Wizards, Sorcerers & the Academic Creative Writing Scene

This week on my blog I'm discussing my Sorcerers and Wizards Theory of Creative Writing...

Part I
Part II

"In writing, like in dungeons and dragons, there are sorcerers and there are wizards. Wizards ply their trade through advanced study and a high-level understanding of the rules and structure of magic. Sorcerers draw on guesswork, innate ability, practice and charisma. There’s no point asking a sorcerer why he just changed tense, he doesn’t know."

If anyone fancies popping over and giving it a read, or even throwing in a comment... You never know, in the long chain of causality, it might actually save the world.


... And I'd be interested to hear what other writers think about the emergent Creative Writing MA/MFAs and workshops etc.

Apologies in advance for:

1. Awfully geeky references and allusions throughout (it's a fantasy-author thing)
2. Shamelessly promoting own blog.

How could you be genuinely sorry and still consciously do it? Nevermind, don't want an actual answer.

Screw your blog. It's little better than Pepsi Cola, plastered somewhere to sell something to the weak minded. Another flaccid theorist exemplifying the worst of slave values and encroaching on the very real effort that sometimes goes on here.

Save it for craigslist.






J

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Originally Posted by Jack of Hearts

Another flaccid theorist exemplifying the worst of slave values and encroaching on the very real effort that sometimes goes on here.

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For someone who hates theorists you seem keen to drop Nietzschean jargon :P

But at least you didn't actually read it, so I won't have to lose any sleep worrying about whether I've encroached on your very real effort.

I read your blog. And while I am not adverse to Fantasy references (and can get behind your wizard/sorcerer distinction) your connections to anything real stop short. You point out a very old issue and offer a very old solution to the issue, so what is the point of the blog? If it was strictly meant to be your personal journey as a developing writer, that's fine, but as a theorist you haven't offer anything to your readers.

I'm not a theorist, nor claim to be, just my blog. I'm a complete dilettante in the literary theory world.

Just felt like a lot of the discussion on the Creative Writing and the approaches to it seemed to be bouncing backwards and forwards between the same clichés with realitively little discussion of what actually happens on a CW course or what they're for.

Really just meant as lighthearted conversation-starter.

Ta for the less vitriolic reply ;)

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Originally Posted by Bonsai Ent

I'm not a theorist, nor claim to be, just my blog. I'm a complete dilettante in the literary theory world.

Just felt like a lot of the discussion on the Creative Writing and the approaches to it seemed to be bouncing backwards and forwards between the same clichés with realitively little discussion of what actually happens on a CW course or what they're for.

Really just meant as lighthearted conversation-starter.

Ta for the less vitriolic reply ;)

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Well that's fine then. Thou just seem to sell it as "here is the answer."

Apple for some reason changed "you" to thou. I'm going to leave it that way.

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Originally Posted by Charles Darnay

Well that's fine then. Thou just seem to sell it as here is the answer."

Apple for some reason changed "you" to thou. I'm going to leave it that way.

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Ever since Steve Job's ascension to consumer sainthood, the auto-correct in apple products has been programmed to adopt a more mythic lexical register.

This reader isn't so sure that you're just spam anymore- in which case the initial 'nip' was unduly sharp.

On the off chance you've actually got an interest in participating here, welcome to the forums.






J

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack of Hearts

This reader isn't so sure that you're just spam anymore- in which case the initial 'nip' was unduly sharp.

On the off chance you've actually got an interest in participating here, welcome to the forums.






J

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No offense taken, I'd just finished the blog post and thought it would make for an OK discussion topic.
The intent of the 'nip' is understood ;)
But no, not spam, hopefully I'll occasionally say something interesting. Statistically, its bound to happen eventually, even if by accident.

Mea culpa.






J

Fantasy, wizards, sorcerers, werewolves, vampires, etc etc will always be a sidebar with literature. It's there, but in the overall scheme of literature, it means little and its influence is very small.

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

Fantasy, wizards, sorcerers, werewolves, vampires, etc etc will always be a sidebar with literature. It's there, but in the overall scheme of literature, it means little and its influence is very small.

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That's a whole different discussion, and something I avoided entirely in the blog-post, but if you REALLY want to open that can of worms (and I suspect I'm in the minority since these forums have a special ghetto for SFF readers)...

I tend to agree with Derrida that binaries prove to be unstable when examined in any real detail and the same goes for the so-called genre-literary binary. The people who posit its existence tend to be people with a fairly limited knowledge of SFF literature.
It's influence is massive, the fantastic can be observed in Aristophanes, Shakespeare, right up to modern literary genres where we find writers such as Salman Rushdie, Murakami, and Junot Diaz.

Not to mention the extent to which SFF intersects with other genres.

The fantastic is, was and continues to be a major component of literature.


IMHO &c.

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

Fantasy, wizards, sorcerers, werewolves, vampires, etc etc will always be a sidebar with literature. It's there, but in the overall scheme of literature, it means little and its influence is very small.

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Influence in what sense? If you mean its influence on "serious" literature, you might be right, though this is still quite debatable when writers like Borges and the plethora of authors who dabble in "magical realism." The Man Booker prize has gone to several authors within this genre, including Salman Rushdie and Ben Okrie, among possible others I'm not aware of.

And, outside of literature, the impact of fantasy on culture is immense. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and then if we throw sci-fi into the mix, it only increases.

All that still doesn't change the fact that fantasy's influence in the realm of literature is very small.

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

All that still doesn't change the fact that fantasy's influence in the realm of literature is very small.

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Okay, so what is determined to be fantasy? Stories of "magic", mythical creatures, and different worlds? Then the bible is a fantasy story, because we can not prove the existence of heaven (different world), Moses parted the red seas (magic), and now we get to angels and demons (mythical creatures). I know I'm going to get flamed for saying those things about the bible, but then we have so many roman and greek literature that has influenced the world. Beowulf also. Think about what you say before you say it. Modern day fantasy will be doing the same thing those stories did far into the future.

Lastly.... Scientology... c'mon...

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

All that still doesn't change the fact that fantasy's influence in the realm of literature is very small.

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Other than repeating yourself though, you don't seem able to provide much basis for that :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jassy Melson

All that still doesn't change the fact that fantasy's influence in the realm of literature is very small.

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If you take a narrow view of fantasy, and keep in your head the image of Harry Potter or Twilight.

The Medieval Romances have a resounding influence throughout Western lit.
As do the Arthurian legends.

Science fiction as well hs an impact on lit and society.

Fantasy is important because it proposes as truths what must be unavoidably found to not be so. It's an intrinsic part of dialog.

Was at a seminar with an author the other day who opined that fantasy and sci fi are actually truer to how our brains work than "realism".

A man after my own heart :D

I'm not really into Sci Fi although I have written a fantasy short story but I am interested why the curled lip at this sort of literature anyway? My daughter is a fan fiction writer which I know has a huge following among the younger generation. Manga and Yowie I think it's called and I get the impression that some people just don't like certain genres and refuse to even classify them as literature and I'm curious as to why that is the case.