Writers Who Can Remember Freedom
Dec. 27th, 2014 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithToday I found this speech from Ursula K. LeGuin:
Well, here I am. I remember freedoms past and future. I remember different systems of economy, justice, agriculture, all kinds of things. I've never belonged to just one culture or time or place. I'm always a mix, always a little out of step, and thus always able to see beyond the boundaries and think outside the box.
I believe that by showing people alternatives, I can keep those ideas and possibilities alive. Some things that happen in other worlds are perfectly replicable in this one. I believe that by telling positive stories, I can give people the option of supporting that perspective. I believe that by presenting diverse characters, I can reflect the experiences of my audience. I believe that people deserve alternatives to the mainstream entertainment. There is so much more out there. Tell ALL the stories!
It is about freedom. It's about academic and aesthetic freedom. For example, I choose not to present tyrannical tactics as a good thing, and I choose to present extended families in a positive light. But it's also about the freedom to live our own lives. As a freelance wordsmith I have a great deal of control over my own time and work. I make what would be stupendous amounts of money as a hobby, but not quite enough to support a household securely. I would rather deal with that than the frankly abusive atmosphere that pervades most of the job market. My bullshit tolerance is far too low to survive that; I've already had to walk away from -- or been kicked out of -- gigs because my standards of behavior or quality control were incompatibly higher than those of the people in charge. With crowdfunding, I can find folks who are compatible. I really like that. It's very freeing.
Dream the future you want to see, and I'll write it down.
I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope. We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries — the realists of a larger reality. …
Books, you know, they’re not just commodities. The profit motive often is in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art — the art of words.
I have had a long career and a good one. In good company. Now here, at the end of it, I really don’t want to watch American literature get sold down the river. We who live by writing and publishing want — and should demand — our fair share of the proceeds. But the name of our beautiful reward is not profit. Its name is freedom.
Books, you know, they’re not just commodities. The profit motive often is in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art — the art of words.
I have had a long career and a good one. In good company. Now here, at the end of it, I really don’t want to watch American literature get sold down the river. We who live by writing and publishing want — and should demand — our fair share of the proceeds. But the name of our beautiful reward is not profit. Its name is freedom.
Well, here I am. I remember freedoms past and future. I remember different systems of economy, justice, agriculture, all kinds of things. I've never belonged to just one culture or time or place. I'm always a mix, always a little out of step, and thus always able to see beyond the boundaries and think outside the box.
I believe that by showing people alternatives, I can keep those ideas and possibilities alive. Some things that happen in other worlds are perfectly replicable in this one. I believe that by telling positive stories, I can give people the option of supporting that perspective. I believe that by presenting diverse characters, I can reflect the experiences of my audience. I believe that people deserve alternatives to the mainstream entertainment. There is so much more out there. Tell ALL the stories!
It is about freedom. It's about academic and aesthetic freedom. For example, I choose not to present tyrannical tactics as a good thing, and I choose to present extended families in a positive light. But it's also about the freedom to live our own lives. As a freelance wordsmith I have a great deal of control over my own time and work. I make what would be stupendous amounts of money as a hobby, but not quite enough to support a household securely. I would rather deal with that than the frankly abusive atmosphere that pervades most of the job market. My bullshit tolerance is far too low to survive that; I've already had to walk away from -- or been kicked out of -- gigs because my standards of behavior or quality control were incompatibly higher than those of the people in charge. With crowdfunding, I can find folks who are compatible. I really like that. It's very freeing.
Dream the future you want to see, and I'll write it down.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-27 11:23 pm (UTC)Any future? Or just one you also want to see?
Well...
Date: 2014-12-27 11:34 pm (UTC)I have written things that are absolutely not to my taste, on cases where I got a great idea for them or it was the only prompt offered. Occasionally it's good to stretch. It's very rare that I'll just give up on a prompt, and I do reserve the right to decline things that are offensive or that clash with my canons, but I've at least tried almost everything requested. I doubt that I do as well in poorly matched areas, though.
If there are things you are really, really into that are far from my expertise or tastes, you can prompt me for them and take your chances on the results -- or you can look for a different crowdfunder who shares that particular interest. I heartily encourage patrons to shop around. There are other people whose projects I enjoy because they write from a different angle than I do.
You'll see this with artists, too, by the way. They'll say "I am really good at drawing people, not so good at animals" or "I can do humans, aliens, and furry creatures, okay at architectures, not good at complex machines" or "I will draw your SF gadgets! Without people in them." It can be fun to explore.
Re: Well...
Date: 2014-12-28 03:19 am (UTC)I know, I know, kind of an odd response. But I do.
Re: Well...
Date: 2014-12-28 03:25 am (UTC)Crowdfunding is about finding a business model that works for you, whether you're a patron or creator or both. So you need to know what you like and what you can do. The things I enjoy and do well, I can do a lot of, but it's not necessarily good to do ONLY those things. The things that push my limits, I could not do as much of, but it's a good idea to try them occasionally.
Once in a while I find myself veering off into a whole new area that I hadn't explored before. It was a fan's prompt that got me into steampunk, after all -- just took the right idea for me to find a version of it that I liked. Which is rather different from the standard, but still recognizably related.
I aim for a balance.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-28 03:45 am (UTC)I guess my particular line on this (as in angle of approach, not as in dialogue) is getting to be 'Dream the future you don't want to see and I'll make something decent out of it, shaded in writerly watercolors.'
Thoughts
Date: 2014-12-28 06:02 am (UTC)Yeah, that's a problem.
>> I guess my particular line on this (as in angle of approach, not as in dialogue) is getting to be 'Dream the future you don't want to see and I'll make something decent out of it, shaded in writerly watercolors.' <<
Tell ALL the stories! I quite enjoy reading your edition of "Do not pass, for here there be dragons!"
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-28 01:52 pm (UTC)I wonder what a post-scarcity world would look like? Imagine 50 years from now, we've mined the asteroids, so there's no materials limit... we've mastered fusion and solar energy, so there's limitless power...we've built floating hydroponic farms on the oceans, so there's no lack of food and water...and we've made basic unconditional income and negative income tax human rights.. so there's no need to work just to live...
What would we do with ourselves I wonder? [or maybe what wouldn't we do?] Crazy thing is, for all that sounds like some wide-eyed utopia, nothing there is impossible, or even improbable now. Provided civilisation doesn't self-destruct before then.
Well...
Date: 2014-12-28 08:40 pm (UTC)Well, look at any historical society with a low wealth gap and generous local supplies. That's a LOT of tribal communities and a handful of historic civilizations. Statistically then, you find that most people choose to live very simple lives ... and spend most of their time and energy on socializing. They sing, dance, tell stories, play games, and conduct ceremonies. Most of the people will have very simple homes, but maybe a big gathering hut or ceremonial tent. Most of the food will be easy, with occasional fandangous feasts. There's one tribe where clothing consists of a leaf tied around a man's dick. Ceremonial dress may be far more elaborate, whether cloth or paint.
Interestingly, this parallels what some people are doing with intentional community. Cohousing units are smaller and simpler, clustered around a big common house. People don't need to buy all their own tools; they can share things like a lawn mower that are only needed occasionally. They try to arrange things so people can work without using up all their time for survival needs. There are even some income-sharing communities.
The thing the capitalists forget, or perhaps misconstrue if they are themselves that lazy, is that most people are NOT lazy. They get bored. They want things to do. If they are not scrabbling to survive, they will find other things than a regular job. They will write, paint, sing, hike, spend time with their families, invent stuff ... the activities that make life worth living, and humanity grand. People who don't think those things are worthy make me go 0_o.
writing for freedom
Date: 2014-12-28 02:34 pm (UTC)ShiraDestinie
28 January, 12014 H.E. (Human Era)