Shouts From Down Under

Go at editing, hammer and tongs, and you're left with awe

What has writing got to do with an architect designed, minimalist, 3.3 metres (10.9') wide, biblical Genesis based theme, home in Japan?
Isn't this what editing is all about?
Like, if you could live in a house made of words, this is what a polished, ready to read and digest, book-store optimised, immersion enabled, home would be.

This, is so awesome I want to jump on a plane and fly there to hug them. But instead of creeping them out, and feeling a bit weird myself for being so impulsive and over the top gooey friendly, I'll blog about it.



You've probably heard of the term "Rick rolled"? For those who haven't, here's the definition and some history, plus what Rick Astley thought of the phenomenon (Meme)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling

Tonight our daughter was singing Rick Astley's song Never Gonna Give You Up, and it made me wonder if someone could "recycle" his song that has become somewhat annoying, and remake it into a hit. Perhaps they could retain some of the retro feel of the old.

Maybe our writing can be what Rick Rolling is- masked and deceptive.

What if your writing wasn't what you claimed. When people read the title, saw the blurb, viewed the cover and then began (and finished) reading, they quickly found out that they'd been "Rick Rolled".
Your stuff didn't measure up. Not only that, but the body of your work was nothing like what they expected. Sometimes this can be ok. Other times very annoying.

I feel my blog entries are like that too many times to be comfortable. The thing is, you try to think up a catchy title and "hook" people to read your piece, but I don't want to be sneaky, or tricking people so that my subject doesn't match what people expected to enjoy.

Rick Astley's career was apparently revived from the "Rick Rolling" phenomenon bringing me to think about recycling literature.

We can take stuff that has been used up, worn out and out of fashion, and remix it into something completely different. How many times is this done with songs, with designs, with inventions, with fashion, with old vehicles and whatever else?



How do we keep a handle on where we sit in our writing endeavours? How do we keep our feet on the ground, have stability, know where we stand, what is solid, what we can trust to be our writing destination?

What is our totem? What is that object, that unique item, that base belief or way of thinking, way of living, way of being, that grounds us and brings us to sureness and security of our writing being a true expression of us, as authors?

http://flowingdata.com/2010/08/04/inception-dream-levels-explained-in-flowchart/...



To understand what I mean by "totem", if you haven't already, watch the movie Inception. Watch it 5 times and then you will probably begin to see.

When we write, or even from the moment we are born, something in life gives us these totems, or reference points in our mind that we can keep referring to when all else fails to bring calm, when all else fails to show us immovable reality.

It could be family sayings. It could be someone's affection. It may be stories we were told from elderly relatives in our very young years. It might be the smells we first encountered that shaped how we view the world today. There is an unimaginable, unlimited combination of influences, like parasites; these ideas came into our being from whatever source, but we remembered them.
They had enough impact, even subconsciously, to dictate strongly how we feel right now, when we write.

They say you cannot separate your inner personality and life attitude etc from how your writing comes across.

Is it any wonder that people have a very hard time taking that ultimate step when they've finished their work- of allowing others to share in it- to publish it for all to see.

We wouldn't open our bathroom window as shockingly wide, would we? I think it's not an exaggeration to use this analogy.

Perhaps it takes a special bravery to search out something old, worn out and unfashionable, as I said earlier, and rebuild it into a fresh approach, complete with faults. In fact the faults are often purposely amplified. Complete with cringe-worthy Aussie. I'm not related. Nor are my Dad-jokes this bad.



You only have to search "parody" on YouTube to see plenty of humour injected into rehashing famous stuff-ups or strange incidents.
I feel that annoying as Rick Astley may now find "Rick Rolling", when someone uses a copy of some of your work and rehashes it into an immediately viral world sensation, you can only interpret that as one of the greatest compliment, from another artist.



Even if it is slinging mud at some politician.
Or acting uncomfortably like an attacking dog. Cringe-worthy. Even his wife is embarrassed for him.





Sparky