Outside Reading

[dr_mabeuse]

Happy Endings

I like that about "literature" never having a happy ending.
I guess it's because failure is inherently more interesting than success? Or because it's something we can all relate to?

Tolstoy said that all happy families are happy in the same way, but unhappy families each have their own type of unhappiness and that's what was interesting.

---dr.M.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Just what IS literature, anyway?

What's the 'definition', if there is one?

Are 'Jane Eyre' and 'Pride and Prejudice' literature? If they are, then they fail Whisper's test, because they both have happy endings!

dr_mabeuse's original question was How many authors regularly read lit outside of erotica? Like quite a few of the others, I'm a sponge for books. And too, I tend to read popular fiction.

I 'joined up' for the 'Talisman' chain story and having chosen to set my piece in Northern England in the years immediately following the battle of Waterloo, realised I needed to do some research. Location wasn't a problem as I live in Northern England. Language was, and that is something that the history books don't give you, so I read 'Pride and Prejudice' to get a feel for the period. I surprised the he** out of myself by thoroughly enjoying it, too. I think I succeeded in my writing effort because more than one of those generous souls who gave me feedback commented that my piece had a sense of period.

So yes, I do read - a lot - but I don't think I read 'literature' particularly. I do discard or back out of a story that doesn't grab me, whoever wrote it or however great their reputation.

Which brings me back to my original question. Just what is 'Literature'?

Alex

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Erlikkhan...

That's weird but I'm just like you. I can write porn, but I just can't seem to read it anymore. I posted a thread about this before, but I still don't understand why this is. I'm usually okay until the story goes into backstory mode, then my eyes glaze over & I've got to leave.
Lately I'm blaming the font. I hate Arial. It always makes me feel like I'm reading a vacuum cleaner manual.

---dr.M.

 

[its Leslie]

Your thread me thinks is looking for the same sort of thing my thread was looking for, when I asked about what influenced your writing eh.

People offered me list after list of obvious well known major authors, but little of what they had actually read, and why it had influenced them.

To say Shakespeare had influenced me says nothing for instance, while to say reading Shakespeare has allowed me to identify classic examples of outrageous copying. ie the Lion King is a rip of of Hamlet.

Now to answer your question of this thread. My response would be I barely read inside of erotica. I might have read 20 erotic stories inside here at Lit since I arrived here at Lit almost a year ago.
Most of what I read, was material written by a Lit buddy, as my way of checking out their stuff in return for them checking out mine.

I don't read much Lit to get off (I have chat friends that are more efficient at it hehe).

I generally read dry dull exceedingly boring to any observer science text books. I read this stuff for enjoyment. I am not studying for any course or document by the way, I read so that I might know.

I also read what would appear to most, to be books of exceedingly dry dull boring masses of military reference material (for instance the throne room currently has a book on 20th Century Artillery).

I read a lot of the more mainstream varieties of scifi or fantacy epic. Currently I am waiting patiently for christmas to bring me Butlerian Jihad of the Dune series and Morgawr of the Shanara series.

On the comment, will reading help my writing. Hmmm it depends.

Good writers are not created any more than good painters eh.

Good writers were always good writers in my opinion. Just like Bill Cosby was born funny, and we the public are merely fortunate that he noticed it as well.

Bad writers, are like people that don't realise they can't paint, or individuals who refuse to accept they are not funny.
No amount of effort will alter that normally.

In person I have a charm that is infectuos. It's certainly not something I "learned".
I have a way with words that are spoken (I do much better orally than literaly hehe). I am dubious though, of ever being a great writer.

I have lots of people that love to pat me on the back over my woodworking. But I am obviously capable of noticing I have no real talent (and friends being friends, will usually say "hey you did a great job", it's why we like them normally eh).

I think the talent has to already be there, or the writer has nothing to work with.