NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH - NOVEMBER

Well, whadya know? November is apparently the month to stop everything you are doing and write a novel, because 'the world needs your novel'.

In the days I was teaching the euphemistically named 'creative writing' courses, I wrote a fair bit of fiction. But to be honest writing fiction really bored me stupid; as a consequence I wasn't really good at it, and really didn't want to pursue it until I was.

Come to think of it, in all the time I was news reporting for television, and writing for fishing magazines, I probably wrote a hell of a lot more fiction than I care to admit.

However there are a lot of people who are deeply into reading fiction, and want to try their hand at writing some as well, that is if my writing courses were any indication.

And there are also many whose 'passion' is being thwarted because they are unsure of how to start, or afraid if they do start their words wont be good enough, and even a few who are scared that once they do start, the addiction will possess them, and they will never be able to stop.

Well this morning I came across a Facebook post by Selina Fenech, (of the Fairies and Fantasy fame)

http://selinafenech.com/) 

 

as you know from previous blogs of mine elsewhere,  can, to use the Aussie vernacular 'write a bit', (and can also draw a bit). She and her fellow Story Queens: http://storyqueens.com.au/2016/10/07/lets-talk-writing-i-dare-you/ 

 

who can also write a bit, recommend the 

http://nanowrimo.org/ 

 

website, and to get involved in their Novel Writing November project which is designed to help not only novices, but also experienced writers not to get off their backsides, but onto their backsides, and start hammering at those keyboards.

Apparently lots of inspiration, support, resources, blogs, splinter groups of niche writers, goodwill and general camaraderie are readily available to those who get involved.

Obviously the organizers are well aware that the 'loneliness of the long distance writer' is responsible for far more cases of writers block, procrastination, and brain burn out than it claims credit for, so if you are longing to express yourself through writing, love storytelling, or see yourself as a potential novelist, why not check it out at....

http://nanowrimo.org/

 

 

 ©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXVI
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page

My other Blogs.

Mostly for models: http://thedefinitearticlephotographyandvideo.blogspot.com.au/

Mostly for Photographers: 

https://thedefinitearticlesite.wordpress.com/

Looking for Mr Wright?

copyright, copyrighting.... a legal term for regulating copying or reproduction of one's created works

copywriter, copywriting...stringing words together in a form to compose an advertisement

“Copy” does not ever go in front of the words:

rite         ...a ritual, or conventional custom.
wright    ...a person who makes or shapes materials such as word and metal

Well, you got that rite, wright, write, right ....correct!

Cliché and Class Distinctions

We have long enjoyed living in the modern classless society, or so we are told.

Yet I still marvel at the way language, particularly the use of verbs, nouns, jargon, clichés, and certain expressions in the vernacular, still delineates, and in some cases alienates well defined, self imposed groupings, (complete with sub-groupings, cliques and gangs) where it seems that the purposeful use of a class distinct language has become so ingrained that once a willing participant has imposed upon himself his chosen idiom, he totally relegates himself to that particular echelon only.

The ramifications of membership of any of these factions, include the creation of invisible but distinct boundaries, that it is never permissible to cross.

Nowhere is this supposedly non existent class system more apparent than in the world of what is loosely, and somewhat erroneously termed “The Photography Industry”.

Since the birth of photography: 

“Photographers” have simply “made photographs”!

Now however, in the seemingly endless sea of artificially created and self perpetuating lower classes: “creatives” who use camera equipment in their “work”, carefully define themselves, by the regurgitation of hackneyed phrases which are as stale as yesterday's bread:

“artists”: “image” their “works of unique vision and creative imagination”, which unsurprisingly are pretty much identical to so many thousands of other unique visions floating around.

“togs”: (an unholy, loathsome word in itself, for a large and evidently undisciplined social order riddled with subgroups, cliques and gangs) “do shoots”, which are seemingly always “great for your folio”, and increasingly for “potential publication”, but which unswervingly reveal a complete lack of knowledge of both what makes a great portfolio, and the necessary qualities suitable for publication.

“fauxpros”: invariably use their “passion” to “grab awesome captures”

“casual shooters”: “snap” “shots”, and a distinct subgroup “snap pretty pics”...this group always seems to have a following which emphatically suggests “you should turn professional”, which immediately scores a quick come back: “I only do it for fun, but...”, merely hours before creating a facebook “photography business” page.

But by far the most perplexing and disturbing is the:

“amateur”: whose favourite platitude not only completely contradicts the meaning of the very word amateur itself, while with inherent nastiness tries to demean and belittle all those who make money by the use of the camera.

The irony being of course, that it inevitably turns itself back on the person uttering it, subverting the industry as a whole, destroying any value in any, and all photography, and no doubt destroying society as whole.

“I am only an amateur, so I don’t charge anywhere near as much as the exorbitant fees professionals charge.”

The “supreme irony” though, “the great leveler” if you will, the “elephant in the room”; which never fails to bring a smile to the dial of old cynics such as myself, is that:

Photographers continue to make photographs!

 ©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXVI
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page

My other Blogs.

Mostly for models: http://thedefinitearticlephotographyandvideo.blogspot.com.au/

Mostly for Photographers: 

https://thedefinitearticlesite.wordpress.com/

Gobbledygook...

My interest in photography and all things creative allows me to read thousands of website spiels, blogs, artist profiles, and yes; even those dreadful "artist's statements".

Unfortunately, the vast majority of what I read, is quite frankly, pretentious waffle: gobbledygook, the worst of which would put school headmasters, university lecturers and new age prime ministers to shame.

(It seems that mention of prime ministers may be apt, as many “artists”, especially photographers and strangely, models have found the word “artist” too egotistically limiting, and have decided to position themselves among politicians and reluctant movie stars, and call themselves “public figures”....pretentious waffle meets delusional stupidity.

The usual excuse of course is I am a visual person, not verbal, which is a variation on the old pretense about left brain /right brain, or I can't think business because I am an artist, and in itself one great heap of BS.

Just about the entire population has been through primary school, and as a result the majority of us, even artists, are able to construct a meaningful sentence to communicate some information which can be relatively easily understood. But yes, it does require thought and a little effort...two qualities seemingly lacking in many artists and much of their art.

OK, so a visual work of art doesn’t need words to explain it, or at least shouldn’t...however websites, catalogues, profiles, press releases, advertising, marketing, even facebook comments and twitter tweets, as well as all those other written pieces of information necessary to an artist's life, do need words. And with the sheer numbers of self styled “artists” swanning around these days, probably the most creative and productive thing any artist could do to set them apart from the wannabes, would be to stop trying to live the “image” of the artist..a pretentious myth which never existed in the idealised past, but which has become the holy grail for all except the those few with actual talent.

It would seem the less actual talent possessed, or the greater the unwillingness to develop any talent possessed, or even the more averse to work: the greater desire to project and immerse oneself into mythical existence as an "artist"

Gilda Williams in her book, “How to Write About Contemporary Art”, while talking about how “Art English” arose, which quickly degenerated into “Art Gibberish”, sums up her observations in regards to these attempts at communication:

Good art-writers, despite countless differences, essentially follow the same patterns:

+   their writing is clear, well structured, and carefully worded;

+   the text is imaginative, brimming with spicy vocabulary, and full of original ideas, which are substantiated in their experience and knowledge of art;

+   they describe what the art is; explain plausibly what it may mean; and suggest how this might connect to the world at large.

Inexperienced art-writers repeat similar mistakes:

+   their writing is waffly, poorly structured, and jargoned;

+   their vocabulary is unimaginative, their ideas undeveloped, their logic flawed, and their knowledge patchy;

+   assumptions are not grounded in the experience of art, which is ignored;

+   they fail to communicate believably the claimed meaning behind contemporary art, or its relation to the rest of the world.

So if, as a visual artist, your words have shown signs of falling into bad habits of pretentiousness and waffle, of non communication, of gobbledygook, 

“How to Write About Contemporary Art” 

(http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-About-Contemporary-Art/dp/0500291578) 

would be well worth a read. 

©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, 2016

It May Only Be My Opinion, But...

Since some hack journo completely misinterpreted the theories of mathematical fallacy, and misunderstood the ideas behind scientific proof, a decade or so ago, there has been an apparently widespread misconception evident mainly on internet social media platforms and internet forums that there is no longer anything which can be regarded as "fact"

Scientific theory does indeed state all theorems are tentative, and provisional, and that nothing is final 

However this seems to be taken to extremes by the naive and impressionable, or the wouldbe exploiter, and there is no phrase which is more insulting, denigrating, and guaranteed to stop any worthwhile debate dead in its tracks, than the often used:

"but that of course, is only your opinion!"

Let us then, just for a moment consider that there are no longer any verifiable facts, and that everything is therefore "opinion". Working from this hypothesis, there must be some degrees of opinion: a continuous line of variations of opinion perhaps, with one extreme being:

• Based entirely on known truisms, axioms, experience, knowledge, verifiiable facts ( oh I forgot: they don't exist), best practices, respect, democratically devised belief systems, accepted or widely practiced protocols,  accepted procedures, ethics, standards ( esp of right/wrong, corrct/incorrect, good/bad), observations, opinions of authorities and experts in the particular field....and, well the list goes on...

An infinitely variable number of opinions, lead headlong to the opposite extreme: 

• Based entirely on one person's selfish agenda to persuade or exploit to their own advantage.

It may only be my opinion, based on observation, but it seems the quickest people to play 

the “Opinion” card, and those who use it most often tend to hover around the latter extreme given above.

Take for instance, an internet forum, where a member, usually a newcomer to the field asks for advice on some topic or other...yes there are still those non internet savvy and naive who think forums might provide accurate ( I'd say that there is another problematic word) or even useful advice.

Usually the best, and sometimes even reliable advice is given early in the responses from a reasonably informed, or in some cases a very experienced member who would in the old world B.I. (before internet), be regarded as an "expert"...although in reality not many of these types of people with real knowledge stoop to involving themselves in the majority of internet forums anymore...bitter experience has cured them of that.

The responses of course , usually go on for another two to three pages, mainly scrapping between the less informed, the less knowledgeable, the blustering bluffers, the egotists, and the attention seekers: mostly disputing, correcting, refuting, denying outright, and adding completely irrelevant digression and aggression to all that has gone before.

And then: completely overwhelmed, defeated, deflated, and shown to be bereft of any knowledge at all to support his own selfish agenda any longer, one of the exploitation mongers, instead of slinking away, tail between his legs, in desperation plays the card: 

“but of course all that is only opinion!”

And that’s a fact!

Or maybe it’s just my opinion?

 ©Copyright: Stephen Bennett, MMXV
Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including any  photographs  and files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner.
The Australian Copyright Act allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner's permission. This includes uses by educational institutions for educational purposes, and by Commonwealth and State government departments for government purposes, provided fair payment is made. For more information, see www.copyright.com.au and www.copyright.org.au.
We may change these terms of use from time to time. Check before re-using any content from this website.

Interesting Links:
My Photography Webpage
Facebook page for Professional Photographers and Models
The Definite Article Photography and Video on Facebook
My Pond 5 Page
The Definite Article at Publicise Me

My other Blogs.

Mostly for models: http://thedefinitearticlephotographyandvideo.blogspot.com.au/

Mostly for Photographers: 

https://thedefinitearticlesite.wordpress.com/