Things I Wish I'd Written, Good artists borrow, great artists steal

You ever come across something you're reading and think, "damn, I really wish I'd written that!" I read stuff I like and even love all the time, but I rarely come across something that makes me really jealous that I didn't write it.

Here's a poem, or part of one, I came across the other day that made me feel like that. Feel free to add stuff that has made you bitterly jealous that you'll never be good enough to write it.


All, all of a piece throughout
Thy chase had a beast in view,
Thy wars brought nothing about,
Thy lovers were all untrue.

-Dryden

This post has been edited by &ru on Nov 3 2009, 10:37 AM

No, not really. I generally think that they have good writing or plots or characters but I don't think I ever feel envious of other writers.

i have every once in a while, when i first ran across Ringo and Weber the thought did run through my head along with "This is how this stuff is supposed to be written." i mean military fiction for years has been tom clancy dictated to a degree, once those two came on the scene though it has definately gotten better, both sci-fi mil fiction as well as straight military fiction.

Yes and no. Every so often I'd come across something I'd wish I'd written. But after reading it, I'd see all the things I would have done differently.

Anyone can come up with a good/bad idea. It's how you develop it that's the kick in the balls.

That's hard to believe? What do you read other than sci-fi?

What would you say are the best books and/or authors you've read?

You know who does carry me along like you said? Terry Pratchett. That man can turn a pun in no time flat.

Not poetry.

I'm very much specialized into Prose and while Poetry is based on word play and finding the "Perfect word" prose is not. In prose the words are mostly interchangeable, it matters more that the ideas go across then how the ideas are transferred.

As of such, I'm far less likely to go "Wow, I wish I'd written that," because I'd believe there's a good chance I could have written it just as well though with different words.

Which is not to say I don't steal inspiration from anything and everything I see.

There are plenty of authors who I adore/admire. Sometimes it is for their way with words. Sometimes it's more a longing to have that type of imagination and creativity. The few lines that have stayed with me, for one reason or another:

Frank O'Hara's poem Animals

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." -- Stephen King, The Gunslinger

“The world had too many heroes and didn’t need another one. Whereas the world had only one Rincewind and he owed it to the world to keep this one alive for as long as possible.” -- Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times

i gotta say thats a really common sentiment. i remember Neal Shusterman told my school's book club that he once had an idea about writing a book about a man who one day wakes up and finds that everything around him, everything that he has ever know is a computer generation. then about 3 weeks later promos for The Matrix start coming out.

Wow! Well there nothing wrong with having confidence. Though, and I don't mean this as an insult in any way, I think you should read more if you haven't yet come across something that's better than you could write.

I mean, as you say, if you're going to steal (like we all do) it's more profitable to steal from someone who has better stuff than you.

Hope you don't take this the wrong way though. I do like your stuff.

This post has been edited by &ru on Nov 11 2009, 06:40 PM

Yeah, I'm not a huge Steven King fan, but I liked his Dark Tower series.

Though the ending made me want to mail him a bomb.

Spoilered for those who haven't been dissapointed by the ending yet. Still, as a series, it's well worth reading. His best work IMO. Well, his best work that I've read anyway, but there's a lot of his work I haven't read. He's nothing if not prolific.

Edit: The spoiler function seems to be not working so I removed what I hated about the ending but if you've read it you probably know what it is.

This post has been edited by &ru on Nov 12 2009, 09:55 AM

Dunno what you may have written. I didn't read all the way to the end, if you know what I mean. I wasn't one of those readers that needed closure, so refused to continue on. I'm sure you understand what I mean by that.

I know quite a few people who don't care for Stephen King, but thoroughly enjoyed the Dark Tower series. At that point, I'll suggest they read The Talisman and Black House, and the stories written under the name Richard Bachman.

Hey whaddaya now, CW came back from the dead. Or like a ghost in A Christmas Carol.

I very seldom have the thought "I wish I had written that." It doesn't mean I haven't come across writing that left me gaping, mind blown and completely awed. For me, wishing I had written/done something someone else already did is a little bit based in envy, and I'm very seldom envious or jealous of other people. Could be that's not how others in this thread view the concept, but there you go.

Though, right now I have to write a 15-20 page history paper based on my own research by December 18, so mostly I just wish that I had written the paper already.

Oh... That's a good line. I wish I'd written it.

This post has been edited by Megaduck on Nov 12 2009, 04:20 PM

I'm definitely stealing it!

They'll never find your bodies, just saying.

Well...there is something to be said for originality too.

You take it MD.

Well, I'm all ... confident ... an all. I'll go hid- sit right over here, in the dark and write my own thing, maybe something with Dickens...

All yours &ru.

This post has been edited by Megaduck on Nov 13 2009, 06:54 PM

For me I was the comic series JTHM (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.) I was in Job Corps when I first read it and at the time I constantly found myself surrounded by board idiots, who's only why to kill time was getting under other peoples skin. I had even honestly wondered at one point "How many different ways can I kill some of these A-holes with just a spork"

Ah, good times lol

I've been toying with an old story I was writing with some friends from a while back. I mostly do this as a hobby, so I don't think I will ever get it published.

Everything you say here is property of Megatokyo™

I bought one of those miniature trash cans that you stick on your desk, and it had quite an interesting design.

UNTIL I FORGET TO REMEMBER
It is just my least struggle to endure the time without you,
the indelible you, until my heart forgets
to remember you from my past, my old habits.

With pictures of an older styled village. I looked up the title, and the words to it, without any conclusive results. Maybe it's because the words are so generic, I don't know.

You're just a tool of the big Capitalists sucking the life blood from the workers!!

Mediocre writers of the world, unite!