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Charlie Stross
@cstross@wandering.shop  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago

#WritersCoffeeClub 9/5. How much should a writer read?

Voraciously, constantly, curiously, and not just within their own field.

(It's an essential prerequisite for not being derivative, clichéd, and constantly reinventing the wheel. You're very unlikely to produce something original if you aren't familiar with the prior art.)

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Token Sane Person
@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@cstross As #terrypratchett said, "read, until you start to overflow"
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WellsiteGeo
@WellsiteGeo@masto.ai replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@cstross

Re-intenting the wheel?
Like, the probable mine workers who invented wheels (and axles) for moving mined product, then saw it re-intented for military shock-and-awe?

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Charlie Stross
@cstross@wandering.shop replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@WellsiteGeo Not cool to mock typos from the partially-sighted guy, dude.
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The Sleight Doctor 🃏
@ApostateEnglishman@mastodon.world replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
@cstross "You're very unlikely to produce something original if you aren't familiar with the prior art."

Abso-fucking-lutely Mr. Stross! In order to break the rules creatively and knowingly - and so, effectively - you gotta have internalised those rules first. Look up James Joyce's suggested changes to his editor! That job must have been a bloody nightmare.😆

The modernist, stream-of-consciousness technique he helped pioneer was a carefully-orchestrated illusion. He was *obsessive* about style.

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