[identity profile] aerofish.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] lkh_lashouts
I read something earlier that made me think of LKH and how she's ended up where she has. It's an interesting quote all on it's own and, I think, a useful piece of advice to ponder for any writer - or artist in general - and makes me think this is *exactly* what has happened to LKH.

"In order to be creative, there has to be a distance from you and the thing itself. It is only when the distance gets confused that things go wrong. If you actually start to believe that you are what you write, then you have fucking had it. You have had it, and you ain't coming back. To assume that everything is about [one's own] life is to assume that that person is inherently stupid and isn't capable of absorbing anything else. The whole point of creativity is that you spend your whole life absorbing things almost to where it is unbearable. The way you deal with it is to get it out."

That's from Radiohead's Thom Yorke. I feel I have angered the Gods by including LKH and Yorke in the same post, because Lord knows that even at her very best LKH is/was no Thom Yorke(IMO); not even in neighboring universes actually.

It was from an interview where it was discussed how Thom's writings/lyrics were projected onto him so completely and as he states it, they "assume that everything is about [his] life". And about how, due to public opinions and success and media/journalists and sadly, sometimes people surrounding you, one can come to believe it themselves, become conditioned to be self-absorbed to a paralyzing point. After awhile, all you have to share with the world is this warped, regurgitated view of yourself. Which isn't creativity at all, it's masterbation.

Anyway... methinks this is what happened to LKH. Instead of growing and furthering her writing skills, she gave into the machinery surrounding her, and started to truly buy into the idea she is exactly what she writes.

That's all. Just a random (longish) ramble. :)

Date: 2006-07-22 05:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_cynical_beauty/
As much as it pains me to even mention LKH in the same breath as Thom Yorke (a god among men, in my opinion)...
you do have a point.
*shudders*

Date: 2006-07-23 04:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_cynical_beauty/
Hehe, I would join you :D
Greatest. Man. Ever.

Date: 2006-07-23 05:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_cynical_beauty/
Oh, don't remind me. :(
No I did not. I fought and fought and fought to go...but things just didn't go as I had hoped.
Did you?
Have you heard Thom Yorke's solo CD btw?

Date: 2006-07-23 03:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_cynical_beauty/
Ahh, I'm so envious of you! Twice? And FRONT ROW? I think my heart is swelling at the very idea of front row at a Radiohead concert.

I really like his CD. I thought I wouldn't (don't ask me why, but I did) but I really enjoy. I can't listen to it very often though, it sort of makes me depressed. haha.

Date: 2006-07-22 06:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mneiai.livejournal.com
It's kind of like that Incubus song that mentions Elvis and Jesus in the same manner. Except, you know, LKH isn't anything like Elvis or Jesus (though, if she continues on the Anne Rice motif, she might be close to Jesus, soon).

So, do you think she started out with Anita as a completely separate character and then, over time, identified with her more and more?

Date: 2006-07-22 06:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mneiai.livejournal.com
Well, in LKH's case, it's pretty obvious that at first, yeah, Anita was a litle like her, if only in looks.

Well, with authors it's not as if they're actually getting that much money or fame. I doubt most people who read her books would recognize LKH in person, for example. It seems more as if LKH wants to convince herself that, yes, she's that famous.

I have to wonder how much the people in her life, such as Jon, have had to do with this. I mean, he was...the president?...of her fan club? So he might have had a heard time separating her from Anita, for example.

Date: 2006-07-23 02:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thesaneminority.livejournal.com
Yeah, how many authors would a person recognise on the streets? Stephen King? And I think I'd only recognise him because he's done cameos in some of his films, combined with the fact that he's a bit...unique looking.

So I'm not the only person who thinks he looks a bit like a gargoyle, then?

Date: 2006-07-23 12:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyravana.livejournal.com
Very insightful post, and quite fascinating. You bring up a lot of good points in this, and it makes a lot of sense. All joking aside, LKH deluded herself and well, in a way, fell in love with her character and became so self-absorbed with what she created that she ended up deluding herself that she's more famous than she really is.

And well, in all seriousness, Anita has become very much a projection of herself, therefore becoming what is famously known in fanfiction a "Mary-Sue." (And, incidentally, that term is banned on the LKH forums.) She denies it vehemently, but it's painfully obvious if you look at the facts and Anita's timeline and the gradual decline of the books.

She lives in a state of denial, and it is true that she became so close to her own character that she almost seems to have trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality, therefore making her certifiably batshit insane. Or, at the VERY least, she borderlines on it and is well on her way to getting a one-way ticket to the Looney Bin.

And well, her life is reflected in her work, and the characters are symbolic of some people in her own life. Like, Richard being a projection of her ex-husband, and her using him as an emotional punching bag and beating on/abusing his character quite brutally. And Micah AND Nathaniel being a projection of her current husband, Jon. To Micah and Nath, Anita can do no wrong, so it's the same with her husband Jon. In his eyes, Laurell can do no wrong, she is perfection. Scary thought, no?

But this was an interesting, thought-provoking post.

Oh, and another person that LKH isn't even in the same universe as would be Neil Gaiman. He is one hella AWESOME writer. He's what LKH could never be. American Gods? Bloody fucking BRILLIANT. Just thought I would say. *cough*

If you haven't already checked him out, I highly recommend him. He makes a soothing balm for her GODawful writing.

Anyways, sorry for all the rambling. Heh. I'm feeling quite chatty m'self. ^^

Date: 2006-07-23 05:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mist72.livejournal.com
<<<<
[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<after [...] yourself.>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

<<<<<After awhile, all you have to share with the world is this warped, regurgitated view of yourself. Which isn't creativity at all, it's masterbation>>>>>>

You know I feel this way about many artists out there nowadays. And I am coming to realize it about LKH. I think it was Joe Bob Briggs that made a comment on recent studio horror pictures, singling out Eli Roth (when Cabin Fever came out), and he used the exact terms: artist and masturabatory. The guy (Roth) is so full of himself (and I met him after reading these comments about him and they are all true) that he propbably makes his own movies so he can sit in a darkened theatre and whack off to them.

It's really too bad that too mant artists show their conceit on the screen or pages nowadays....

Profile

lkh_lashouts: (Default)
LKH Lashouts

January 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 11th, 2025 07:36 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios