The Well, and maintenance thereof
Sep. 8th, 2008 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanOooh, look. She's being all Thoughtful an' shit! Better go get another mug of caffeine, this might be painful.
On hearing that I'm a writer people often ask me "oh, well, what do you read?" expecting to hear me kvell about the newest genre discovery, a popular bestseller, or some hidden literary gem. My usual answer: "whatever poked me in the brain this week."
And that ties into the other question writers get asked a lot: "Where do you get your ideas?"
The same place everyone else does: from stuff that pokes me in the brain.
An excerpt from my current reading: "From the standpoint of the bacterium this characteristic is a good news/bad news story; the starvation that turns X. cheopsis into a manic biter of anything that moves also results in a dramatic loss of life expectancy. Resourceful as ever, Y. pestis may have turned even this to its advantage."*
This isn't a passage anyone who knows me casually would expect me to be reading with great interest. Anyone who knows me well, however, will not be surprised. There is very little that doesn't fascinate me -- obscure bits of historical fact, or details about someone's job, or theories on the origin of the universe... I'm not looking to become an Expert -- I don't even like to spout off these facts at dinner parties, or to score a point in debate. You don't need to know that I know these things. I want to know because I never know what's going to bounce off another fact, and spin off a New Idea or a Better Understanding.
Some people call this the magpie mind, or the information sponge, but I like the visual of The Well. Facts and theories, ideas and suppositions, they're all water. Our brains are The Well. The story [the conversation] is a bucket. We dip and filter, pour and drink.
Wells aren't self-maintaining, though. A lot of people make that mistake -- "here's your formal education, your well is filled, go forth and spout off." These aren't fresh-water springs that miraculously refill. Go to the well too many times with your bucket, and it can run dry. Only allow one stream to feed the well, and the taste is always the same. It's in the best interest of the writer [conversationalist/thinking individual] to refill the well from as many sources as they can.**
Yes, I read for entertainment [a noble cause], and for specific information [sometimes, you need specifics]. But above and below it all, I read [and watch, and listen] to refill the well***.
And if I were to give one piece of advice, no matter if you're a writer, a reader or an articulate guppie, it would be that: refill your well on a regular [and irregular] basis. Because, dudes, too long drinking the same taste and you could die of boredom-of-brain long before your body gives up. And a greater hell I cannot imagine.
*[p. 178, Justinian's Flea by William Rosen]
**[so yes, when I ask you about your job, or your opinions or your experiences, I really am interested. Also: your opinions or voice or info may end up being used in a story somewhere. Full and fair warning.]
***[I may not like the taste of every source, and may filter it out after the fact, but that's what the bucket is for].
On hearing that I'm a writer people often ask me "oh, well, what do you read?" expecting to hear me kvell about the newest genre discovery, a popular bestseller, or some hidden literary gem. My usual answer: "whatever poked me in the brain this week."
And that ties into the other question writers get asked a lot: "Where do you get your ideas?"
The same place everyone else does: from stuff that pokes me in the brain.
An excerpt from my current reading: "From the standpoint of the bacterium this characteristic is a good news/bad news story; the starvation that turns X. cheopsis into a manic biter of anything that moves also results in a dramatic loss of life expectancy. Resourceful as ever, Y. pestis may have turned even this to its advantage."*
This isn't a passage anyone who knows me casually would expect me to be reading with great interest. Anyone who knows me well, however, will not be surprised. There is very little that doesn't fascinate me -- obscure bits of historical fact, or details about someone's job, or theories on the origin of the universe... I'm not looking to become an Expert -- I don't even like to spout off these facts at dinner parties, or to score a point in debate. You don't need to know that I know these things. I want to know because I never know what's going to bounce off another fact, and spin off a New Idea or a Better Understanding.
Some people call this the magpie mind, or the information sponge, but I like the visual of The Well. Facts and theories, ideas and suppositions, they're all water. Our brains are The Well. The story [the conversation] is a bucket. We dip and filter, pour and drink.
Wells aren't self-maintaining, though. A lot of people make that mistake -- "here's your formal education, your well is filled, go forth and spout off." These aren't fresh-water springs that miraculously refill. Go to the well too many times with your bucket, and it can run dry. Only allow one stream to feed the well, and the taste is always the same. It's in the best interest of the writer [conversationalist/thinking individual] to refill the well from as many sources as they can.**
Yes, I read for entertainment [a noble cause], and for specific information [sometimes, you need specifics]. But above and below it all, I read [and watch, and listen] to refill the well***.
And if I were to give one piece of advice, no matter if you're a writer, a reader or an articulate guppie, it would be that: refill your well on a regular [and irregular] basis. Because, dudes, too long drinking the same taste and you could die of boredom-of-brain long before your body gives up. And a greater hell I cannot imagine.
*[p. 178, Justinian's Flea by William Rosen]
**[so yes, when I ask you about your job, or your opinions or your experiences, I really am interested. Also: your opinions or voice or info may end up being used in a story somewhere. Full and fair warning.]
***[I may not like the taste of every source, and may filter it out after the fact, but that's what the bucket is for].
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
brain poking
Date: 2008-09-08 02:42 pm (UTC)Few people have ever head of Yersinia pestis, let alone care to read about it. It truly reflects the soul of a writer that you (we) love to read stuff that *pokes us in the brain*. I'm totally going to steal the quote!
Faith Hunter
Re: brain poking
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Date: 2008-09-10 04:47 pm (UTC)I have added you as a friend and look forward to more interesting posts.
*blink*
Date: 2008-09-11 05:16 pm (UTC)When you said this, I realized ... mine is. That doesn't mean I never pour anything into it on purpose, but rather that I absorb inspiration from everything around me, all the time, quite naturally, without requiring any explicit effort. It's fun to make the effort sometimes, which is why I do things like my Poetry Fishbowls. But I wouldn't have to.
My Muse drinks from Chalice Well.
filling the well
Date: 2008-09-20 05:21 pm (UTC)I am also an obsessive-compulsive reader. Reading is the thing that makes me want to write. I was once asked what kinds of things I wrote - Answer - I write the kind of things I like to read.
I just discovered your page and I hope you won't mind if I treck back here from time to time.