The Bell Jar

I’ve been trying to read more lately.  Well, more than my usual none.

See, there are certain aspects of certain books in the Tiny Life series that I haven’t written yet.  For instance, in the book coming out sometime in the next year, left, there are a few instances where I’ve changed what characters have said dozens of times because it never sounds quite right.  In left I’m introducing something like five new characters so I’m still trying to find some of their voices (later on in the series I seem to have them down pretty well, but this was the book where they were first invented and it can take some time, so I have to go back and change things).  The best way to think of some new ideas is to see some new perspectives.  The best way to do that is to read a lot.

Over the last few days I’ve read The Bell Jar.  I gotta say that Plath is probably one of the most minimalistic voices I’ve ever read.  She says in just one sentence what most writers would take pages to explain.  I can’t find the page, but she explains how it feels to pass out and describes the entire experience in three lines.  As a writer, I want to be like that; as a comic writer, a REALLY want to be like that.

While I was reading it, I couldn’t help but feel her pain.  I think we’ve all felt that, logically, it just doesn’t make ay sense to get up in the morning.  You take a shower (you’ll just have to do it again tomorrow), you go to work (you’ll just have to do it again tomorrow), you eat lunch (you’ll just have to do it again tomorrow), maybe you come home to a loved one (you’ll just have to do it again tomorrow).  I can, however, see the criticisms of the book.

This album got me through a lot of imagined heartache.

I felt the most like this as a teenager.  I remember thinking that everything was meaningless and Trent Reznor really understood my pain.  I remember telling people this and I remember them telling me I was just a whiney teen.

 

These crazy MFs buy a lot of shit.

Hopefully Tiny Life doesn’t come off like this.  I want to make it seem real and full of life (I imagine, much like Plath wanted to make The Bell Jar feel very real).  I don’t want people to mistake what I have to say for teenage whining. 

 

But then again, if you take a look at the number of Mangas sold and the number of Emo albums sold, that might not be such a bad thing.