My favorite musicians (Adam Young, a.k.a. Owl City, Aaron Ivey, Family Force 5, to name a few) care about their craft. They experiment; they challenge themselves with new forms and styles. Because of that, I pay attention whenever they produce a new album.
music
First, You Copy
The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that’s not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we’ve sounded like a lot of other people. – Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”
I’m sometimes told my writing style has a distinct sound to it. I suppose it does, but it’s taken years of writing to arrive at it. My style did not emerge fully formed from my head. It took work.
Of Perfectionists and Abandoning Projects
One of my favorite musicians is a perfectionist. I know this because, in my sporadic attempts to be a dedicated fan, I spent some time reading this musician’s comments about one of his albums. He described himself as a perfectionist musician, then stated his work was never finished, only abandoned.
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Tone is Everywhere
Tone is, according to Perrine’s Literature, “the emotional coloring, or the emotional meaning, of the work.” Not only is it the “coloring,” but it also is the writer’s or speaker’s “attitude toward the subject, the reader, or herself or himself.” Tone, then, is found in speech. It’s found in writing. It’s found in music, and it’s found in art. Tone is everywhere.
Six Things Readers Need: Predictability
Most people enjoy having some sense of direction when they embark upon their reading. They want to know where the author might be leading them. They want to know what landmarks they can hope to view. They want some predictability.
Finding the Writing Rhythm
Some people experience writer’s block because they don’t – or think they don’t – have any ideas. Other people experience it when they have too many ideas. I’ve experienced both aspects of writer’s block (even though I don’t believe in writer’s block), but my latest block has nothing to do with having too many or too few ideas.