Chester Pane
from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazMay 23, 2012 - 9:41am
So the Guggenheim can show Man in a polyester suit, but Chester Pane can't?
Now, I had this same argument with The Oregonian a couple years ago.
Are you certain, absolutely certain, that you want to ban a piece of art?
Just curious.
Moderator
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryMay 23, 2012 - 9:56am
Come on. Can someone who so closely resembles a young Ronald Reagan as I possibly not approve of censorship? Relish it, even? Seriously, I spent the weekend burning copies of Harry Potter and The Satanic Verses with the local Baptist church. A small step in the right direction to keep young people from being corrupted by those heathen texts. Mapplethorpe Care Bears are small potatoes in my censorship book.
Matt Attack
from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William FaulknerMay 23, 2012 - 10:04am
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Heinrich Heine
@Chester, I suppose it depends on your definition of art. Art without purpose or for arts sake is masturbation.
Dammit third edit!
Clutch
from Detroit Metro Area now living in Charlotte, NC is reading "The Spooky Art" by Norman MailerMay 23, 2012 - 10:24am
This topic is another good discussion, and a subject that I, too, have struggled with.
OK, so my novel is about a town that doesn't exist in real life. It's a dump of a town that is filled with horrors. Well, I felt it necessary to give the reader history of the town so that they'd 'buy into' the story.
I tried over and over and over to figure out how to give the background without stopping the story with too much detail. I eventually solved the issue by 1) breaking up the details and spreading them around, 2) showing the history through a character's viewpoint, such as...
As Charlie had learned in grade school, his town was founded and settled by the late serial murderer Steve Dicks, back in the Old West era. That much he knew. But what he didn't understand was, why ever house and home was painted in blood and strung with entrails. What was the story with that?
"That my friend," his pal Joey later explained, "Is due to the long storied tradition of our town in which...."
And so on. I folded the background shit into an experience the character had (being in school) and then into a conversation he had with his friend Joey. That seems to keep the story moving along nicely, while giving the reader interesting background stuff.
Chester Pane
from Portland, Oregon is reading The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazMay 23, 2012 - 11:10am
Moderator
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryMay 23, 2012 - 12:43pm
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings."
It's true. At the end of the evening we did also burn some people. Not many, really. Just witches. And local people who didn't agree with us.
Maybe we did burn quite a few, actually, but I don't actually think they counted as people people. More dissidents than anything. Troublemakers. A couple Catholics.
misskokamon
from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit MindMay 30, 2012 - 6:01pm
Ah, information dumps.
I have a rule about those: All the information that is vital for the story needs to be in, or at least foreshadowed, in the first act. (That doesn't mean ALL information needs to be in the first act, but the essential stuff -- Facts relevant to the world in which the story takes place, essential facts about the character and his/her history, goals, etc.) Since my first acts tend to be about 4 to 6 chapters long, I spread the information as thin as possible, so as to keep the story moving. I try to integrate any backstory I have to share into the present story being told, which can be a big challenge. In one of my stories, the main character is adopted -- this is really important to the story -- but I still can't figure out how to slip that in because it isn't something he and his friends talk about.
I keep my information dumps in small nuggets -- no more than a paragraph (3 to 5 lines) every two page spread, and I make sure they relate to whatever the previous paragraph was about. So if paragraph 1 is about breakfast, paragraph 2 can be about how my character is a coffee addict, and how it became a habit for her because of all her late nights working at the clinic. Then, paragraph 3, it's back to breakfast. No more information dump for at least six paragraphs or so.
Any information that is needed for the next two acts usually take place sporadically and in the first two or three chapters each act, but I try to avoid information dumps in the third act. Any facts introduced there either have to be important for the sequel, or they aren't important at all because you waited too long to share them. if you DO have dumps in the third act, they better have been foreshadowed or hinted at in the first act.
So the Guggenheim can show Man in a polyester suit, but Chester Pane can't?
Now, I had this same argument with The Oregonian a couple years ago.
Are you certain, absolutely certain, that you want to ban a piece of art?
Just curious.
Come on. Can someone who so closely resembles a young Ronald Reagan as I possibly not approve of censorship? Relish it, even? Seriously, I spent the weekend burning copies of Harry Potter and The Satanic Verses with the local Baptist church. A small step in the right direction to keep young people from being corrupted by those heathen texts. Mapplethorpe Care Bears are small potatoes in my censorship book.
"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Heinrich Heine
@Chester, I suppose it depends on your definition of art. Art without purpose or for arts sake is masturbation.
Dammit third edit!
This topic is another good discussion, and a subject that I, too, have struggled with.
OK, so my novel is about a town that doesn't exist in real life. It's a dump of a town that is filled with horrors. Well, I felt it necessary to give the reader history of the town so that they'd 'buy into' the story.
I tried over and over and over to figure out how to give the background without stopping the story with too much detail. I eventually solved the issue by 1) breaking up the details and spreading them around, 2) showing the history through a character's viewpoint, such as...
As Charlie had learned in grade school, his town was founded and settled by the late serial murderer Steve Dicks, back in the Old West era. That much he knew. But what he didn't understand was, why ever house and home was painted in blood and strung with entrails. What was the story with that?
"That my friend," his pal Joey later explained, "Is due to the long storied tradition of our town in which...."
And so on. I folded the background shit into an experience the character had (being in school) and then into a conversation he had with his friend Joey. That seems to keep the story moving along nicely, while giving the reader interesting background stuff.
It's true. At the end of the evening we did also burn some people. Not many, really. Just witches. And local people who didn't agree with us.
Maybe we did burn quite a few, actually, but I don't actually think they counted as people people. More dissidents than anything. Troublemakers. A couple Catholics.
Ah, information dumps.
I have a rule about those: All the information that is vital for the story needs to be in, or at least foreshadowed, in the first act. (That doesn't mean ALL information needs to be in the first act, but the essential stuff -- Facts relevant to the world in which the story takes place, essential facts about the character and his/her history, goals, etc.) Since my first acts tend to be about 4 to 6 chapters long, I spread the information as thin as possible, so as to keep the story moving. I try to integrate any backstory I have to share into the present story being told, which can be a big challenge. In one of my stories, the main character is adopted -- this is really important to the story -- but I still can't figure out how to slip that in because it isn't something he and his friends talk about.
I keep my information dumps in small nuggets -- no more than a paragraph (3 to 5 lines) every two page spread, and I make sure they relate to whatever the previous paragraph was about. So if paragraph 1 is about breakfast, paragraph 2 can be about how my character is a coffee addict, and how it became a habit for her because of all her late nights working at the clinic. Then, paragraph 3, it's back to breakfast. No more information dump for at least six paragraphs or so.
Any information that is needed for the next two acts usually take place sporadically and in the first two or three chapters each act, but I try to avoid information dumps in the third act. Any facts introduced there either have to be important for the sequel, or they aren't important at all because you waited too long to share them. if you DO have dumps in the third act, they better have been foreshadowed or hinted at in the first act.
Er, that's how I do things, anyway.