Too weird to live, and too rare to die
"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
In light of Hunter Thompson’s recent death I would like to pay homage to some of the writers that redefined the rules for writing (at least in my mind). Here are a few, in no order.
Hunter Thompson: If you’ve seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you will find it a truly originally, fanatic, interesting, surreal, and destructive story. However, possible more interesting is how Hunter did his research. Before his trip, he duct taped an audio recorder (and they didn’t have small recorders back in the 70s) to his arm and than just recorded everything he did. He took those recording and turned them into a novel. In the book, he transcribes some parts directly from the tape because he has no idea what any of it means. However, the parts that he could figure out were describes in the type brilliant detail that made such a ridiculous adventure seem like it could have happened (which it did).
Kurt Vonnegut: Vonnegut is my favorite author and the one I would most like to emulate. I remember one book where the whole plot was coming to a climax at this piano bar. As a reader, I was excited to see how it was going to end. Apparently, so was Kurt Vonnegut, as he wrote himself into the scene (as the actual author of the scene). He literally wanted to be there himself, in a scene he created, to see how it was going to play out. Maybe this doesn’t sound like much, but to me it was ingenious in its creativity.
Miguel de Cervantes: Cervantes wrote Don Quixote more than 400 years ago, but it would still been considering cutting edge if it were first released today. Here is the best part. Don Quixote is written in two sections, which were published several years apart. After the first section was written, several other authors wrote sequels to the book under their own names (there weren’t copyright laws back than). Cervantes thought these sequels were so bad that he wrote the second section to clarify things. In it, Don Quixote continues his adventures and he comes to a village where everyone knows who he is. He finds out that someone has written a book about him (the first section) and that he was famous. He also found copies of the other sequels, which Don Quixote himself would criticize. How creative is that, the character actually was reading the novel which created him. Amazing. (I found this website and I think it has the entire novel online, check it out.)
In light of Hunter Thompson’s recent death I would like to pay homage to some of the writers that redefined the rules for writing (at least in my mind). Here are a few, in no order.
Hunter Thompson: If you’ve seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you will find it a truly originally, fanatic, interesting, surreal, and destructive story. However, possible more interesting is how Hunter did his research. Before his trip, he duct taped an audio recorder (and they didn’t have small recorders back in the 70s) to his arm and than just recorded everything he did. He took those recording and turned them into a novel. In the book, he transcribes some parts directly from the tape because he has no idea what any of it means. However, the parts that he could figure out were describes in the type brilliant detail that made such a ridiculous adventure seem like it could have happened (which it did).
Kurt Vonnegut: Vonnegut is my favorite author and the one I would most like to emulate. I remember one book where the whole plot was coming to a climax at this piano bar. As a reader, I was excited to see how it was going to end. Apparently, so was Kurt Vonnegut, as he wrote himself into the scene (as the actual author of the scene). He literally wanted to be there himself, in a scene he created, to see how it was going to play out. Maybe this doesn’t sound like much, but to me it was ingenious in its creativity.
Miguel de Cervantes: Cervantes wrote Don Quixote more than 400 years ago, but it would still been considering cutting edge if it were first released today. Here is the best part. Don Quixote is written in two sections, which were published several years apart. After the first section was written, several other authors wrote sequels to the book under their own names (there weren’t copyright laws back than). Cervantes thought these sequels were so bad that he wrote the second section to clarify things. In it, Don Quixote continues his adventures and he comes to a village where everyone knows who he is. He finds out that someone has written a book about him (the first section) and that he was famous. He also found copies of the other sequels, which Don Quixote himself would criticize. How creative is that, the character actually was reading the novel which created him. Amazing. (I found this website and I think it has the entire novel online, check it out.)
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