Alison Croggon wrote:
>
> It does work, Josephine, and one of my own favourite tactics. I'm
> aware that what I said about offering criticism on works in progress
> sounds very like a cop out - it isn't, I don't _think_ so, anyway.
> It comes from a million different uneases, some to do with my own
> experiences of very generously offered criticism from people I highly
> respect, some to do with offering criticism to others - and maybe are
> a little difficult to articulate.
If someone were to ask me to critique an image, or print,
I'd be able to do it, no problem. Where I would have a
problem would be tact. Critiquing technical issues is ok, eg
'your registration is poor and can be fixed like this', but
content is another thing altogether. How does one say its
nice 'for a gum tree painting' without offending?
"Interesting" is a well worn cop out. Your comments aren't.
>
> I'm very much one of the those who thinks that the best way to learn
> how to write poetry is through close and intimate conversation -
> either with poetry (by poets, dead or alive) or on-going
> conversations with fellow writers.
Hence poetryetc?
An ongoing conversation permits
> nuances, doubts, contradictions; more importantly, it's equal,
> between human beings. This is hard to find, especially when you're
> starting off; I remember writing in what felt like complete isolation
> as a young poet for about a decade, and I remember what a difference
> it made when I began to find like minds, or elective affinities. It
> wasn't so much that people didn't offer good advice given with the
> very bets of intentions (and I knew I sorely needed it): it was that
> the advice they offered often seemed to be: "Write like I do" or
> seemed to presume some ultimate authority of judgment which I found I
> don't believe in. When a poem is in the plasticity of creation, such
> advice can shut off doors quicker than anything. As a result,
> especially with longer poems that were in a state of chaos, I found
> myself getting totally confused. In the worst circumstances, I
> totally lost sight of why I wanted to write the poem in the first
> place, that "feeling".
I can relate to all of this. Your mentor's solution may be
right for them, it may not be the right solution for you,
right?
>
> I am not in the least saying that poets shouldn't seek advice or
> criticism - how are we to learn anything if we don't? It's just -
> difficult!
Damned right it is and it takes guts too.
>
> PS Pratchett is very funny. I've only read his book loosely based on
> Australia, and some parts are wickedly accurate, parodying the parody
> that's our alleged self image (Fosters ads, etc)
> --
I always tell people to start with the third discworld book,
I think that's 'witches Abroad'? Where he introduces Nanny
Ogg and Granny Weatherwax and takes the p*ss out of
shakespeare. And you really must read them in sequence too.
One of my favourites has to be 'small gods'.
josie
|