Friday, March 14, 2008

Easier to Break Than to Make

So today, while poking around some of the other blogs, I couldn’t help but think, “These blogs are so much funnier than mine. Not that I’m always trying to be funny, but I’m aware that if I want a readership, my writing should be at least somewhat entertaining. All these other blog authors have to do is find random things and make relentless fun of them. There’s one blog I read, by a clever writer named Copyranter, which is entirely devoted to putting down Capri pants. I love it; it’s simple, but it’s effective.

Why is it so much easier to insult things than to praise them? I myself find it easier to write a more entertaining film review on a film I think is garbage, because I can point out how stupid the filmmakers are and what they did wrong, and then I top it off with some nice metaphors along with a joke title for the film. When a truly exceptional film comes along, I’m left with little to say other than “I’d watch it more than once.” Today I said “this film has heart.” What the fuck does that even mean? Lots of films have heart.

But I think in the end it is harder to praise than to insult, for the same reason it is easier to break something than to build it. Sand castles take time, but can be kicked down with ease. It takes a fraction of a second to sever a finger, and eight hours of intensive surgery to get it back on, along with months of healing, and even then it’s never quite right. It takes nine months from conception to birth, but death is one breath. One heartbeat.

I’m also troubled by the fact that by anecdote blog is often the blog I leave for last, because I can’t think of anything to write. It’s much easier to find starting point for the others. I’m not entirely sure why.

Maybe part of it is that the more people I’m aware are reading this, the less I feel like saying what I’m really thinking. Or maybe it’s this desire of mine to be interesting, so that I’m not just free when I write what I please. It is as if the reader is more important than the message. I suppose this is true to some extent anyway. No matter how clever a writer is, he can never amount to anything without his readers. A marginally funny guy that doesn’t have a lot of fresh ideas, but has a lot of charisma and is heard, is far more valuable.

4 comments:

Inkpot said...

This is a very interesting post. I to, when browsing through other blogs, often think how much more interesting they are than my own. I agree with you that it is easier to tear something down than to praise something worth while and many critics have made a good living on this ethos. It seems to be that the people who can cleverly ramble about nonsense or who give a witty twist to the mundance things in life or who have an unusual story to tell are the ones with the most successful blogs. Now my question is, even if you have all those things, how do people find your blogs to give you a book deal???

Malice Blackheart said...

How indeed. I'm convinced that's where the sex comes in. When you have wit and sex in your writing, you've got it covered.

Inkpot said...

Ah yes - sex. I think you've got it right there. You don't even need wit, sex sells. :)

Malice Blackheart said...

Indeed. Though often times your wit can get you sex.