Is there anything less punk than punk rock's desire for hegemonic purity? Also, is there anything more punk rock than that? (I'd say the answer to both questions is no.)
As for POV, one of the nice things about being a poet is that we don't have to get locked into it for long periods of time (unless we're writing an epic, which doesn't happen all that much these days.)
& so far as writing soundtracks go, just the ambient background noise of whatever room I'm in. Anything else intrudes too much on the music of the words.
That's an interesting thing to me about poems (and also, arguably, songs). Do you find that you hop around a lot in POV depending on what the poem needs from you, or do you tend to stick to one POV style?
I wish I could write in silence. It is completely impossible for me to focus in silence. I have to at least have white noise going.
Oh, it's all about what the poem needs! I've had an ongoing conversation about this with a friend, because so many poems assume an "I/thou" kind of posture, but it's not always useful in terms of communicating a complex idea or set of ideas. So sometimes one needs to find the 3rd person, for instance. Switching POV during the course of a poem doesn't really work (though I'm sure there are examples that would prove me wrong), but poets who are working at the top of their game will use different points of view for different poems.
I like ambient noise (not ambient music!) like birdsong or wind blowing through the trees or indistinct conversations from other people. I don't tend to get the latter these days, though, because I don't work in cafes or coffeehouses any more.
That’s so fascinating. I think a similar thing happens among short story writers who are at the top of their game. And ambient noise > ambient music, PERIOD.
There's some ambient music I like! Eno's Music for Airports is a fave, as is Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. II. But they're both terrible for writing, at least for me.
The best ambient writing noise I've ever found is gentle dog snores.
I forgot to mention in my post that Emma Straub's novel, This Time Tomorrow, is written in the loveliest close-up third person singular POV, the kind that was so close that I didn't even notice the book wasn't in first person until page 50 or so. I thought it was a wise choice for her to lean toward third person over first because of the time travel element—third person, even when it was as close as it was, gave Straub just enough narrative distance for the protagonist to hop around from her teenage years back to her 40s while maintaining a cohesive voice.
Thanks for this thoughtful post on POV. There, There by Tommy Orange blows open POV and provides a wicked set of examples too.
Write on, J
Thanks for saying so, Jennifer! I've had There, There on my list for years now—I think it's time for me to dig into it.
Is there anything less punk than punk rock's desire for hegemonic purity? Also, is there anything more punk rock than that? (I'd say the answer to both questions is no.)
As for POV, one of the nice things about being a poet is that we don't have to get locked into it for long periods of time (unless we're writing an epic, which doesn't happen all that much these days.)
& so far as writing soundtracks go, just the ambient background noise of whatever room I'm in. Anything else intrudes too much on the music of the words.
That's an interesting thing to me about poems (and also, arguably, songs). Do you find that you hop around a lot in POV depending on what the poem needs from you, or do you tend to stick to one POV style?
I wish I could write in silence. It is completely impossible for me to focus in silence. I have to at least have white noise going.
Oh, it's all about what the poem needs! I've had an ongoing conversation about this with a friend, because so many poems assume an "I/thou" kind of posture, but it's not always useful in terms of communicating a complex idea or set of ideas. So sometimes one needs to find the 3rd person, for instance. Switching POV during the course of a poem doesn't really work (though I'm sure there are examples that would prove me wrong), but poets who are working at the top of their game will use different points of view for different poems.
I like ambient noise (not ambient music!) like birdsong or wind blowing through the trees or indistinct conversations from other people. I don't tend to get the latter these days, though, because I don't work in cafes or coffeehouses any more.
That’s so fascinating. I think a similar thing happens among short story writers who are at the top of their game. And ambient noise > ambient music, PERIOD.
There's some ambient music I like! Eno's Music for Airports is a fave, as is Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. II. But they're both terrible for writing, at least for me.
The best ambient writing noise I've ever found is gentle dog snores.
I forgot to mention in my post that Emma Straub's novel, This Time Tomorrow, is written in the loveliest close-up third person singular POV, the kind that was so close that I didn't even notice the book wasn't in first person until page 50 or so. I thought it was a wise choice for her to lean toward third person over first because of the time travel element—third person, even when it was as close as it was, gave Straub just enough narrative distance for the protagonist to hop around from her teenage years back to her 40s while maintaining a cohesive voice.