June 22, 2004
Just when my anticipation was waning, I find this. I keep having to pause the new Wilco album in between tracks to listen to it.
I read this wonderful quote from Truffaut today:
"I begin a film believing it will be amusing -- and along the way I notice that only sadness can save it."
That's how I always feel, and reading that circuitously lead me through various introspective thoughts about my own writing process. Like how when I see or read or hear something amazing and/or beautiful, it inspires me to work harder, and I love that. There's nothing better than seeing a great movie that leaves you feeling like you're floating, and then going home and harnessing that feeling and using it to your advantage. But I've realized that if I don't focus especially hard, my writing will be infused with that film's greatness, rather than whatever I might be able to pull up from within myself. It's not literally plaigarization, but if I look closely at certain scripts that I've written, I'll see a tone, or multiple tones, only present intermittently, that come from something else.
I've been developing my own style over the years, but when I come across something I love, I'll think "THAT'S what I need to be doing," and I instantly feel like throwing away everything I've worked towards that I can call my own.
Anyway, I've been trying really hard to stop that.
Posted by David Lowery at June 22, 2004 2:17 AM