On creativity and referentialism
Aug. 5th, 2006 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterStill no writing done. And I switched to colour pencils, which have the advantage of not leaving my thighs covered with abstract artwork. I know I should go wash my hands each time I run out of smudging fingers when I work with pastels, but wiping them on my skin is quicker. (And no, I have no ambitions to create Art with my doodling; I just want to be able to produce workmanlike drawings that resemble the subject, because sometimes something just begs for illustration.)
I have, though, been reading the writeup of the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle. I have to say the writing's better - or maybe the subject less convoluted - than the msscribe saga. I must say that back-when I had the same problems while reading the Draco trilogy, and finally I gave up mid-Dormiens.
It's also made me somewhat paranoid about my own pretentious postmodern parlour tricks: how far can I go with referencing others? The sky over the bay was the color of a television tuned into a dead channel. Verbatim, unreferenced because I assume those who know, do, and those who don't, won't care, is this homage or plagiarism?
(And it doesn't help that I have a digital memory for quotes. There is a man, playing a violin, and the strings are the nerves in his own arm. If I love, I quote, verbatim and at length.)
I have, though, been reading the writeup of the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle. I have to say the writing's better - or maybe the subject less convoluted - than the msscribe saga. I must say that back-when I had the same problems while reading the Draco trilogy, and finally I gave up mid-Dormiens.
It's also made me somewhat paranoid about my own pretentious postmodern parlour tricks: how far can I go with referencing others? The sky over the bay was the color of a television tuned into a dead channel. Verbatim, unreferenced because I assume those who know, do, and those who don't, won't care, is this homage or plagiarism?
(And it doesn't help that I have a digital memory for quotes. There is a man, playing a violin, and the strings are the nerves in his own arm. If I love, I quote, verbatim and at length.)
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Date: 2006-08-05 07:21 pm (UTC)About the quotes... I've been avoiding quotes for that very reason. I'll take a half-sentence if a particular twist of phrase sticks, but not more than that. I feel I can get away with that much. And if it's well-known and a common catchphrase, I'd think of it as fair game.