Craft Notes
Youtube Teaches Me Something about Writing: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0TYY7jflz8
This is one of my favorite documentaries. The quality of this Youtube transfer is not great, but it’s worth it for the voice over.
I have trouble writing accurately about the way large groups of people congregate. This means my stories tend to cut away as many characters as I can, leaving singles and duos and trios doing all the work. I depopulate, and sometimes I think maybe I should try to populate and maybe even over populate a story. But I’m hesitant. You, too? Maybe repeatedly watching this will help.
Power quote from about three and a half minutes into part two: “This artifact is a design object the purpose of which is to punctuate architectural photographs. It has some utility as a bench but is usually placed in isolation.”
How often do you, as a writer, favor an object, a character, a fleeting moment’s emotional eruption for it’s aesthetic beauty instead of its utility to a story? Is it wrong to do this? Is it right? Is there a middle ground?
Tags: urban planning, writing about large groups of people
I think when that kind of eruption, or interruption, necessitates itself, in an honest and authentic way, it works with more utility than any other move might. Like in The Stupefaction when Diane Williams’s narrator drifts in and out of the third person–a tension between intimacy and loss of the “I” that just floored me, a disruption.
I think when that kind of eruption, or interruption, necessitates itself, in an honest and authentic way, it works with more utility than any other move might. Like in The Stupefaction when Diane Williams’s narrator drifts in and out of the third person–a tension between intimacy and loss of the “I” that just floored me, a disruption.
Thanks for this, the exact reason I read HTML. And I will pass on to my students.
Thanks for this, the exact reason I read HTML. And I will pass on to my students.
Yr welcome. Glad you enjoyed it, Sean.
Yr welcome. Glad you enjoyed it, Sean.
Thanks for the example, Alec. I’ll go check it out in my copy of the book.
Thanks for the example, Alec. I’ll go check it out in my copy of the book.
The point about people self-regulating density of an area is really interesting to me for some reason–one of those points too obvious to really notice until you’re told. Of course, I walk into a restaurant that’s too crowded and I go elsewhere, etc. but to actually think about it in regards of a zoning board thinking about regulating building codes to control density, and then to find there’s no need to regulate because people instinctively do it themselves. It sticks out to me for some reason.
The point about people self-regulating density of an area is really interesting to me for some reason–one of those points too obvious to really notice until you’re told. Of course, I walk into a restaurant that’s too crowded and I go elsewhere, etc. but to actually think about it in regards of a zoning board thinking about regulating building codes to control density, and then to find there’s no need to regulate because people instinctively do it themselves. It sticks out to me for some reason.
There are all sorts of little moments like that in this film. Points when you are aware of something but have never articulated it (people don’t congregate out in the center of a large open space, but instead they hang at the perimeter or near features) and points where something seems true but isn’t (lovers choose a conspicuous place to canoodle instead of a private one).
(Yes, I used “canoodle.” See the discussion of youth/age and writing above. I am in the “age” category.)
There are all sorts of little moments like that in this film. Points when you are aware of something but have never articulated it (people don’t congregate out in the center of a large open space, but instead they hang at the perimeter or near features) and points where something seems true but isn’t (lovers choose a conspicuous place to canoodle instead of a private one).
(Yes, I used “canoodle.” See the discussion of youth/age and writing above. I am in the “age” category.)
that’s a fantastic doc, funny, humane, informative and entertaining. thanks a lot , matthew. i’m sending the link on to other friends.
that’s a fantastic doc, funny, humane, informative and entertaining. thanks a lot , matthew. i’m sending the link on to other friends.
+1 fr the documentary
+1 fr the documentary
Thanks, Joseph. Happy to hear it is being shared. Such wonder.
Also, thanks dddddan.
Thanks, Joseph. Happy to hear it is being shared. Such wonder.
Also, thanks dddddan.