Pride and Prejudice (Caturday)

Big Cat, Little Cat

What your Favorite Book Says about You

There’s an old joke that the way to steal an English Major’s wallet is to ask them what their favorite book is and then rob them while they’re distracted. Okay I just lied twice. It’s not old. I made it up. And it’s not much of a joke. But seriously: how do you arrive at a favorite book? There are so many criteria, and any can come to the foremost depending on where and when and how you are asked. As near as I can tell:

1. A book can be associated with an important time of your life. It’s the book that got you through a divorce or a death in the family.
2. It can be the book you want to read when you don’t want to read anything else, no, when you don’t so much as want to do anything else–your “headache book” or “flu book,” so to speak.
3. It can be the book you just keep finding new things in. You swear you’ll stop reading it when it stops feeling new every time you pick it up… but so far that has not happened.
4. Fill in your own!

Do you have a book you read every decade or so? What about every few years? Or every year? What is it about this book that keeps you coming back?

Pride and Prejudice and the Inevitable NaNoWriMo Connection

If you are trying to write something of your own, it helps to know at least one book really well. Of course what’ll inevitably happen is that the book you’re writing (or story or play or…) will at least somewhat resemble your old favorite. Which of course leads you down the rabbit hole of “my book isn’t going to be original, my book isn’t going to be good, it’s just going to be a rehash of…” But that’s not necessarily true. Hamilton shows a lot of influence from Shakespeare, for instance. It has the monologues, the friends-to-enemies motif, the cruel reversals of fortune, the dramatic irony. There are people who do not like the play Hamilton but exactly zero of those people dislike it on the grounds that “it’s just warmed-over Romeo and Juliet meets Macbeth meets Henry V.”

I do keep flogging this idea. Not to fear retreading what came before. And there’s a reason. In the U.S., at least, we have a cult of originality. But I think it comes down to nerves.

Pride and Prejudice and Nerves

Writing something new is scary. I’m not talking about writing something innovative. Even sitting down and trying to transcribe an interesting conversation, with a view of perhaps incorporating it into a story or essay, can be daunting. Am I remembering correctly? Is this conversation really worth saving? What am I doing? What did I say next… and if I don’t remember, can I make it up? It can be a fearsome thing to step outside of any box. So. The mind invents excuses. This isn’t good enough. This isn’t original enough. It doesn’t make sense. What the mind is doing is trying to ease you out of this daunting task of writing by any means necessary.

So if you commit to the idea that what you’re writing is worthwhile in and of itself, then you can keep going and ignore the haters. Even the internal ones. No, especially the internal ones.

Levels of Innovation

When I first started knitting, I made a rule for myself that I would add one new skill per project, no more, no less. One project was a scarf: just a straight rectangle. The next project involved switching colors. Then a lace patter that looked intricate but was not difficult except for the counting. Then adding a border to a completed rectangle.

I think the same levels can be attempted in writing. When you’re starting out, there’s no reason not to give yourself as much scaffolding as possible: write fan-fiction using established characters. I would add, parenthetically, that most of what passes for “realistic” fiction or “literary” fiction is essentially the same process as fan-fiction, but using characters from your life instead of characters from your favorite book/movie/show.

Some people stay there. They keep writing fan-fiction, getting better and better. Even attracting a following. Others move on to try to construct original characters, settings, etc. The point is: as long as it’s meaningful to you, keep going.

Description

Four identical panels. In each, two cats are sitting on a cushion. On the left of each panel, a large orange takes up about half of the frame. On the right, a small grey takes up less than a quarter of the frame. The large orange is looking down at the small grey with benign affection. The grey is looking off into the middle distance with ill-concealed animosity towards the world.

Panel 1

Big Cat: Hey, Little Cat, what’s your favorite book?
Little Cat: Well, usually it would be Pride and Prejudice, but I don’t like what it’s been saying about me lately.

Panel 2

Big Cat: What… the book… has been… saying about you?
Little Cat: Well. Naturally, when I first read it, I identified with Lizzie.

Panel 3

Big Cat: And now?
Little Cat: Listen. Mr. Bennet just wants to make sarcastic comments over the top of whatever book he’s reading.

Panel 4

Big Cat: So what it’s been saying is that you’re getting old and bitter? I thought we knew that.
Little Cat: Goddamn it, Big Cat, not you, too.