops (Karnivool)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Gobbledigook (Sigur Ros)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Clean (Helmet)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Hoping it's Not Hopeless (Epicure)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
My Little Problem (The Church)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Float Away (Mental as Anything)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Light of Love (T-Rex)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Buffalo Soldier (Bob Marley & The Wailers)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Butterfly (Jeff Martin)

Definitely a slow writing week, but I finally found some time tonight to get some words on the page.

As an exercise I decided when I started to write this one that I'd attempt everything in a much more fluid style. I'd let the words flow and not worry so much about comma placement and punctuation - the sort of things that, for me, disrupt the words from reaching the page. One of the parts of this exercise was to totally dispense with quotation marks for dialogue. Normally, I find this affectation pretentious - when reading Cormac McCarthy it distracts me greatly. But, Tim Winton has always done it and I've never noticed until I was 'examining' his latest novel "Breath". I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, just as I've enjoyed 'Cloud Street' and 'Dirt Music', so I wanted to go back and see some of the things that made it tick.

One of the things I've found amazing about Winton's storytelling is the way everything flows and builds up rhythms within the narrative. In fact, everything flows so well that he doesn't need quotation marks for the dialogue! You just know, from reading the words and feeling the cadence of the sentences, exactly who is speaking what. So, I thought I'd see how I went.

And, losing the quotation marks is so strangely liberating! It is amazing what shackles little things like this become to your mind when you're writing. Always thinking about starting a new paragraph, making sure the comma is inside the quotation marks (or outside as the occasional exception requires), avoiding pointless dialogue attribution and clichéd verb modifying adverbs. We might not think that we think about these things, but we do. And NOT thinking about them, not worrying about them, has led me into what I feel is a much more natural writing style.

It helps a lot that I'm writing in first person. I also don't think it would work for every book or story and maybe I'll have to go back when I'm finished and add them all back in. But for now, it is helping me write this story in a voice that I think really works for it, and a style that really works for me.

I probably also won't be so sceptical about these sort of 'non-quotation mark' books as being pretentious literary twaddle any more. I can definitely see a point, for some story to be written this way for both the benefit of the author and the reader.

Help Yourself - Wordcount