RIFF.REBELSOUL DEV

Category: Words

  • John Fowles: Mischanneling

    John Fowles on the strengths of the novel vs. the screenplay: Why have I got it in for the novel? […] All the purely visual and aural sequences in the modern novel are a bore, both to read and to write. People’s physical appearance, their movements, their sounds, places, moods of places – the camera […]

  • John Fowles: Choosing to Be a Writer

    It would, I believe, be disingenuous to hold a class without offering the unsuited persons in the assembly a chance to leave the room. To be a writer – that is, someone for whom writing is closer to being a aspect of being rather than a particular activity, demands certain distinctions. There are many personal […]

  • John Fowles: Writers are not Doers?

    At the heart of my studies (and my teaching) is the question what is a writer? Certainly, it is not someone who simply writes things down; and nor is it necessarily someone who writes a text. An artist is not someone who daubs canvas with paint any further than frequent flyer is an aerospace engineer. […]

  • Creators

    Oh what a tangled web we weave when we seek to conceive Rincewind stared at him, “Who ARE you?” The man took the pencil from behind his ear and looked reflectively at the space around Rincewind. “I makes things,” he said. “What sort of things?” “What sort of things would you like?” “You’re the Creator?” […]

  • Makers

    In this situation I’m a representative. A martyr. Imprisoned, unable to grow. At the mercy of this resentment, this hateful millstone of envy of the Calibans of this world. Because they all hate us, they hate us for being different, for not being them, for their own not being like us. They persecute us, they […]

  • The Magus in Haiku

    Haiku are easy But sometimes they don’t make sense Refrigerator My latest obsession in linguistic dexterity is the Haiku. In its basic form of observing 5-7-5, if not subject. (Alliteration is so last week.) I’ve started translating favourite novels to the measure; and I wonder if this isn’t the most marvellous, healthy exercise: A great […]

  • The Invitation

    It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for […]

  • Insomnia

    Insomnia, that old friend from school. The one who used to bully me, until I’d have to stay in and hide. Yes, hide in my bedroom like a coward. She’s a lot stronger than me; nastier too. She whispers cruel things to me, just when I am at my lowest. Defeated, shamed, humiliated, I cower. […]

  • Jane Eyre, as by Irvine Welsh, by Me

    There wis no possibility ay taking a walk thit day. It were pissin wi rain thit further outdoor bummin aroond wis now oot ay the fuckin question. Ah wis glad ay it: Ah nivir liked long walks, especially in the fuckin cold: dreadful tae me wis the coming home in the raw twilight, wi frozen […]

  • The Writers’ Madness

    Terry Pratchett: My wife wrote a little letter to the doctor saying, ‘You have to understand that an author in the throws of writing a book, which in Terry’s case means permanently, is in the throws of some kind of madness. They will become vague, preoccupied, they will look through you into the distance, they […]

1 2
Next Page→