Thursday, July 14, 2011

in which I sharpen a pencil

Recently, I started writing a column for Fantasy Matters, a website devoted to the idea that fantasy literature matters. For the longest time, I couldn't decide what to write about. I like fantasy in stories, but I couldn't imagine what I might have to say about it on a regular basis. Fortunately, I have friends who are smarter than I am. Two of them suggested that I write about the magical things you don't expect to see. You're already obsessed with the peculiar and the specific, they said, so why don't you just write about that?

This month, I wrote about the pleasures of slow motion. I urged readers (who are they? do I know them? are they few? are they many? who knows...) to video themselves doing something ordinary. Then, I asked them to slow the video down. As far as I can tell, no readers have decided to embark on this project. Granted, neither did I, until this afternoon.



2 comments:

x said...

wonderful!

Heather said...

So I watched this video while listening to "Blinding" by Florence + The Machine. It was a strange experience - seemingly making the sharpening more epic while teetering on ridiculous. Not unlike a movie trailer.

I also wanted to let you know that I finished the Magician King last week and abso-friggin-lute-lee loved it. I mean, the ended was a bit depressing but I loved it. Eight million times more than the first book. God, the gods as gigantic electric-y outlines acting as a perfect being would -- it made me think "hmm... maybe that's not the best gig after all" Oh, and the way he does violence -- it's sort of like everything is going alone in slow motion and then all of a sudden everything moves like lightening. And the result? Really really f___ up shiat.

It was great! Thank you!