"Might I remind you that we burned down Carthage!"
There are times, I argue, that a writer writes based on osmosis rather than sheer inspiration. Instead of mentally uncorking that bolt of lightning from its bottle, seeing or reading or hearing the creation of another artist causes a writer to alter their own process or work. They incorporate these new or (dare I say) foreign ideas in with theirs, which ultimately changes their own work.
The alterations can be ever so slight, or advance to the epic levels where all one can do is sigh and admit that at the very least imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (Then one tends to sic their lawyers on those epic yet sincerely-flattering imitators.)
Consider then, if you will, the problem I now face having just sat back from watching all 6 episodes of Neil Gaiman's series "Neverwhere." It is a brillaint concept and a wonderful mini-series (with an even more wonderful novel). Yet the inherent drawback is that now I find myself saturated by that diabolically delicious pair of cutthroats and assasins, Messrs. Croup and Vandemar.
I am now left to wonder if I really shouldn't have watched all of "Neverwhere" over the span of a such a short time, as I now cannot help but use the voice of the good Mr. Croup as a sounding board for whatever I write.
Far be it from me to decry Mr. Croup's dialectics and verbal skills, but it's rather aggravating to try and write dialogue for a character who is decidedly a young, female girl, and end up hearing Mr. Croup's decidedly male, English accent speaking all of her lines. As such I've had to cancel any writing projects meant for tonight, in the hopes that Mr. Croup will harken to the principles of reverse-osmosis, and leave me be until I find the desire to call upon him and his brother again.
On a slight digression, this does bring us to the charge that there are only 5 original stories in the world, and that everything else written is just a hybrid or variation of them. Although I somehow doubt that Croup and Vandemar could be compared to the likes of...oh, say, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or Legolas and Gimli, or even Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Today's Lesson: spending 2 days moving around large, heavy sets of luggage is extremely counter-productive to your spinal cord. It will not like the strain, and will promptly deliver the spinal equivalent of a bitchslap to you.
posted by Phillip at 7:40 PM
