Heinlein on my mind
Oct. 20th, 2007 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zengarMy previous post reminded me of one of Heinlein's of hand remarks. He once said, in response to the idea of him releasing his memoirs, that the life of a writer is a dull one and in order to make such a book interesting you either need to resort to talking about what this scrivener was doing when he wasn't writing or lie, or both. I just realized that technology has made that idea obsolete and author's livejournals don't follow that maxim (although I have no knowledge on the truthfulness aspect thereof :)
Sure there's a fair amount of talk about what this person gets up to when they are away from their desk, but let's face it, that's because there is a feeling that if one is writing about writing, why aren't they writing instead. However, the immediacy of the internet, as opposed to a retrospectively published book, allows the writing process to be entertaining as well. You can get segments like "words Word doesn't know", discussions of problem scenes, and even snipits of text from the rough draft that may or may not still exist in the final product. This all serves to pique the interest of readers towards the book, but can also be entertaining in it's own right. Most of those interested in reading about the lives of writers are interested in the writing process as well, and guides on writing never quite convey the reality the way these blogs do.
Sure there's a fair amount of talk about what this person gets up to when they are away from their desk, but let's face it, that's because there is a feeling that if one is writing about writing, why aren't they writing instead. However, the immediacy of the internet, as opposed to a retrospectively published book, allows the writing process to be entertaining as well. You can get segments like "words Word doesn't know", discussions of problem scenes, and even snipits of text from the rough draft that may or may not still exist in the final product. This all serves to pique the interest of readers towards the book, but can also be entertaining in it's own right. Most of those interested in reading about the lives of writers are interested in the writing process as well, and guides on writing never quite convey the reality the way these blogs do.
