I like what you said here. It makes sense. A valuable piece of advice. And it's true that originality can be found in an unusual observation of detail in a seemingly irrelevant object.
Readers have commented my work is unlike anything else. This sounds alright, but it can be a problem for getting published as 'comps' are hard to come by and then, you're accused of not being 'well-read' which is untrue in my case. Or, you're compared to a writer nothing like you because of a common theme or atmosphere.
I reckon the reason is, I'm entirely uneducated. Left school with no qualifications, due to dyslexia and schizophrenia. I never read a 'how to write' book, or did a creative writing course, or workshop. Never had a mentor either. Had some advice and picked bits up along the way, but mostly learnt by reading fiction I like and writing.
But also, because my work is often the POV of a schizophrenic perspective. A very 'altered state' of being. Written as delusion, hallucination, paranoia, etc. being the true perception, as that is how it's experienced. All the delirium, disoriented confusion, fear, and anxiety is written to be felt by the reader. An intentionally uncomfortable read.
But, as well as being uneducated, I'm working class and my experiences are of unemployment, factories, warehouses, building sites, violence, and crime. Most writers seem to have been to university and had education, or even possibly, a career. And rarely do I see a writer who's clearly experienced much violence. At least, not in England. You can see this when writers claim 'words are violence' or some such idea. They're not. If you had the shit beaten out of you all the time for nothing by your parents as a child, beaten to concussion several times by your father in your teens, grew up among villains and thugs, everyone you knew got stabbed and had many fights, some you won, some you lost, attacked by police and gangsters, having been battered close to death along the way, you'd know exactly what violence is, and it ain't words. It's a machete, a knife, a cosh, a fist, a boot in the face.
Anyway, sorry, I got distracted there. I get carried away, and I went off subject. But my point is, sometimes, originality can come from experience. If you are a schizophrenic, working class, drug addict of a criminal who lived beyond the fringes of 'normal' society, your outlook is very likely quite different to most writers.
I like what you said here. It makes sense. A valuable piece of advice. And it's true that originality can be found in an unusual observation of detail in a seemingly irrelevant object.
Readers have commented my work is unlike anything else. This sounds alright, but it can be a problem for getting published as 'comps' are hard to come by and then, you're accused of not being 'well-read' which is untrue in my case. Or, you're compared to a writer nothing like you because of a common theme or atmosphere.
I reckon the reason is, I'm entirely uneducated. Left school with no qualifications, due to dyslexia and schizophrenia. I never read a 'how to write' book, or did a creative writing course, or workshop. Never had a mentor either. Had some advice and picked bits up along the way, but mostly learnt by reading fiction I like and writing.
But also, because my work is often the POV of a schizophrenic perspective. A very 'altered state' of being. Written as delusion, hallucination, paranoia, etc. being the true perception, as that is how it's experienced. All the delirium, disoriented confusion, fear, and anxiety is written to be felt by the reader. An intentionally uncomfortable read.
But, as well as being uneducated, I'm working class and my experiences are of unemployment, factories, warehouses, building sites, violence, and crime. Most writers seem to have been to university and had education, or even possibly, a career. And rarely do I see a writer who's clearly experienced much violence. At least, not in England. You can see this when writers claim 'words are violence' or some such idea. They're not. If you had the shit beaten out of you all the time for nothing by your parents as a child, beaten to concussion several times by your father in your teens, grew up among villains and thugs, everyone you knew got stabbed and had many fights, some you won, some you lost, attacked by police and gangsters, having been battered close to death along the way, you'd know exactly what violence is, and it ain't words. It's a machete, a knife, a cosh, a fist, a boot in the face.
Anyway, sorry, I got distracted there. I get carried away, and I went off subject. But my point is, sometimes, originality can come from experience. If you are a schizophrenic, working class, drug addict of a criminal who lived beyond the fringes of 'normal' society, your outlook is very likely quite different to most writers.
except kafka