It's a Joke...On the Inside...
Tuesday, November 4. 2008
I have an unfortunate tendency toward "inside jokes." I really don't know whether this is a common problem among writers, or even in society in general, just by the nature of the problem itself.
Here's an example: I could say, "Can Ah sleep with mah horse?" And there are a total of three other people in the world who would read that and chuckle. (Two of them likely just did.) Eveyone else in the universe has no clue what that means.
I also have a tendency to use movie quotes in everyday conversation. Favorite sources are Star Wars and Star Trek (of course), but there are also potentially more obscure (to the spec-fic reader) movies in my lexicon of frequent one-liners, including Murder By Death, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Jerk, Stir Crazy, all the Pink Panther movies (except the one with Steve Martin), and even, thanks to my Dad, Honeysuckle Rose. I'm serious, Garland. People who haven't seen these movies three or four hundred times, like I have, tend to look at me quizzically when I say, "Good thinking on Diamond head."
Doing this in day-to-day situations doesn't hurt anything except possibly my social life and chance of being invited back to the good parties. The real issue is to avoid this sort of humor in my writing, because it doesn't do anyone any good. Movie quotes (or any pop culture references) immediately date a piece, which in my mind is an undesirable thing; other jokes or quips with a limited audience tend to alienate any reader who isn't in "the know." In the mad NaNoWriMo quest for word count, it's easy to write whatever comes to mind, good content or no. But if I put these sorts of things into my novel, I'm just going to have to cut them later, so what's the point?
The lore is that there are more than a few WriMos who stuff their word count with just anything, whether they think they'll keep it after November or not. I refuse to be that guy.
Of course, I'm also just barely on track with my word count. Anyway, back to more plotting.
I have an unfortunate tendency toward "inside jokes." I really don't know whether this is a common problem among writers, or even in society in general, just by the nature of the problem itself.
Here's an example: I could say, "Can Ah sleep with mah horse?" And there are a total of three other people in the world who would read that and chuckle. (Two of them likely just did.) Eveyone else in the universe has no clue what that means.
I also have a tendency to use movie quotes in everyday conversation. Favorite sources are Star Wars and Star Trek (of course), but there are also potentially more obscure (to the spec-fic reader) movies in my lexicon of frequent one-liners, including Murder By Death, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Jerk, Stir Crazy, all the Pink Panther movies (except the one with Steve Martin), and even, thanks to my Dad, Honeysuckle Rose. I'm serious, Garland. People who haven't seen these movies three or four hundred times, like I have, tend to look at me quizzically when I say, "Good thinking on Diamond head."
Doing this in day-to-day situations doesn't hurt anything except possibly my social life and chance of being invited back to the good parties. The real issue is to avoid this sort of humor in my writing, because it doesn't do anyone any good. Movie quotes (or any pop culture references) immediately date a piece, which in my mind is an undesirable thing; other jokes or quips with a limited audience tend to alienate any reader who isn't in "the know." In the mad NaNoWriMo quest for word count, it's easy to write whatever comes to mind, good content or no. But if I put these sorts of things into my novel, I'm just going to have to cut them later, so what's the point?
The lore is that there are more than a few WriMos who stuff their word count with just anything, whether they think they'll keep it after November or not. I refuse to be that guy.
Of course, I'm also just barely on track with my word count. Anyway, back to more plotting.
Here's an example: I could say, "Can Ah sleep with mah horse?" And there are a total of three other people in the world who would read that and chuckle. (Two of them likely just did.) Eveyone else in the universe has no clue what that means.
I also have a tendency to use movie quotes in everyday conversation. Favorite sources are Star Wars and Star Trek (of course), but there are also potentially more obscure (to the spec-fic reader) movies in my lexicon of frequent one-liners, including Murder By Death, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Jerk, Stir Crazy, all the Pink Panther movies (except the one with Steve Martin), and even, thanks to my Dad, Honeysuckle Rose. I'm serious, Garland. People who haven't seen these movies three or four hundred times, like I have, tend to look at me quizzically when I say, "Good thinking on Diamond head."
Doing this in day-to-day situations doesn't hurt anything except possibly my social life and chance of being invited back to the good parties. The real issue is to avoid this sort of humor in my writing, because it doesn't do anyone any good. Movie quotes (or any pop culture references) immediately date a piece, which in my mind is an undesirable thing; other jokes or quips with a limited audience tend to alienate any reader who isn't in "the know." In the mad NaNoWriMo quest for word count, it's easy to write whatever comes to mind, good content or no. But if I put these sorts of things into my novel, I'm just going to have to cut them later, so what's the point?
The lore is that there are more than a few WriMos who stuff their word count with just anything, whether they think they'll keep it after November or not. I refuse to be that guy.
Of course, I'm also just barely on track with my word count. Anyway, back to more plotting.
Jimmy on :
As for quotes in everyday life - "he hates these cans!" is always a winner for me.
I worked at a place in Arkansas in management and there was a new policy of seeing ID before taking checks. Shane, another Star Wars nut that would use quotes whenever applicable, called me down there for the ultimate setup. Shane - He wants to use a check. Customer - You know who I am, do you have to see my id? Me - You don't need to see his identification. Shane - I don't need to see his identification. Customer Thank you.
Brent on :
Craig on :