Hacker CinemaPeter Elbow: On Writing
Film · 43 min
Peter Elbow talks directly to students about the process of writing. Beginning with his own early difficulties with writing as a college student, Elbow provides insights into how one can work through writing problems. Full of detailed instruction and specific skills to aid in writing, this video guides its audience from the initial stages of freewriting to the final stages of the revising process. Useful for students and teachers alike, Peter Elbow on Writing will demystify the writing process while presenting its viewers with countless gems of encouragement and support with which to approach their writing anew. Use it to start off a writing class or use sections that correspond to lesson plans.
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1 comment on Hacker News
I don't remember much about Moby Dick.
a. "Call me Ishmael" = The First Three Words b. Queequeg's Coffin = The Last Bit. c. there was a chapter called Cetology. d. Ambergris is (I think) Whale Sperm, e. At some point in the novel, I'm PRETTY sure someone puts on a whale penis and runs around. They're huge, whale penii, like 6 feet, easy.
That's about it, and I'm sure Herman Melville (I guess I remember that too) would be a little irked, but...
...if I had an idea, tomorrow, to write a book about an old guy chasing after a whale, I'd stop myself.
My point is, that one of the -other- benefits of having a breadth of knowledge, is that it helps prevent unintentional derivativeness and mimicry.
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Also, this author also assumes that the only worthwhile knowledge is that which can be recalled consciously at will.
Personally, I find that knowledge is a lot like any artist's artistic vocabulary. You consume and consume and consume, and then at some point you start creating, and what you end up making is the conscious and unconscious combination of all of the things you've seen/heard/read before.
The guitarist doesn't realize it's his love of The Beatles and Dr. Dre that's creating that work, but it is.
Those are just two things off of the top of my head. And by that, I mean these are two ideas that are undoubtedly the distillation of ideas I've heard/read elsewhere. Like maybe "On Writing" by Stephen King.
(The Above Idea about the distillation of ideas is likely the distillation of a speech from a great movie, which I'm sure I can find...)
"You come into a bar, you read some obscure passage, and then pretend you, you..pawn it off as your own..as your own idea just to impress some girls..?" - Good Will Hunting (1997)
And by "girls" he means "Hacker News."
(Try not to make that substitution too liberally however, or you'll be sorely disappointed when you walk into the "Live Hacker News! Hacker News Hacker News!" bar.)