Wait, I followed a link to this (awesome) post to learn what outside-in vs. inside-out acting was; did I get lost? I am generically interested in anyone who has "never been a typical" whatever, and I'd love to read more about your thoughts on violence, FWIW!
Now that you mention it, I don’t really go over the two styles in as much detail here as I remember having done. I gotta find that passage and change the link, I think (though I am glad it led you here!)... for more of my thoughts on violence, check out my Fight Is the Story post in my archives. I plan on writing a lot more about that stuff once my PTMTs are done, too. ⚔️
Your writing is always fascinating. Not just the subject, but the style.
Uh ... I had a flash where I tried to describe the experience of reading this piece. It reminded me of picking up a small wild animal and is frantic, frenetic movements as you try to, say, move it off your porch and into the woods. Although ... it's more like you're bucking convention than the grasp of a person.
I don't actually think that description is helpful, but I do think it's funny.
Alternatively, the cafe article felt more than a little "small town noir" ... but in a town that is neither small nor "noir" (literary genre). It's the internal dynamic and juxtaposition of your writing that I find so interesting.
I'm sure the lit types that read this will be like, "dude, you need to read more genres ... your expectations are super narrow." Which is probably true.... I read almost nothing contemporary or recent in monograph-length works.
In fairness, one of my dissertation committee members said that my (professional) writing reads like a runaway train (referring to the relentless procession of technical concepts in a linear fashion).
Hmmm. Have you considered/done playwriting? I'm wondering what that literary persona would look like on the stage.
Hey, I'm a take that as a grand compliment--thank you!
Yes, I have done some playwriting, actually--I especially enjoy writing for little 24-hour theatre festivals that happen near me every so often, in that I get very little time to write a one-act based on an assigned theme. So that's pretty fun, but I don't prefer playwriting in general as a genre; it's too bare-bones for me. Writing a play is literally just laying out a skeleton, that directors, designers, and actors then add flesh and detail to. I want to be in charge of some of that detail myself. If that makes sense.
But I've found that people often repel what they don't understand or what isn't expected, and I'm usually that. But I have a suspicion that we share that trait, so...
For reference, I picked up Stephen King's first book of the Dark Tower series and had to put it down after 80 pages. The prose was styled in a way that--intentionally I could tell--was really haunting me. So, I'm speaking to how skillful prose can have a profound effect on an attentive audience, just like how some people watch films like The Talented Mr. Ripley and just don't get the psychological drama unless its as obvious as Inception.
Wait, I followed a link to this (awesome) post to learn what outside-in vs. inside-out acting was; did I get lost? I am generically interested in anyone who has "never been a typical" whatever, and I'd love to read more about your thoughts on violence, FWIW!
Oh HERE it is! I knew it was an article I had written about acting class, I just pinged the wrong one. I talk about the two styles in my Tableaux Vivants piece: https://open.substack.com/pub/jenn5c3s4/p/tableaux-vivants?r=1fslzq&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Now that you mention it, I don’t really go over the two styles in as much detail here as I remember having done. I gotta find that passage and change the link, I think (though I am glad it led you here!)... for more of my thoughts on violence, check out my Fight Is the Story post in my archives. I plan on writing a lot more about that stuff once my PTMTs are done, too. ⚔️
Your writing is always fascinating. Not just the subject, but the style.
Uh ... I had a flash where I tried to describe the experience of reading this piece. It reminded me of picking up a small wild animal and is frantic, frenetic movements as you try to, say, move it off your porch and into the woods. Although ... it's more like you're bucking convention than the grasp of a person.
I don't actually think that description is helpful, but I do think it's funny.
Alternatively, the cafe article felt more than a little "small town noir" ... but in a town that is neither small nor "noir" (literary genre). It's the internal dynamic and juxtaposition of your writing that I find so interesting.
I'm sure the lit types that read this will be like, "dude, you need to read more genres ... your expectations are super narrow." Which is probably true.... I read almost nothing contemporary or recent in monograph-length works.
In fairness, one of my dissertation committee members said that my (professional) writing reads like a runaway train (referring to the relentless procession of technical concepts in a linear fashion).
Hmmm. Have you considered/done playwriting? I'm wondering what that literary persona would look like on the stage.
Hey, I'm a take that as a grand compliment--thank you!
Yes, I have done some playwriting, actually--I especially enjoy writing for little 24-hour theatre festivals that happen near me every so often, in that I get very little time to write a one-act based on an assigned theme. So that's pretty fun, but I don't prefer playwriting in general as a genre; it's too bare-bones for me. Writing a play is literally just laying out a skeleton, that directors, designers, and actors then add flesh and detail to. I want to be in charge of some of that detail myself. If that makes sense.
It was meant as a compliment.
But I've found that people often repel what they don't understand or what isn't expected, and I'm usually that. But I have a suspicion that we share that trait, so...
For reference, I picked up Stephen King's first book of the Dark Tower series and had to put it down after 80 pages. The prose was styled in a way that--intentionally I could tell--was really haunting me. So, I'm speaking to how skillful prose can have a profound effect on an attentive audience, just like how some people watch films like The Talented Mr. Ripley and just don't get the psychological drama unless its as obvious as Inception.