On Showing You All

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Once at the writers’ group we all sat down and had a serious discussion on how to motivate ourselves to write.  Around the table came various suggestions: stay off the damn internets, try Pavlovian conditioning (playlist you only listen to when writing if you’re a music type, a certain space in your house where you only do writing, etc.), have a deadline.  Pretty good ideas all around—then it was my turn.

 

“I don’t know about the rest of you,” I said, “but I am motivated largely by reactionism and spite.  If I’m stuck, I just go read something that pisses me off, and I’m good to go.”

 

Everyone cracked up.

 

Probably because they know exactly what I’m talking about.

 

I am not ashamed to admit it: my creativity often gets sparked to life by an urge to Show Them All.  My final push into conlanging didn’t come when I read of John Ronald’s exploits, but rather a random encounter wherein a grammar nazi nailed his point home with the bizarre comment, “You will never be able to make up your own language with a working grammar, so just abide by the rules of English.”  My response to this bit of pithy weirdness was, “Oh yeah?”

 

I write strong female characters because they’re cool, but also in some part just to show that it can be done.

 

My Obligatory Giant Young Adult Fantasy Epic contains many bits that are there just to flip off writers whose epics had something in them I didn’t like, or were cliché.

 

And, of course, there’s all my stuff on worldbuilding and created cultures, which are fun and interesting and diverse—and are also often worked on after I’ve read some crazed conservative’s assumptions that his cultural values are absolutes for The Way Things Are and The Way Things Should Be.  An article on how heterosexual monogamy is and has always been the default for all humans will get me writing humans in a polyamorous open relationship, or in a marriage that both parties completely ignore.  Or I’ll write about a culture—human or otherwise—that uses a different system and does just fine with it.  A crazed assertion that Everyone Else’s Religion Is Silly But Mine Makes So Much Sense will get your ass parodied with a religion based on One-Up Mushrooms, or will spark a conversation with a very confused outsider to your religion. I will build aliens simply to mess with your ideas of what’s objectionable!*

I know it’s not just me. All you gotta do is read something by Philip Pullman, or Tamora Pierce, to see that it's tradition to turn spite into a really awesome story. And art is the same way—hence ursulav’s latest piece (probably NSFW—you’ll have some explaining to do, anyway), which is a reaction to having this one (definitely NSFW) pulled from DeviantART.**

And I love it. I love that such a petty, human emotion as “screw you all” gets itself turned into art—and sometimes good art, at that. They say art is a reflection of humanity. I don’t know about you, but I think spite is as human as you can get.


*These guys, for example, were actually based on that idea.

**Yes, that’s what inspired this entry. 

Comments

[placetohide.livejournal.com]

I know it’s not just me. All you gotta do is read something by Philip Pullman, or Tamora Pierce, to see that you can turn spite into a really awesome story.

Huh? I like both of those authors and think they're great YA fantasy authors. What's so bad about them?

[annotated_em]

*snickering* Oh, yeah. The "Oh, please, I could do better than that with one hand tied behind my back" inspiration. I know that one very well indeed.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. the FUCK YOU PEOPLE OF COLOR WERE NOT SHIPPED TO THE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL CONTINENT OF ANTARTICA IN THE FUTURE that motivates a lot of my sci-fi and fantasy.

*laugh*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. My usual answer is, "Watch me."

People who piss me off may be mentally affaced onto characters who are about to be brutalized. And then sold to whatever editor offers me money for their misery.

Entire idealogies that piss me off?

Scuse me whilst I load the nova cannon...

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. There are few better motivators than spite ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

This is largely why I used to want to write. I gave up partly for obvious reasons, but at least part was guilt for writing for the "wrong" reason. The belief that this had to be a "wrong" reason... has been addressed by this entry, non-fiction though it is, very much like it describes.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

*grins* Excellent point. I often wish that I had more of a fighting spirit, because I've frequently had that "oh yeah?!" reaction which sparked a great idea... and then I lacked the energy/follow-through/stubbornness to actually do anything with it.

Also, I now want to see the religion based on Mario Mushrooms!