Recently, I posted Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Rules for Writing. His rules are concrete, simple and wonderful. On the other end of the spectrum is Jack Kerouac, who wrote his own set of rules. If you've ever read any of his novels, you know he's crazy. Genius, but crazy. His books don't need periods, nor correct spelling - he has a language of his own, and I think that's why I loved him so much. His disregard towards convention was inspiring.
Here are Kerouac's writing rules from 1959. I love them. Comparably, however, what do you think?
Belief & Technique for Modern Prose
List of Essentials
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
4. Be in love with yr life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
10 comments:
"You're a Genius all the time"
Sometimes this is all you need to hear. I find these really inspiring.
Haha, love Kerouac's!
That is the mind of a truly...unique? fellow. I have On the Road sitting on my shelves, but every says it sucks so I keep putting it off. What says you?
It probably won't surprise you to hear that I agree with you and think this is a great list.
My favorites are probably "be crazy dumbsaint of the mind," "write in recollection and amazement of yourself" and, probably my favorite of them all "believe in the holy contour of life."
Mmmmmmm I think I'l go re-read On the Road now...
LOL he knows how to make himself a god in terms of writing, no? lol love these.
These are great! Something that struck me about Kerouac while reading 'Windblown World' (a compilation of excerpts from his journal) was how disciplined he was about writing--despite his anarchic reputation.
on the road is def. worth it.
God, I really love this man. You're so right - he was an absolute loon but a genius. And I totally prefer his rules to Kurt Vonnegut's. ;-)
thanks for sharing. i haven't read these before. as an english teacher trying to change "the system," my favorite is definitely: 13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition. i'm going to think about that for a {long} while.
It's funny how peoples rules for writing evoke their style of writing to.
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