Anatomy of Integrity
In scrawling Flash Pulp, I try to walk the line between titillation and good taste. I’ve said before that I’d like the stories to be something my children could read when they grow old enough to be interested, but there’s another barrier that I sometimes bump up against while deciding how to approach a story.
There’s an old adage in the fiction churning business,
“Write as if your parents were dead.”
I’ve always found that one a bit tough, although I’m not sure that, even if they were, I’d suddenly start throwing out human genitalia like candy. Bless my mom, and her French Canadian, Roman Catholic, heart – if she hadn’t unintentionally taught me to be creatively salacious, I’d likely only possess half of my current vocabulary.
Now, these things certainly weren’t on my mind while watching Anatomy of a Murder last night – no, I was simply engrossed in a court room drama being handily presented by the always genial Jimmy Stewart.
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plgucPBotKg]
It’s an intense film, which deals relatively openly with rape, a topic not often touched on in its time –
Upon its original release, the film was banned in Chicago, Illinois.
– imdb
– but it’s an important piece, in utilizing entertainment to bring a spotlight to dark social corners, and who could resist the charms of Stewart, feasibly the most inherently likable actor of the last century?
James Stewart’s father was so offended by the film, which he deemed “a dirty picture”, that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it.
– imdb
“Write as if your parents were dead.” Interesting, and I used to more or less adhere to that. Not so much anymore. One thing that is plaguing my own blogslinging more and more is that, as my audience grows and grows, I am far more aware of the audience and I find that two things have occurred. The first is that my style has changed, and not necessarily for the better. That was not intentional but just evolved. The other one is intentional and it is that I am editing out more things that I think certain people may find objectionable. I don’t think the overall content has changed but the way I go about presenting it has. And as someone who claims that I only do it to entertain myself, this is a serious issue.
I don’t feel like your quality has in any way declined recently, but I understand where you’re coming from. Given the amount of traffic your reality show posts bring in, for example, I’d certainly be tempted to lean more in that direction, but you appear to have retained your sanity.
I do wonder what you mean by ‘find objectionable’, and I say that with Mr Know-It-All sort of in mind.
“Quality” is an interesting way of looking at things. While there are what I personally feel negatives, I at the same time think the overall quality has gone up. I do miss the snarkiness I used to deploy, and even some of the jsut plain attitude, though a bit of it comes back in one or two of the Imponderables next week. Mr. Know-It-All was a joy but a chore and I think his era has passed. The reality shows will pop in like everyting else, but I will never commit to another weekly thing.
I would say that “write (or play, or perform, or act, or whatever, and above all live)as if your parents were dead” is absolutely excellent advice. It could be more complete and better, though, if it was “Write (etc) as if your parents were dead but everybody else was alive,” if you know what I mean.