Bouvre Posted August 8, 2018 Share Posted August 8, 2018 Colin Nissan is one of my favorite writers, and currently my favorite humor writer. This is one of his most recent pieces, which feels pertinent for the creative folks here: The Writer exists in two worlds: the world he’s creating and the world in which he wears the same shirt a lot. The Writer successfully holds each world responsible for his failings in the other, a Ping-Ponging of accountability that frees him to wake up around elevenish. The Writer feels uneasy referring to himself as a writer in the presence of others. He struggles to shake the sense that he’s an imposter and that at any moment someone’s going to ask him what an adverb is. The Writer has a small group of confidantes with whom he feels comfortable sharing his drafts. He relies on their honest feedback, and in exchange he gives their e-mails the finger. The Writer refuses to allow criticism of his writing to sow doubt in other aspects of his life. He has other critics who specifically handle that stuff. The Writer avoids distraction by disabling his Internet connection before he sits down to write. As a reward for this sacrifice, he allocates special Internet time for himself every three to five minutes. The Writer understands that the nourishment he chooses feeds not only his body, but also his mind. He is careful to fortify himself with foods that are high in protein and carbohydrates and fat and sugar and Pringles. The Writer knows the importance of committing to write a certain number of words every day. He sets a strict range for himself of between a thousand words and masturbating. The Writer shuts off his internal editor while in the middle of a draft so that the real-time critiques don’t derail his process. “Nice sentence, dumbass”; “show don’t tell, you dumb dick”; “get a new shirt for your dumb body, dummy”—the writer’s internal editor is a monster. The Writer knows how discouraging it can be to compare his writing to that of others, so over the last several years he’s become much better about not reading. The Writer goes on long walks to quiet his cluttered mind and spark his imagination. Each time he returns to his desk to resume his writing, as if by some divine force, he finds himself armed with a burrito he picked up on the walk. The lines blur between the Writer and the characters he creates on the page. At times, he is unsure where his life stops and theirs begins. Then he feels burrito in his mouth. The Writer sits in coffee shops amid other writers. The collective din of their keyboards makes the Writer wonder what their stories are about and whether or not his animated bursts of fake typing have grown obvious to any of them. The Writer experiments with different voices. Most recently, the voice of a middle-aged man trying to convince his landlord to let him pay this month’s rent in massages. Filtered through the keen observational eye of the Writer, seemingly mundane objects take on deeper meaning. A piece of paper is more than just a piece of paper to him, it’s a rejection e-mail from a not-so-great publication that has some real nerve pulling this crap. In the end, it’s not about getting published; the Writer writes simply because he must. A drive that he can only describe as a mystical spirit that channels through his mind into his fingertips, and floods the page with words that don’t sound that great together because maybe this just isn’t the Writer’s fucking thing. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackiemarie90 Posted August 9, 2018 Share Posted August 9, 2018 Pretty meta, and entertaining. X D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bouvre Posted August 10, 2018 Author Share Posted August 10, 2018 (edited) On 8/8/2018 at 9:10 PM, jackiemarie90 said: Pretty meta, and entertaining. X D Absolutely. He's one of the funniest writers I've ever read and he's pretty exclusively publishing at The New Yorker and Mcsweeneys. He's also a professional commercial voice actor, which is interesting. King of New York is line by line one of the funniest things I've ever experienced. Edited August 10, 2018 by Bouvre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 (edited) OH! You should checked out that website TheProse. Have you seen that site yet? I don't know if I ever gave you a heads up on it... Edited August 10, 2018 by J.M. Matthews 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Or I could recommend you a good book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 On 8/8/2018 at 2:59 AM, Bouvre said: Colin Nissan is one of my favorite writers, and currently my favorite humor writer. This is one of his most recent pieces, which feels pertinent for the creative folks here: The Writer exists in two worlds: the world he’s creating and the world in which he wears the same shirt a lot. The Writer successfully holds each world responsible for his failings in the other, a Ping-Ponging of accountability that frees him to wake up around elevenish. The Writer feels uneasy referring to himself as a writer in the presence of others. He struggles to shake the sense that he’s an imposter and that at any moment someone’s going to ask him what an adverb is. The Writer has a small group of confidantes with whom he feels comfortable sharing his drafts. He relies on their honest feedback, and in exchange he gives their e-mails the finger. The Writer refuses to allow criticism of his writing to sow doubt in other aspects of his life. He has other critics who specifically handle that stuff. The Writer avoids distraction by disabling his Internet connection before he sits down to write. As a reward for this sacrifice, he allocates special Internet time for himself every three to five minutes. The Writer understands that the nourishment he chooses feeds not only his body, but also his mind. He is careful to fortify himself with foods that are high in protein and carbohydrates and fat and sugar and Pringles. The Writer knows the importance of committing to write a certain number of words every day. He sets a strict range for himself of between a thousand words and masturbating. The Writer shuts off his internal editor while in the middle of a draft so that the real-time critiques don’t derail his process. “Nice sentence, dumbass”; “show don’t tell, you dumb dick”; “get a new shirt for your dumb body, dummy”—the writer’s internal editor is a monster. The Writer knows how discouraging it can be to compare his writing to that of others, so over the last several years he’s become much better about not reading. The Writer goes on long walks to quiet his cluttered mind and spark his imagination. Each time he returns to his desk to resume his writing, as if by some divine force, he finds himself armed with a burrito he picked up on the walk. The lines blur between the Writer and the characters he creates on the page. At times, he is unsure where his life stops and theirs begins. Then he feels burrito in his mouth. The Writer sits in coffee shops amid other writers. The collective din of their keyboards makes the Writer wonder what their stories are about and whether or not his animated bursts of fake typing have grown obvious to any of them. The Writer experiments with different voices. Most recently, the voice of a middle-aged man trying to convince his landlord to let him pay this month’s rent in massages. Filtered through the keen observational eye of the Writer, seemingly mundane objects take on deeper meaning. A piece of paper is more than just a piece of paper to him, it’s a rejection e-mail from a not-so-great publication that has some real nerve pulling this crap. In the end, it’s not about getting published; the Writer writes simply because he must. A drive that he can only describe as a mystical spirit that channels through his mind into his fingertips, and floods the page with words that don’t sound that great together because maybe this just isn’t the Writer’s fucking thing. There's still nothing like putting it into words, y'know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Sorry, I shouldn't overwhelm here. Just discuss. That is the spirit of this thread. Reminds me of Oni Press forums back in the day. Good stuff. Bouvre could be the next Jamie. Which would be good because I was good friends with Jamie in 2000 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bouvre Posted August 10, 2018 Author Share Posted August 10, 2018 15 minutes ago, J.M. Matthews said: OH! You should checked out that website TheProse. Have you seen that site yet? I don't know if I ever gave you a heads up on it... I don't think I've ever heard of it. Will check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.M. Matthews Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 (edited) Yeah! You should post there. Why not. Seriously, I had an intense discussion with one of the creators of the site. About the SITE! That place is one of the next generations of literary sites. It was BUILT for our type! Edited August 10, 2018 by J.M. Matthews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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