symbolism: intentional or not?

50 years ago, Bruce McAllister did what most of us only dream of.  When required to dredge out the symbolism of famous works of literature, he instead wrote to several authors and straight-out asked them if they had consciously placed symbols in their work.(Addendum: here is the link)  His questionnaire, which he sent to 150 authors, received responses like these:

Isaac Asimov: “Consciously? Heavens, no! Unconsciously? How can one avoid it?”
Joseph Heller: “Yes, I do intentionally rely on symbolism in my writing, but not to the extent that many people have stated…No, I do not subconsciously place symbolism in my writing, although there are inevitably many occasions when events acquire a meaning additional to the one originally intended.”
Ray Bradbury: “No, I never consciously place symbolism in my writing. That would be a self-conscious exercise and self-consciousness is defeating to any creative act. Better to let the subconscious do the work for you, and get out of the way. The best symbolism is always unsuspected and natural.”

 As reported by Mental Floss (via Wil Wheaton).  Wheaton goes on to discuss reading those works of literature again, by choice, as an adult, and how much more he enjoyed them.

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Not Really Related: Colin Nissan offers a humorous take on how to write better.

Lessons from Pixar

Via Kottke, Emma Coats tweeted lessons she learned at work.  Here are a few:

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

Shakespeare in Busan

Much Ado about Nothing"will be staged on June 2, 3, 9 and 10 at 3 p.m. at Dalmaji Amphitheater. The venue is east of Haeundae Beach in Dalmaji Park, opposite Alexander restaurant."


The Facebook group for the production is here.

May 26 Presentation slides.

The presentation isn't until tomorrow, but my faithful reader can see the slides today!

Draw Muhammad Day

This is my most controversial drawing of Muhammad. Previously, I had him playing soccer and arguing with Harold Camping (2/3 of the way down – the third ‘Brian’).  My previous drawings were relatively innocent but this one picks the low-hanging fruit of his marriage to a nine-year-old when he was in his 50′s.

I have also discussed burning the Koran(do).

The goal here is not necessarily to be blasphemous but to point out the absurdity of demanding people in other religious groups follow your teachings in all cases.

Blasphemy: its a victimless crime

Icebreakers

Groups can be most creative if they are comfortable with each other.  Creativity requires reduction of inhibitions and the willingness to make mistakes: In short, fearlessness.

To that end, some kind of ice-breaker would be useful.  Here are some examples and I think the original lists are available from these links:
Giants, wizards and elves. This is probably better for children and quite active.
Unique and Shared. More sedate.
Alphabet Soup. More ESL-related
Draw Your Name. Pictures and ESL

discussing 'writer's block'

I have written almost nothing on my blogs in the last month.  Maybe I need to listen to this podcast.

Writer's block can be a serious problem considering that authors are expected to produce more and more books.  One a year is now considered slacking.