Composition Space without Exposition
I used to be in a writing group, there were three of us (I’ll name one F and the other K because they may or may not want me writing about them publicly), all women, professors in our mid-twenties to early thirties, with at least one book published, and drastically different writing styles, and it was the radical range in style that made our group function: there was no secret animosity, no competition, we read and respected each other’s writing, worked towards doing what we wanted to be doing. This group functioned how a writing group ought to function, at least to me. Then, of course, as things go with the academy, we scattered. K got a TT job. F and I stayed put in South Bend. But the group dynamic wasn’t the same, since we lost 1/3 of our membership, and eventually, I left too: up north, with my partner, who’s here for grad school, and I’ll start grad school in the fall too, in Geography, a move away from writing entirely.
But back to my story, I tend to wander: We used writing group time to “workshop,” absolutely, but between stories, we’d talk about process. Both K and F write primarily by computer, though they always have a notebook handy, in case they get ideas. Maybe, let’s call it, a hybrid type of writing, relying mostly on laptop. I write by hand, usually a whole draft or most of a draft, but I transfer to computer every day or three. We talked about that for a while, the difference between these two modes of composition, and—I’m getting to my point, slowly, but I assure you, I’m getting there—then, we talked about paper.
We all write in Moleskines, typical, cliché, we can admit that. Here’s the difference though: F writes on blank paper, K on lined, and I write on graph paper.
Now this may seem anal or pedestrian (two very different words to be juxtaposed using “or”), but I’d argue there’s something to be said about these variations in paper. F made the argument that the blank page is “freeing,” that is, she isn’t “confined” by lines. K made the argument that she doesn’t really pay attention to the lines. (Full disclosure: I don’t remember exactly what K said about this. I could be completely wrong. I do, however, know I had a few conversations about what F thinks on this subject, South Bend is a quiet town, this was our entertainment.) I argued the blank page is anything but “freeing”: it “confines” with its openness, it’s deceiving. Graph/squared paper, on the other hand, gives the illusion of order, but there’s more latitude to movement.
So, the paperness of paper: Does it matter? What are your thoughts?
Tags: paper
was she using the thin blank moleskine that heavier inks will bleed through or the sturdier one that’s about half as long? The light green wrapper or the cornflower blue?
Maybe I mean slate blue
Definitely lines. In a regular notebook, they’ve got to be college-ruled. I have two friends who swear by graph paper, but I find it too visually noisy. I’m too anal for the freedom of a blank page…all those inevitable slanted lines would do me in. (Also, Moleskine…they’re the only notebooks that survive life in my purse, and I do feel a touch embarrassed when other people see that’s what I’m carrying.)
seems like it doesn’t matter
i use marble composition notebooks with lined paper. but its not really for writing drafts, more just like jotting or mapping or whatever
i used to write on “Ponte Vedra Inn And Club Resorts” notepad at work. that’s pretty much the only hand writing i’m willing to do.
I’ve always suspected the film reel/sprocket section dividers in Gravity’s Rainbow were less about thematic concerns and more about Pynchon just dividing his sections by outlining half a dozen grids on his grid paper.
i’ve always thought that any good writer worth his/her salt these days better finds ways of mastering all available means of transcribing the written word, whether it’s a pen put to paper, a pencil slid across the pages of a notebook, your fingers striking keys on a keyboard, cellphone or other e-device, whatever the physical or technological means, there exists today an immeasurable number of ways to get words down when just the right thought strikes in even the most seemingly inconvenient of situations.
the trick (and hardest part) is finding the most efficient way of juggling all the words you’ve caught and captured via all the disparate media you have working for yourself, each with its own +s and –s.
though i’d personally have to say that any perceived problems or dilemmas related to the “paperness of paper” amount to really nothing more than a … [wait for it] …. paper tiger, since the issue should be how your words end up getting to your reader (your “end-user”), right?
and who the hell knows via what medium your reader is going to end up reading your words on (like these), right?
right?
That Picadilly line of notebooks is like Moleskine but 1/3 the price, for anyone who’s really into notebooks and journals.
Oh and, lined all the way. Graph kind of intrigues me, but I think I would get a headache.
I use an etch-a-sketch. It fucking sucks.
Seems like it’d be easier to just carry a notebook? I don’t bother with typing anymore until it’s final-draft time (minor carpal tunnel issues).
AWP DC: Etch-a-sketch writing contest. You in?
i think you’d have to add a “drunken” to the name of that contest at least once for it to be worth the effort
@zusya – I agree with “all available means”
and you have nice words in your comment
I like a nice new black Sharpie on a parking garage stairwell wall, but used sparingly, words chosen carefully.
Who reads those words?
Who cares?
I like to use a black Sharpie to write words on the pictures in fashion magazines.
I like to use used, opened business-size envelopes for notes to myself or random words. They fold to fit nicely in my jacket pocket. Pen or pencil, either is good.
I have a few friends that I have email convos with where I’ve saved every email in and out in their own folder because I think some day when I’m dead they will be “discovered” as the next great whatever. That is a terrible sentence.
And for the really good stuff that’s for my eyes only, I send myself emails to an email address that nobody else knows about but me. And cut-and-paste-ing is fun. And making folders to keep it all organized.
re: paper, I like lines, and paper that doesn’t bleed through, and soft lead or blue ink. But thinking about it, I can’t remember the last time I wrote on paper like that.
I think about this type of thing all the time. I think of this as an intricate part of the writing process. I’m constantly thinking about the pen, paper, or electronic device i’m using to get words out of my head and onto something more permanent. Right now those things have stabilized and I write with the same things everytime I write: uniball vision exact pens, 5.5×3.5 tan paperback moleskine, for handwriting. I feel like if i ever find a better pen, or better (ie, easier to steal) paper, then I would switch.
etch-a sketches make me break out in a cold sweat
@memes (can i call you that? one syllable, sounds like “meems” but written as “memes” is just, well, ironic) I have a few friends that I have email convos with where I’ve saved every email in and out in their own folder because I think some day when I’m dead they will be “discovered” as the next great whatever. That is a terrible sentence.
i wouldn’t say it’s a terrible sentence, just explain better what you mean by people going through your emails when you’re dead only to discover writerly geniuses? …?
hey zusya-
feel free to call me (“me” ha ha ha “me me me me me me”) whatever you want
mimi actually was my nickname when I was little
One of my favorite literary characters is Meme (short for Remedios) in “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. While I was reading that book I would pronounce her name “mem” in my head, as in the French word “meme” meaning “same”. Then a Spanish speaking friend of mine told me it was pronounced “mimi”.
I’ll try to think of an answer to your question and get back to ya. zusya.
was she using the thin blank moleskine that heavier inks will bleed through or the sturdier one that’s about half as long? The light green wrapper or the cornflower blue?
Maybe I mean slate blue
word
quite a voyage names can take on when left to their own devices.
秘密 (or “mimi”, both in falling tones) means secret, so i’m thinking what gets back to me may entail something secretive?
wait, what was the topic at hand again?
IN.
Peep game… “Threw the pencil and leak on the sheet of the tablet in my mind, cuz I don’t write shit cuz I ain’t got time.”
Definitely lines. In a regular notebook, they’ve got to be college-ruled. I have two friends who swear by graph paper, but I find it too visually noisy. I’m too anal for the freedom of a blank page…all those inevitable slanted lines would do me in. (Also, Moleskine…they’re the only notebooks that survive life in my purse, and I do feel a touch embarrassed when other people see that’s what I’m carrying.)
Nothing more exciting and thrilling than a secret.
My middle name is secretive.
Actually, my middle name is Elizabeth.
The girl’s name Elizabeth \e-lizabe-th, el(i)-za-beth\ is pronounced ee-LIZ-a-beth. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is “God’s promise; God is my oath”. Biblical: the mother of John the Baptist. Popular name since the 16th-century reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Elizabeth has 152 variant forms: Alixyveth, Babette, Belita, Bell, Bella, Belle, Bess, Bessie, Bessy, Bet, Beta, Beth, Bethie, Betina, Betsey, Betsie, Betsy, Bett, Betta, Bette, Betti, Bettina, Bettine, Betty, Bettye, Bit, Bizzy, Buffy, Eilis, Eilish, Eleisa, Eliesse, Elisa, Elisabet, Elisabeth, Elisabethe, Elisabetta, Elisah, Elise, Elissa, Eliszabeth, Elixyveth, Eliz, Eliza, Elizabet, Elizabeth, Elizabett, Elizabette, Elizabiff, Elizabith, Elize, Elizebeth, Elle, Ellissa, Elliza, Ellsa, Ellse, Ellsee, Ellsey, Ellsi, Ellspet, Ellyse, Ellyssa, Ellyza, Elsa, Elsabeth, Else, Elsee, Elsie, Elspet, Elspeth, Elsy, Elyse, Elyssa, Elyza, Elyzza, Elzabeth, Elzbieta, Esabeau, Helsa, Ilsa, Ilse, Isabel, Isabella, Isabelle, Isobel, Leasa, Leesa, Leeza, Leisa, Leizel, Lib, Libbey, Libbi, Libbie, Libby, Libbye, Liese, Liesel, Lilibet, Lilibeth, Lisa, Lisabeth, Lisbet, Lisbeth, Lisbett, Lisbetta, Lisbette, Lise, Lisette, Lisel, Lisl, Lissa, Lissette, Lissi, Lissie, Lissy, Liz, Liza, Lizabeth, Lizbet, Lizbeth, Lizbett, Lizeth, Lizette, Lizveth, Lizy, Lizz, Lizzi, Lizzie, Lizzy, Lusa, Lysa, Lysbet, Lysbeth, Lysbette, Lyse, Lyssa, Lyssi, Lyssie, Lyza, Lyzbet, Lyzbeth, Lyzbette, Lyzette, Tetty, Veta, Ylisabet, Ylisabette, Ysabel, Ysabella and Yzabelle.
See also related names Ailsa, Elixyvett, Lezith, Liesl, Lizena, Oleisa, Orszebet, Yelisabeta, Zizi and ZsaZsa.
Baby names that sound like Elizabeth are Elsbeth and Yelizabet. (huh?)
Feel like I’m hi-jacking this thread.
I am the last one to ask to get things back on topic.
It is a beautiful day where I am.
But I’m lingeringly sad about the Gulf oil spill.
seems like it doesn’t matter
My handwriting is awful and I can’t write nearly fast enough by hand — I miss words, and use short ones where I would otherwise like them longer (and I already favor short words). It has to be computer for me from beginning to end or I get nothing done, and what I do get done is illegible and gappy.
i’ve lately been trying to decide which is worse, orszebet: death by environmental disaster (see south america) or death by martial maneuver (see koreas or flotillas).
though lately i have to admit i’ve been trying to come up with a decent alt-acronym for BP to summarize my frustration toward the Deepwater Horizon mess:
Bungling Pricks?
Brazen Penises?
i’m pretty sure we were supposed to be talking about:
Books and Paper?
i use marble composition notebooks with lined paper. but its not really for writing drafts, more just like jotting or mapping or whatever
Abandoning the keyboard meant that I had to both re-learn cursive and improve my handwriting to the point where I could actually read it a day later. Not very fun.
Beach Pollutin’
YES.
Birthright Plunderers
Aaaagh, cursive. Scourge of the third grade.
i used to write on “Ponte Vedra Inn And Club Resorts” notepad at work. that’s pretty much the only hand writing i’m willing to do.
[…] entries and post the winner’s as soon as possible. Thanks for playing. Also, Lily’s post below reminded me to add to the prizes one tiny, unused […]
I like to wander.
I’ve always suspected the film reel/sprocket section dividers in Gravity’s Rainbow were less about thematic concerns and more about Pynchon just dividing his sections by outlining half a dozen grids on his grid paper.
That Picadilly line of notebooks is like Moleskine but 1/3 the price, for anyone who’s really into notebooks and journals.
Oh and, lined all the way. Graph kind of intrigues me, but I think I would get a headache.
I use an etch-a-sketch. It fucking sucks.
Seems like it’d be easier to just carry a notebook? I don’t bother with typing anymore until it’s final-draft time (minor carpal tunnel issues).
AWP DC: Etch-a-sketch writing contest. You in?
@zusya – I agree with “all available means”
and you have nice words in your comment
I like a nice new black Sharpie on a parking garage stairwell wall, but used sparingly, words chosen carefully.
Who reads those words?
Who cares?
I like to use a black Sharpie to write words on the pictures in fashion magazines.
I like to use used, opened business-size envelopes for notes to myself or random words. They fold to fit nicely in my jacket pocket. Pen or pencil, either is good.
I have a few friends that I have email convos with where I’ve saved every email in and out in their own folder because I think some day when I’m dead they will be “discovered” as the next great whatever. That is a terrible sentence.
And for the really good stuff that’s for my eyes only, I send myself emails to an email address that nobody else knows about but me. And cut-and-paste-ing is fun. And making folders to keep it all organized.
re: paper, I like lines, and paper that doesn’t bleed through, and soft lead or blue ink. But thinking about it, I can’t remember the last time I wrote on paper like that.
I think about this type of thing all the time. I think of this as an intricate part of the writing process. I’m constantly thinking about the pen, paper, or electronic device i’m using to get words out of my head and onto something more permanent. Right now those things have stabilized and I write with the same things everytime I write: uniball vision exact pens, 5.5×3.5 tan paperback moleskine, for handwriting. I feel like if i ever find a better pen, or better (ie, easier to steal) paper, then I would switch.
etch-a sketches make me break out in a cold sweat
hey zusya-
feel free to call me (“me” ha ha ha “me me me me me me”) whatever you want
mimi actually was my nickname when I was little
One of my favorite literary characters is Meme (short for Remedios) in “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. While I was reading that book I would pronounce her name “mem” in my head, as in the French word “meme” meaning “same”. Then a Spanish speaking friend of mine told me it was pronounced “mimi”.
I’ll try to think of an answer to your question and get back to ya. zusya.
word
IN.
Peep game… “Threw the pencil and leak on the sheet of the tablet in my mind, cuz I don’t write shit cuz I ain’t got time.”
Nothing more exciting and thrilling than a secret.
My middle name is secretive.
Actually, my middle name is Elizabeth.
The girl’s name Elizabeth e-lizabe-th, el(i)-za-beth is pronounced ee-LIZ-a-beth. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is “God’s promise; God is my oath”. Biblical: the mother of John the Baptist. Popular name since the 16th-century reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Elizabeth has 152 variant forms: Alixyveth, Babette, Belita, Bell, Bella, Belle, Bess, Bessie, Bessy, Bet, Beta, Beth, Bethie, Betina, Betsey, Betsie, Betsy, Bett, Betta, Bette, Betti, Bettina, Bettine, Betty, Bettye, Bit, Bizzy, Buffy, Eilis, Eilish, Eleisa, Eliesse, Elisa, Elisabet, Elisabeth, Elisabethe, Elisabetta, Elisah, Elise, Elissa, Eliszabeth, Elixyveth, Eliz, Eliza, Elizabet, Elizabeth, Elizabett, Elizabette, Elizabiff, Elizabith, Elize, Elizebeth, Elle, Ellissa, Elliza, Ellsa, Ellse, Ellsee, Ellsey, Ellsi, Ellspet, Ellyse, Ellyssa, Ellyza, Elsa, Elsabeth, Else, Elsee, Elsie, Elspet, Elspeth, Elsy, Elyse, Elyssa, Elyza, Elyzza, Elzabeth, Elzbieta, Esabeau, Helsa, Ilsa, Ilse, Isabel, Isabella, Isabelle, Isobel, Leasa, Leesa, Leeza, Leisa, Leizel, Lib, Libbey, Libbi, Libbie, Libby, Libbye, Liese, Liesel, Lilibet, Lilibeth, Lisa, Lisabeth, Lisbet, Lisbeth, Lisbett, Lisbetta, Lisbette, Lise, Lisette, Lisel, Lisl, Lissa, Lissette, Lissi, Lissie, Lissy, Liz, Liza, Lizabeth, Lizbet, Lizbeth, Lizbett, Lizeth, Lizette, Lizveth, Lizy, Lizz, Lizzi, Lizzie, Lizzy, Lusa, Lysa, Lysbet, Lysbeth, Lysbette, Lyse, Lyssa, Lyssi, Lyssie, Lyza, Lyzbet, Lyzbeth, Lyzbette, Lyzette, Tetty, Veta, Ylisabet, Ylisabette, Ysabel, Ysabella and Yzabelle.
See also related names Ailsa, Elixyvett, Lezith, Liesl, Lizena, Oleisa, Orszebet, Yelisabeta, Zizi and ZsaZsa.
Baby names that sound like Elizabeth are Elsbeth and Yelizabet. (huh?)
Feel like I’m hi-jacking this thread.
I am the last one to ask to get things back on topic.
It is a beautiful day where I am.
But I’m lingeringly sad about the Gulf oil spill.
My handwriting is awful and I can’t write nearly fast enough by hand — I miss words, and use short ones where I would otherwise like them longer (and I already favor short words). It has to be computer for me from beginning to end or I get nothing done, and what I do get done is illegible and gappy.
Abandoning the keyboard meant that I had to both re-learn cursive and improve my handwriting to the point where I could actually read it a day later. Not very fun.
Beach Pollutin’
Aaaagh, cursive. Scourge of the third grade.
I like to wander.
This. I’ve always been far too impatient for legible handwriting, to the extent that in early grammar school my teachers kept telling my parents I had some kind of dysgraphia. The notion of transcribing at anything less than the speed of thought seemed perverse. Add to this legibility issue the pressure of getting something down before I forget where I’m going, & it’s just a disaster.
That said, I’ll write on whatever is available. I’m making a concerted effort to de-mythologize the writing process. I’m happier when I don’t have to rely on phantasms. I try not to indulge the urge to buy moleskines, or to get too attached to my typewriter (which my grandmother used for her newspaper, so that thing is just oozing ghosts if i’m not careful). Of course this means I seek out the most plebeian writing surfaces, yellow legal pads, shitty spiral bounds, printer paper– which is turning into a superstitiousness of non-superstition. Oh well.
I like using graph paper too. I switch back and forth between moleskine and computer. I like making diagrams in my moleskine, it helps me map out what I’m trying to say when thing one and thing 2 are connected but not physically near each other on the screen. Bic 4 ink pens are life savers with this.
This. I’ve always been far too impatient for legible handwriting, to the extent that in early grammar school my teachers kept telling my parents I had some kind of dysgraphia. The notion of transcribing at anything less than the speed of thought seemed perverse. Add to this legibility issue the pressure of getting something down before I forget where I’m going, & it’s just a disaster.
That said, I’ll write on whatever is available. I’m making a concerted effort to de-mythologize the writing process. I’m happier when I don’t have to rely on phantasms. I try not to indulge the urge to buy moleskines, or to get too attached to my typewriter (which my grandmother used for her newspaper, so that thing is just oozing ghosts if i’m not careful). Of course this means I seek out the most plebeian writing surfaces, yellow legal pads, shitty spiral bounds, printer paper– which is turning into a superstitiousness of non-superstition. Oh well.
I like using graph paper too. I switch back and forth between moleskine and computer. I like making diagrams in my moleskine, it helps me map out what I’m trying to say when thing one and thing 2 are connected but not physically near each other on the screen. Bic 4 ink pens are life savers with this.
Interesting discussion. I think it matters immensely, but maybe I am just another anal writer. :)
When I was an angsty high school girl I swore by Moleskine and rarely used a computer. This has subsequently reversed. I primarily write via Microsoft Word. When I do use a notebook, my only demand is: must be college-rule. I can’t stand it any other way.
This is related to something I’ve been pondering. Does anyone write primarily via a smart-phone or an Ipad? I’m part of the generation (b. 1987) that should be totally comfortable with rapid advances in technology but I just can’t imagine writing on anything other than a 1) notebook, 2) desktop, or 3) laptop.
Interesting discussion. I think it matters immensely, but maybe I am just another anal writer. :)
When I was an angsty high school girl I swore by Moleskine and rarely used a computer. This has subsequently reversed. I primarily write via Microsoft Word. When I do use a notebook, my only demand is: must be college-rule. I can’t stand it any other way.
This is related to something I’ve been pondering. Does anyone write primarily via a smart-phone or an Ipad? I’m part of the generation (b. 1987) that should be totally comfortable with rapid advances in technology but I just can’t imagine writing on anything other than a 1) notebook, 2) desktop, or 3) laptop.