The process and the procedure

This is the place where I dash off short pieces on whatever is currently on my mind that seems fun to talk about. I don't take what I do here too seriously, which means I agonize over word choice about 15% less than when I'm doing Professional Stuff.

Since I'm making an effort to come up with posts more often, I usually bug people around me for a topic. Any Topic. I absolutely suck at that part, but I'll be damned if I can't take a subject and ejaculate 500 words all over it.

That got . . . weird . . . faster than I'd intended. Tonight, no good ideas were available, so I was instructed to visit Reddit and scan their 'writing prompts', which is something I have specifically been avoiding. If anyone asked me why, I would have been forced to admit that I think random people have shitty ideas, and the internet in general is a cesspool, but no aversion more specific than that.

I went, I saw, I recoiled in horror. Now I have specific complaints. To wit: the posters there are just trying too fucking hard. The stuff I saw on Reddit is the polar opposite of what I like to see in writing, stories, and things in general - flash over substance and technique. One topic was "Imagine you survived a near-death experience, and later received a letter from God that this was an administrative mistake, so please commit suicide within the next few days."

Standing on it's own, this isn't a horrible idea. My gripe is that it's very, very specific. I understand that's what some people may need to get that kick in the ass and start hammering out words. Kudos to them. Their stuff is probably dreck. I don't really need or want someone else to nail down a whole story chunk, I just like hearing different things of interest, that's enough for me to get going. The prompt "Janitors" is enough to get the wheels churning. The rest I can come up with, and will hopefully sound like me (e.g. "Conversations between drunken Janitors cleaning up the cum stains after the DNC and Republic National Conventions", "Janitors as a new priestly order in a post-apocalyptic society after antibiotic resistant bacteria wipe out humanity")

The goofballs on Reddit are trying to come up with an amazing hook so other people can put their stamp on it. To me, writing like that is about as much fun as being in a cover band. As always, I'm a target market of one, so take this with a grain of salt or whatever.

My stuff (here and elsewhere) ain't winning any awards, but it's mine.