April 6th, 2012 / 9:21 am
 Snippets
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What does it mean to be a quirky writer?

34 Comments

  1. April 6th, 2012 / 9:29 am Sugar Bear—

      Nothing.

  2. April 6th, 2012 / 10:06 am Alexis Orgera—

      I feel like it’s kind of like calling somebody whimsical. Fairies and mermaids are whimsical.

  3. April 6th, 2012 / 10:11 am Sugar Bear—

       But how many fairies and mermaids are writers?

  4. April 6th, 2012 / 10:21 am Mahmoud—

       To me someone who is “quirky” is a person who feels invested in somehow being “different” or “strange” when in fact they are neither of those things, and that sense of investment is in fact just reinforcing normative paradigms.

      Wes Anderson’s work, to me, is the quintessential quirk.

  5. April 6th, 2012 / 10:22 am Sugar Bear—

       Quirk needs self-awareness?

  6. April 6th, 2012 / 10:41 am Bobby Dixon—

      I feel like if you self-identify as a quirky writer you may be familiar w/ fugue states. 

  7. April 6th, 2012 / 10:48 am Alexis Orgera—

      Dissociative fugue usually involves unplanned travel or wandering, and is sometimes accompanied by the establishment of a new identity.–wikipedia

  8. April 6th, 2012 / 11:14 am bartleby_taco—
  9. April 6th, 2012 / 11:29 am PHC—

      we all have our quirks

  10. April 6th, 2012 / 11:29 am Erik Stinson—

      it means you are bad in bed

  11. April 6th, 2012 / 11:30 am Jordan Pennington—

      It’s that thing when you make funny faces and animal noises when you write. 

  12. April 6th, 2012 / 11:38 am Stephen Michael McDowell—

      #microquirk

  13. April 6th, 2012 / 11:43 am Helen—

      And all other modes of being are ‘natural’ rather than affected?

  14. April 6th, 2012 / 12:25 pm Daniel Bailey—

      purposely getting a vd at awp

  15. April 6th, 2012 / 12:38 pm Alexis Orgera—

      Microquirk. Noun. A faint eye-twitch or an almost imperceptible tick. A quirk small enough as to be rendered impotent.

  16. April 6th, 2012 / 1:46 pm Frank Lloyd Wong—

      sexually frank, feverishly witty, dizzyingly satiric, hedonistic, sophisticated, cynical, loves/hates pop culture, slightly ahead of the curve, typically self-deprecating.

  17. April 6th, 2012 / 1:48 pm Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      Whenever I hear the word “quirky” I think of the really short girls in my high school class who made “sideways parentheses as eyes” anime happy face part of their flirting repertoire. So whatever it means, it’s not a good thing.

  18. April 6th, 2012 / 3:01 pm M. Kitchell—
  19. April 6th, 2012 / 3:51 pm Anonymous—

      It’s so strange that Wes Anderson is the go-to for this kind of abuse now. Do you feel the same way about Hal Ashby?

  20. April 6th, 2012 / 8:43 pm Anonymous—

      NO.

      “QUIRKY” MEANS “UNUSUAL”, OR “WHIMSICALLY ODD”.

      THE “NEGATIVE CONNOTATION” THAT MOST PERSONS ASSIGN TO THE “TERM” “QUIRKY” IS DUE TO NOT KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD, WHICH THEY USE TO REFER TO THE “DISINGENUOUS”/INSINCERE “IDIOSYNCRASY” OF THE MANY “MOVIES” THAT IMITATE THE AUTHENTIC “STYLE” OF “MOVIES” BY AUTHENTIC “AUTEURS” (e.g. WESLEY ANDERSON, SOFIA COPPOLA, MIRANDA JULY.).

  21. April 6th, 2012 / 9:09 pm Trey—

      so, what, y’all don’t like Rushmore? I kind of like Rushmore.

  22. April 6th, 2012 / 10:29 pm Bradley Sands—

      Maybe I’m too literal, but I think it’s a description of a person rather than their writing.

  23. April 6th, 2012 / 11:10 pm herocious—

      Maybe it could mean you have crooked eyes?

  24. April 7th, 2012 / 2:17 am Ryan Williams—

      the press?

  25. April 7th, 2012 / 2:28 am D. Oliver—

      Any writer who surprises whomever is reading said writer at the time. 

  26. April 7th, 2012 / 7:02 am Vomithelmet McGee—

      Always thought of it as being odd in a dorky cutesy kind of icky but probably nice way for some reason. I can’t think of any writers that fit that definition, only comedians.

  27. April 7th, 2012 / 8:20 am deadgod—

      No.

      The metaphoric meaning of “quirk” (“a peculiar trait” [Webster’s]) has by now been augmented and even, in hipoisie circles, overtaken by the connotation of ‘disingenuous outlier, affectation’.

      To assume that this latter sense is intended in ignorance of the judgement-neutral figural meaning is not rationally warranted.  It’s far more reasonable to assume that people who use “quirky” to asperse are doing so knowing that their usage is a twist on the word’s earlier and kinder connotation — that’s what gives the (cheaply?) snarky use of the word whatever power to insult that it has.

  28. April 8th, 2012 / 2:43 pm reynard—

      ‘if you have to ask you’ll never know’

  29. April 8th, 2012 / 6:55 pm postitbreakup—
  30. April 8th, 2012 / 9:08 pm Michael—

      if you don’t understand it i can’t explain it

  31. April 9th, 2012 / 6:02 am Anonymous—

      means taking an exceptionally long time writing a sentence that means “i am a rat with an ass.” 

  32. April 9th, 2012 / 8:26 am Anonymous—

      Since we’re talking movies, how about The Coen Brothers?  Their style is “quirky”, with the exception of all but their most
      somber movies (No Country For Old Men and Blood Simple are not that
      quirky, but Fargo and Miller’s Crossing are very quirky). I don’t think most
      people would attach the negative connotation, though.

  33. April 10th, 2012 / 6:28 am Melissa Broder—

      bakes vegan brownies & eats cats

  34. April 10th, 2012 / 11:28 am Anonymous—

      it means unique / going by its own cues, but is condescending
      esp if the speaker just isn’t familiar with the person’s concerns or lifestyle
      like one day this guy asked me what i was doing and i said depositing a check for my mom
      he replied “quirky” in total earnestness
      fucker