1) “If cats looked like frogs, we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are.”
-Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
I happened across this on Thursday, and now I need this poem about cats who look like frogs.
2) “Interestingly enough, in [Elizabethan] times, many young men posed as ‘melancholy’ which translated to sad, troubled, fond of wearing black, and artistic. Making this trope Older Than Steam.”
-TVTropes, on the subject of Emo
I totally agree, but I think the Greeks also have to be considered, and I think Homer has the Elizabethans beat when it comes to the melodramatic nature of characterization. The Iliad and The Odyssey are protagonist whinefests wrapped up in extraordinarily textured backdrop of war and adventure. I love them both, but I love The Iliad a little bit more. (I’m bored by the two main protagonists, though. Diomedes is where it’s at.)
3) “Enter into every man’s ruling faculty; and also let every other man enter into yours.”
-Marcus Aurelius
It’s the simplest thing: “Be open.” But I find it so hard in practice when it comes to my writing. I thought the hardest part was actually sharing it physically with others, but I’m finding it harder still to relax my writing itself. This happens to me on every level of writing. I’ve been trying to finish my book forever, but I keep self-editing and stopping the flow of the story dead in its tracks. I can’t seem to remember how to let the characters breathe freely. They do in my head, but by the time it gets on paper, they feel stilted and self-conscious.
4) “He’s like if Ziggy Stardust and Cyndi Lauper had a very magical, very gay baby with an unbelievable range and the ability to shoot glitter and cocaine and entire battalions of Pussycat Dolls out of his hoo-hah.”
-TWOP Jacob, on Adam Lambert
Read it on TWOP once upon a time, and I just love it. That’s all.
5) “I thought of this that water swallows and elation sighs
That pillows dream and autumn kills herself to feel revived”
-Chris Cornell, “Heart of Honey”
I’ve just about decided that I’m incapable of not going to Soundgarden every week for inspiration and to hope to find phrases that leap out at me. I expect the unexpected from them, which doesn’t make it unexpected but still doesn’t dilute the pleasant surprise of their phrasing. I love the imagery in these lines, and how he phrases it when he sings.
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