In a ten minute recount of my first trip to china when I was seven years old, my mum noted with amusement that I used a total of twenty-six '然后's, or in English '(and) then's.
As my chinese 3/4 teacher said to us, 天下文章一大抄. It's something along the lines of 'all writing comes from copying/emulation', so my earlier writing all happened to be modelled upon the delightfully trashy books I consumed like wildfire. 'The Babysitters Club' had been a hit with the earlier part of gen y but because of my sister, I was acutely aware of teenage fads in the 90s. The series provided satisfying two-dimensional, typical character descriptions that were always rehashed at the beginning of each book as if to reassure us the ghost writer had not deviated from the norm to provide us with an interesting literary experience or deeper character development, god no. To be fair, kids (and some adults) don't WANT to be challenged to find deeper meaning. They want vaguely relatable characters, a good-vs-evil storyline and clearcut morals, oblivious to or unwilling to accept the fact that this often really is not the way things go, and I'm a staunch believer in the fact that fiction should always contain some kind of truth, be it inherent in the plot fabric, or reflected in an absence thereof.
So when I finally beat down the urge to word-vomit out "'that sounds fun!' exclaimed Tracey, who was tall and slim with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes", it was for the better. It was still interesting to go over those stories of a nine year old with this jarring, faithfully emulated writing style that make the present-day me only slightly freaking embarrassed.
As my chinese 3/4 teacher said to us, 天下文章一大抄. It's something along the lines of 'all writing comes from copying/emulation', so my earlier writing all happened to be modelled upon the delightfully trashy books I consumed like wildfire. 'The Babysitters Club' had been a hit with the earlier part of gen y but because of my sister, I was acutely aware of teenage fads in the 90s. The series provided satisfying two-dimensional, typical character descriptions that were always rehashed at the beginning of each book as if to reassure us the ghost writer had not deviated from the norm to provide us with an interesting literary experience or deeper character development, god no. To be fair, kids (and some adults) don't WANT to be challenged to find deeper meaning. They want vaguely relatable characters, a good-vs-evil storyline and clearcut morals, oblivious to or unwilling to accept the fact that this often really is not the way things go, and I'm a staunch believer in the fact that fiction should always contain some kind of truth, be it inherent in the plot fabric, or reflected in an absence thereof.
So when I finally beat down the urge to word-vomit out "'that sounds fun!' exclaimed Tracey, who was tall and slim with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes", it was for the better. It was still interesting to go over those stories of a nine year old with this jarring, faithfully emulated writing style that make the present-day me only slightly freaking embarrassed.
Writing now kind of bothers me though. It's not for my own benefit and I'm always thinking about the reception. farrrrk daatttt.
/end inner fagdom.
hi kathy :) ♥
