Then what shall I write? I can't just write that this happened then this happened then this happened to boring infinitum. I'll let my journal grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or beast does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a dull straight line? Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.
Interpretation
Writing should be dynamic and expressive, reflecting the complexity of life rather than presenting a linear narrative.
In this quote, David Almond emphasizes that writing, like life, is not a straightforward journey but rather a rich and intricate exploration of thoughts and emotions. He encourages writers to embrace the fluidity, creativity, and spontaneity of expression, suggesting that words should evoke a sense of movement and vitality, akin to the natural world, rather than adhering to a dull chronological structure.
In practice
In a creative writing workshop to inspire fellow writers to break free from traditional storytelling.
It is not just shameful for a contemporary American poet to use rhymes, it is unthinkable. It seems banal to him; he fears banality worse than anything, and therefore, he uses free verse - though free verse is no guarantee against banality.
When people say that moviegoing is dead, I go, 'OK, so the makers of 'Get Out' should've sold that movie to a platform? Then they don't have this insane, crazy success theatrically all over the world.'
Poiret made clothes for individual customers, but I wouldn't like to make a dress just for its own sake.
We need to take music out of the ivory tower - both for musicians and for the public. Otherwise, classical music will not survive the 21st century.
Every age has its own poetry; in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through poetry.
I don't care about being a pioneer. People act like it would be cool to be a pioneer. I'm okay to be looked at as that, but it's just that we don't get transmitted our cultural heritage as women artists.
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