# FWIW-Lovecraft on writing



## moderan (Apr 7, 2013)

H. P. Lovecraft's Advice to Aspiring Writers, 1920 | Brain Pickings


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## dale (Apr 8, 2013)

i think he gave good advice. i like how he advises a writer to stop reading trash, or else they pick up the habit writing trash.
but of course, i'm not sure that's as relevant today as it was then. in the TV age, contemporary society has basically been dumbed 
down to the point they've learned to love trash.


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## moderan (Apr 8, 2013)

Makes it all the more relevant then, don't you think?


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## ppsage (Apr 8, 2013)

DFWallace, also from Brainpickings:



> The motive of pure personal starts to get supplanted by the motive of being liked, of having pretty people you don’t know like you and admire you and think you’re a good writer. Onanism gives way to attempted seduction, as a motive. Now, attempted seduction is hard work, and its fun is offset by a terrible fear of rejection.


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## Morkonan (Apr 8, 2013)

Lovecraft is wonderful, but I suspect that this is not all Lovecraftian quotes, since there is obviously a second paragraph in one of them. I don't think Lovecraft ever used more than one paragraph for anything... 

The Lovecraftian word of the day is: Brobdingnagian!



> Barbarous compound nouns, as *viewpoint* or *upkeep*...



Yes, they are quite barbarous!


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## moderan (Apr 8, 2013)

"Wouldn't _Brobdingnagian_ be Swiftian rather than Lovecraftian?" He asked rapidly, in a strange halting patois that I didn't recognize. "Cyclopaean with the archaic spelling would seem to more properly shew the influence."
And I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater (or the contents of the stewpot, as it may be), but 'twas Faulkner who eschewed paragraphs in favor of very long, rambling, loosely constructed, interminable, but still usually grammatical, sentences most frequently in his works of fiction, not Howard Phillips Lovecraft in all of his non-Euclidean glory.


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## Morkonan (Apr 8, 2013)

Lovecraft was noted for somewhat lengthy paragraphs, though surely not the only author to inflict those upon their reader.

Google Book Search: Comments regarding Lovecraft's submissions

Lovecraftian Wiki: Lovecraft

Someone even decided to create an artistic vid entitled "Lovecraft Paragraphs." (Some cool Lovecraft-inspired vids linked on that page, too.)

Not sure how many times he used "brobdingnagian" though, so you may have me, there.


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## Dictarium (Apr 8, 2013)

While some (read: lots) of his 20 points on grammar are outdated (ex: writing with "as" instead of "like" makes people's writing unbearably old-fashioned, IMO), most if not all of the other advice he offers is helpful to me, as I'm a youth writer -- a writer who is a youth, not one who writes for youths -- and can very much use advice like this, that is, a more in-depth look at "the basics".


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## Staff Deployment (Apr 9, 2013)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft said:
			
		

> One superlatively important effect of wide reading is the enlargement of vocabulary which always accompanies it. The average student is gravely impeded by the narrow range of words from which he must choose, and he soon discovers that in long compositions he cannot avoid monotony. In reading, the novice should note the varied mode of expression practiced by good authors, and should keep in his mind for future use the many appropriate synonymes he encounters. Never should an unfamiliar word be passed over without elucidation; for with a little conscientious research we may each day add to our conquests in the realm of philology, and become more and more ready for graceful independent expression.



*sighs*

Oh, Lovecraft. Metaphysical right from the start. How you combine the message and expression so!


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## Morkonan (Apr 9, 2013)

Dear Moderan:

Because of you, I spent at least 3 hours last night watching discussions of Lovecraft on Youtube and reading Lovecraftian writing articles. Then, I spent another couple of hours scaring the crap out of myself, experimenting with writing using somewhat Lovecraftian methods... 

Scared.

The crap out of myself.

Thanks!


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## Hunter56 (Apr 9, 2013)

One of the greatest; thanks for posting.


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## mber341 (Apr 10, 2013)

> _The average student is gravely impeded by the narrow range of words from which he must choose, and he soon discovers that in long compositions he cannot avoid monotony._


_

Ugh. This is where I am. Impeded, indeed._


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## Topper88 (Apr 15, 2013)

It's interesting to see how many of the grammatical errors he rails against are now in common accepted use. For instance, how a common mistake is using "like" in place of "as", as in “I strive to write *like* Pope wrote.”

That example of poor syntax is used almost _exclusively _when speaking vernacular!


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## Staff Deployment (Apr 15, 2013)

Does the Pope write his own speeches?
Also seems like we've read the same Cracked article today, Topster.


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## isaiah (Apr 16, 2013)

I hate to be a bother, but could someone explain the meaning of this quote to me. The one ppsage posted.



> _The motive of pure personal starts to get supplanted by the motive of being liked, of having pretty people you don’t know like you and admire you and think you’re a good writer. Onanism gives way to attempted seduction, as a motive. Now, attempted seduction is hard work, and its fun is offset by a terrible fear of rejection._


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## Jon M (Apr 17, 2013)

The horrible, and possibly inevitable, way priorities get turned around for a writer. The excerpt comes from an essay on why writers write. Wallace is saying that it's fun being a writer at first, writing for oneself. But once you get good enough, start selling, winning awards, getting pats on the back -- all of that is fun, too. After a while possibly more fun. And that's when motive changes from just getting yourself off, i.e., 'pure personal', to continually trying to get others off, to keep that attention, that money and those awards.


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## Kevin (Apr 17, 2013)

"pretty people you don't know like you..." - Groupies. 'Pretty' ones...


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## isaiah (Apr 17, 2013)

Thanks, Jon M, for explaining that to me. It gives me a lot to think about.


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## Bae1ayri7c (Apr 18, 2013)

in the TV age, contemporary society has basically been dumbed 
down to the point they've learned to love trash.


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## Morkonan (Apr 18, 2013)

isaiah said:


> I hate to be a bother, but could someone explain the meaning of this quote to me. The one ppsage posted.



Another interpretation could be the fear of failing to live up to expectations and of being confronted with that failure. Sure, the rewards are wonderful for a writer that seeks to have his voice heard. But, in writing for just yourself, there's no one else around to tell you how badly you suck.  And, if you have that opinion of your own writing, you could be wrong! After all, your writing sucks, so maybe your judgement of it does as well? But, then it gets out and gets attention and strangers want to give you accolades and invite you to speak at their fund-raising dinners. Now, it's out in the open and dangerous. Now your not playing with just words, you're playing with risks to your own self-image. You have to fight to seduce the audience, because, if you don't, the rejection may be too much to bear.

Alone, the words in your computer files are safe, comforting and fun. But, once released... What can do you the most harm? Frankenstein's monster killed him, but I bet the realization of his failure at creating a noble savage was much more punishing, in the end.


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## Staff Deployment (Apr 18, 2013)

I thought it was just "don't pander to readers."


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## ppsage (Apr 19, 2013)

I just like that he compares writing to masterbation.


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