distance

[gurdonark]

"Nobody passes among the deep quiet of the dark skies. Nobody sees us alone out here among the stars."--Brian Eno

My current intention is to write my November novel about the loneliness inherent in a "first contact" with an alien culture. In my construct, the two cultures will be able to communicate only, and lack the technology to ever meet. I'm sure it's some metaphor for cyberspace. In my notional novel, the communicating "aliens" impart to one another wisdom and folly, new ideas and old fictions. But they never meet--they can never meet due to technological ineptitude. What value attaches to an idea? What value inheres in an exchange of ideas? When we live in the world of words, do we really live at all?

Comments

[ex-sinnie785.livejournal.com]

what a great concept for a novel!

i a) hope you follow through with the intention and b) make it so it can be purchased, bartered, begged for and ultimately read.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for the kind words. I'll try to fulfill both (a) and (b) :)

[(Anonymous)]

i am reading your notional novel w/ pleasure...in fact, i'm already on chapt II w/ its intimations of folly and heartbreak of mere fact...

the part where the night watchman says: "there is no life on mars"

the night watchman on mars, that is...

still, it's easy to imagine our airier selves strolling lifelike among its dull red stones.

what's harder is to show the streaming eyes, whether drunk or merely sad, what it means never again to be. then to forget the same, exponentially.

you ask:"When we live in the world of words, do we really live at all?"

only then

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Almost since we have understood that Mars is a planet, we've been "captured" by the notion of life there. It stands to reason there 'is' life on Mars, if only the life of our dreams.

Thanks for commenting!

[ex-mysterios564.livejournal.com]

The momentum build up with words is so often burnt off in sleep and not in action.

I'd like to read this notional November novel. Quite a lot.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Sleep is a great idea-enfolder, isn't it?

This notional novel is only 50,000 words from converting from notion to reality.

thanks for commenting, and for your kind words.

[ex-mysterios564.livejournal.com]

So how quick do you reckon you can type a satistactory 50000 words.....?
;¬>
A friend of mine once wrote a novel-length piece, transcribed soley from a sequence of dreams. It was epic. Some people's subconscious' just won't stop.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I type quickly, so I'm banking on getting a head start before the
turkey day malaise sets in :)

I have written perhaps 20,000 words at a time of autobio when I was 21, but I've never tackled 50,000!

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

we get listened into existence

were it not for words i would not be alive

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I love that "we get listened into existence".

Re:

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

credit those words to Marilyn, a friend

rings so true for me

and you, eh?

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

rings so very true, and the words become the Word becomes the World.

Re:

[voodoukween.livejournal.com]

seems to be the way

[miscelenaclosed.livejournal.com]

Excellent concept! I'd enjoy reading the results!

Do the two civilizations share the same philosophies, or are their ideas of wisdom and folly utterly different? Can they communicate well because their basic mores are the same, or would they have fought if they could have because of their differences?

*ponder ponder*

The overwhelming power of ambiguity

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Those are good questions. My own thought is that their cultures are the justification and the destruction of one another---the Word becomes flesh, and transmutes into Word, and disappears again.

On your mark...

[uscwriter.livejournal.com]

We can join in the misery of creation! I signed up for the novel thing too- with an idea in mind as well.

The concept to write really isn't hard- not even at 1,500 words a day (the average to make 50,000 in a month). Think about all you write a day as a lawyer. I wrote that much in stories in the paper.

The concept is never as hard as reality though- making yourself write that amount, even if you want to watch the "Anna Nichol Show" is difficult.

My plan is to write it and not go back to read over until the end of the month. That's where I get stuck.

Wouldn't life be grand if we could create something in a month, just because of an ethereal deadline?

(Maybe we can...)

Re: If we live in a world of words, do we really live at all?- Interesting thought... The ideas created through only words, versus those created using sight for example, are completely personal to the being receiving the information. If the two never meet, does that change reality? and does it matter?

Glad to see you writing! You are good!

Re: On your mark...

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

that's cool that you're doing it, too, Kim. I'd guess that a solid half dozen on my friends list are doing it. I'd never heard of it until nacowafer mentioned it. 1700 words a day is like, what 8 pages? That's not that many, really. I'll bet with your journalist background you'll knock it out in no time.
I'm not sure if I'll have 50,000 or 1500 words to show by month's end, but I'm pretty jazzed by the whole notion of it all. I think the key is to write un-selfconsciously--to just pour reams onto the page with barely a whim and a notion. I try to write my journal that way, and I definitely write poetry that way, so now I'm excited to see if I can write a novel that way.

Re: On your mark...

[uscwriter.livejournal.com]

That is exactly the key how to do it- just write... If you can immerse yourself in the writing without thinking about the fact that you have a number to work towards, then it should be doable.

We counted our stories by the letter (or character), which converted to column inches- but I have written on two of my other stories by the word count- and I was doing about 1000 a day.

[coollibrarian.livejournal.com]

i like this idea!

My word

[kelquestor.livejournal.com]

I typed this comment this morning, nearly 6 hours ago, posted it, then deleted it because I thought, sheesh, it's longer than your post! But, one netball game complete with skin off 3 joints, a teacup spin and a bourbon later, I bequeath it anew to your comments string... don't feel obligated to read all of it - or any of it!

Here 'tis:

Words validate and record our existence; words mark and monitor what we were, what we are, and what we might be; words make dreams and ideas coagulate into something possibly tangible; and words, perhaps, define us as humans? Words are the most viable tools we have for communication, and that's an important job. (and THAT is an understatement, seeing as I'm tagging things today :D )To me, words are my 'lovebird, my hopes, my dreams, my life, my passion, my love, my sex, my money, my violence, religion, justice and death.' (heh - it's always nice to find a place to quote the Pet Shop Boys).

Certainly without words, 'I' would not be here. But I would be something somewhere, I expect(and probably no more inarticulate!).

Words are a medium, an agency, an element in which a person moves. The trick is, I think, to make words work. Words are of major significance at this point in our ascendancy, when we are limited by our physical bodies. I think I have been beyond words fleetingly. Much as I love words, I would like to go there again.

For now though, I leave you with a poem I wrote last millennium : )


Once More With Feeling

Ssshh.
Don't speak.
You couldn't cram
into so many words
this thing which envelops us.
Would you hacksaw poetry
to make a bundle of sticks
or drain the ocean
to save one drowning?
There is a place for words.
Not here.

Re: My word

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

My goodness. I don't know how I missed this one. Well done!