The Creative Identity

Living The Creative Life

The Easter weekend was pleasant enough but by Monday I was in the throes of a truly stinking cold. This morning I absolutely had to go out and I did so without a scrap of makeup, that’s how bad things feel (although I was considerate enough to cover three-quarters of my face with a gigantic pair of shades). Now it’s almost 4 pm, and while my dog William lies in the patch of sunshine that always lands by his bed at this time of day, I am sniffling, coughing and hacking as if this were the middle of November. Oh and tomorrow I have to take Victoria to Chester to have her stitches removed. Damn you air con! Why do Starbucks and Waterstone’s persist on spewing glacial, recycled air every single time the mercury outside barely raises above 19C? This isn't Africa! Yesterday I spent all day in bed, right under the covers, and with the heating cranked up as well, as the temperature outside had re-plummeted to a much more seasonal +10C. When such Woe is Me events take place, I seek solace in reading, although even that, on occasion, is too much trouble. And if you don’t feel like reading either, but a photographic book is just too damn heavy to hold in bed, then let me suggest you get yourself a copy of Ricë Freeman-Zachery’s Living The Creative Life. I’ve owned this book for quite some years and it’s one of those safe fall-backs for when I’m... Read more →

Steal At Your Peril

When last week I finished my piece on bibliographical resources for Dracula with 'go forth and don't plagiarise!' I smirked. I smirked because telling a potential plagiarist (and, dear reader, you may not be, but some most definitely are) not to plagiarise is like telling my dog Victoria not to steal from the open fridge while I go out to Starbucks. In other words, where there is intent, sooner or later there will be the act too. Many writers of sites and blogs often tackle how they felt when they found out that their text had been lifted, almost word-for-word, and used in somebody else's website or, worse, even in hard copy. This seemed like the hot topic a few months back, when I was scouring the net and found that the same problems were being discussed from blog to blog. I should have jumped in right there and then, except I don't feel as fired by the whole problem as most people seem to be. Of course I am not pleased by the recurrent stealing going on and of course I don't condone it and of course I don't think it does not matter, but do I really think it hurts me, as the producer of my own original ideas? Do I think it actually ruins my original essays? Do I heck. Plagiarism really only hurts the plagiarist for two reasons: 1- Only the most naive ones disregard the existence of plentiful softwares out there for the detection of... Read more →

Dracula : Bibliographical Resources – Part II

When I was an undergraduate, there was one thing that I wish had been said in crystal clear fashion: use the bibliography at the back of the books you're reading. It's the most obvious thing to do, isn't it? Yet, when you're new to writing essays and studying in a specific (read, critical) manner, certain practices are far from obvious. I remember sitting in the library with some friends in my first year and we would all stare at one another, wondering how on earth we could find out just a little bit more about what we were studying, above and beyond the two books that the lecturer had mentioned. So for Dracula, or any primary source you're working on, start from the back of the book in your hands. The two editions I mentioned last time are fantastic treasure troves of references which touch upon very many of the secondary resources you'll need. Today, however, I would like to flag up a few other texts that I found of particular interest in my early days, starting from Judith Halberstam's Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monstrosity. From Frankenstein to The Silence of the Lambs via Oscar Wilde and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this book has it all. Its greatest strength is an argument that is both elegant and lucid, as spelt out on the back cover, and yet far-reaching in its implications. For Dracula you need chapter 4, known as 'Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's Dracula', which... Read more →

Writing and Journaling As Comfort

Image by Galia Alena It's been the week from hell. No, the week from buggery shitty bloody hell, and I say this through gritted teeth, dear reader. One minute you're up and the next you're so far down that you cannot even see the bottom of the pit you're free-falling into. When I received a rejection (the only one so far) for a collaborative project that took over most of last summer, it didn't even seem bad, all things considered. At times like this, I wish I were a bit like Anne Frank or Samuel Pepys, people who were evidently able to write down their innermost desires and preoccupations relentlessly, beautifully and consistently, not only leaving a literary legacy to generations but demonstrating the healing quality of writing per se. It all seems effortless in their case. My writing diary? I haven't got one right now, or rather, you're reading it. I soldiered through last year with my first red Moleskine and those months were so trying and just plain bad that I threw the Mole in the recycling bin in December. It's the first diary I've got rid of in my life. Perhaps I shouldn't have done so. After all, it's always life-affirming to re-read about the bad times once we're over them, isn't it? But I don't like doing that either. My past is a trunk in the attic and I never open it. The bad memories dance around, still throwing shapes, and they remain as stomach-churning as... Read more →