Ugh, all right, lesson learned: after midnight, don’t start a post that you haven’t completely thought out. This’ll be a quickie so that I can get at least a little sleep.
I think I’m finally getting over a case of writer’s block (more on that another time), and while I don’t know if this has helped me per se, I’ve found it fascinating to watch other people’s creative process. Penny Arcade TV is probably best when it deals with things like PAX, the charity Child’s Play, or Mike and Jerry’s family lives, but the recordings of them just coming up with and writing comics was what hooked me.
Writing is like sex: you can go all your life without knowing how other people do it, and finding out how Oscar Wilde did it isn’t very helpful. Seeing how two average Joes riff off each other and come up with hilarity, I find it amazing. It’s also disturbing in a way: it’s not like there’s intentional (and easy-to-imitate) crafting going on so much as they’re just running with ideas that pop into their heads. I’ve said it before, writing is consciously working at an unconscious act.
//Before I flew back to the Bay Area last month, I stayed up all night watching PATV because I didn’t trust my alarm to go off in the morning. Once I got onto the light rail, I fell asleep. I awoke to a cop-conductor – bigger guy, white, shaved head – and through the grogginess, all I can think is “Why is Tycho asking to see my ticket?”
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