two 1980 Chinese stamps depicting Yangtze river dolphins (sadly now extinct)

Go and catch a falling star

[art by me - neonscrapyard]

Lincoln Michel Dec 12, 2024

I’m using “TV” as a shorthand for any visual narrative art from feature length films to video games. A lot of fiction these days reads as if—as I saw Peter Raleigh put it the other day, and as I’ve discussed it before—the author is trying to describe a video playing in their mind. Often there is little or no interiority. Scenes play out in “real time” without summary. First-person POV stories describe things the character can’t see, but a distant camera could. There’s an overemphasis on characters’ outfits and facial expressions, including my personal pet peeve: the “reaction shot round-up” in which we get a description of every character’s reaction to something as if a camera was cutting between sitcom actors.

[...]

My theory is that we live in the age of visual narratives and that increasingly warps how we write. Film, TV, TikToks, and video games are culturally dominant. Most of us learn how stories work through visual mediums. This is how our brains have been taught to think about story. And so, this is how we write. I’m not suggesting there is any problem in being influenced by these artforms. I certainly am. The problem is that if you’re “thinking in TV” while writing prose, you abandon the advantages of prose without getting the advantages of TV.

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Narito ang 𝗕𝗶𝘆𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝘂𝗯𝗮𝗼 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗮 𝗶𝗯𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮 𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮, isang zine na naglalaman ng mga tula ng pag-ibig na inilabas ng Gadgad Press noong 2024. Maaari n'yong i-download nang libre ang pdf at epub, pero hinihikayat ko kayong magbayad kahit magkano. Ang lahat ng ating malilikom na kita ay ibibigay natin sa grupong umaasikaso sa kaso ng mga kabataang dinakip sa Mendiola. 216 silang dinakip, 91 ang menor de edad, siyam na taong gulang ang pinakabata.

Hindi natapos ang pagkilos natin noong September 21 sa Luneta at Mendiola. Wala pa ring nananagot sa mga katiwalian sa flood control projects, nauna pa ngang kasuhan ang mga kabataang nagpahayag lang ng galit sa mga magnanakaw sa gobyerno. Ito lang ang munting magagawa namin ngayon para magpaabot ng suporta. Hinihikayat ko rin ang mga kapwa manunulat at artista ng bayan na tumulong sa abot ng kanilang makakaya.

Nasa ibaba ang QR Code para sa pagbabayad. Maaari din kayong rekta nang magpaabot ng tulong sa iba pang mga grupo.

Download link here.