A big bloke dressed as a pink fairy
Teri Holbrook and Melanie Hundley essay ‘Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged’. The essay discusses the multiple bad ideas but tends to emphasize the negative idea of putting unhealthy standards and publicizing unrealistic expectations for writers in modern times. After doing some research with Alcohol and the Writer, by Donald W. Goodwin, The Pursuit of Perfection: and How It Harms Writers by Kristine Kathryn and ‘’The Trip to Echo Spring,‘ by Olivia Laing.” In these sources, I have come across a few new perspectives with bad idea’s and have found possible solutions that could conclude with a better idea.
Holbrook and Hundley’s ‘Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged’ helps to depict and illustrate how media has influenced public opinion that writers are messy, chaotic, and uninhabited to normal day-to-day life. In ‘Alcohol and the Writer’ by Donald W. Goodwin (pg.11-20) the text agrees with Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged’ by offering a strong opinion when it comes to stereotyping a writer’s relationship to alcoholism and drug abuse. Goodwin illustrates the history of writers and insists that their own personal experiences are not mutually exclusive to the lives of every writer. Goodwin also suggests that throughout media the idea is often too glamorized and compared to success especially in television and film. With doing so it encourages people and aspiring writers to view craft as a self-destructive and potentially dangerous. Goodwin overall suggests that the best idea would be to disconnect the stereotype all together and stop selling the narrative of the alcoholic writer and instead illustrate depict a realistic image of the everyday writer. Unlike in ‘’The Trip to Echo Spring,’ by Olivia Laing, who gives an interesting perspective on Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged and goes on to explain how famous works and their creators can go hand in hand with alcoholism. She discusses multiple writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver and talks about how their works and public images are cultivated by their personal trials of addiction. This helps to compliment the better idea that no one is perfect not even writers. No matter if they excel in their literary career, and default in their personal life. Laing illustrates that not even writers who uphold a magical reputation are perfect which brings me to the points made in my next source. In The Pursuit of Perfection: and How It Harms Writers (pg.130-131) by Kristine Kathryn she discusses how within popular films and television shows writers are seen at magical creatures who create fantastic works of literature within a simple montage and a cup of coffee. She goes on to detail how writers are consistently going through trial and error, with drafting and re-writing just to find perfection in their work. By pushing the narrative that perfect writing just comes naturally does a disservice to young aspiring writers who seek acclaim. As a result, aspiring writers are turned off by the idea and unrealistic expectations of the craft. Kristine Kathryn continues to agree with Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged by describing the self-destructive patterns and habits writers face in everyday life when it comes to creating original work. She depicts the lengths that writers go through just to find perfection in every detail. She suggests a better idea is to not set unrealistic standards for writers in today’s time and to not publicize that behavior as a positive. Instead of attempting to create the ‘perfect’ writing, but to just enjoy the process of the craft itself.
After analyzing each source, and their views on their bad idea it is easy to come to the conclusion of a better idea. The first better idea would be to stop publicizing all the negative habits and addictions that some writers face. Instead, the media should not applaud the downfalls and should not associate their addictions with acclaim. If we continue to applaud and shrug off that behavior, it perpetuates the idea that drug abuse and alcoholism is acceptable if you are a writer. Which it is not. Another better idea would be to show the realistic settings and challenges that writers go through for perfection in their words. It would be better to display the writing process as a natural experience instead of a magical experience where words just spew in a mythical fashion. That way the public can allow themselves to fully digest the realistic views of writers as everyday people. Who happen to create amazing works of literature through hard work and diligence. Overall, I feel the better idea is to show the hardships and accomplishments that come along with every aspect of the craft. To show writers in a realistic light throughout media is to display their hard work overall is the bigger and better idea. The reason this is important is that it offers a human perspective to average people and displays writing as an attainable career for everyone, not just the lucky few.
Annotated Bibliography
- “Alcohol and the Writer.” Alcohol and the Writer, by Donald W. GOODWIN, Penguin Books, 1990. pg.11-20.
- Osborne, Lawrence. “’The Trip to Echo Spring,’ by Olivia Laing.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/books/review/the-trip-to-echo-spring-by-olivia-laing.html.
- Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. The Pursuit of Perfection: and How It Harms Writers. WMG Publishing, 2013. pg.130-131.