Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
By Anne Lamott (1994)
Published by Pantheon Books, New York.
Introduction: Page xix
"The other kids always wanted me to tell them stories of what had happened, even---or especially--- when they had been there. Parties that got away from us, blowups in the classroom, or on the school yard, scenes involving their parents that we had witnessed---I could make the story happen. I could make it vivid and funny, and even exaggerate some of it so that the event became almost mythical, and the people involved seemed larger, and there was a sense of larger significance, of meaning.
Page 50 (On Narrators)
"They shouldn't be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting. I like for them to have a nice sick sense of humour and to be concerned with important things, by which I mean that they are interested in political and psychological and spiritual matters. I want them to want to know who we are and what life is about."
Page 103 (On the Moral Point of View)
"Telling these truths is your job. You have nothing else to tell us. But needless to say, you can't tell them in a sentence or a paragraph; the truth doesn't come out in bumper stickers. There may be a flickering amount of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words."
Page 204
"...as Marianne Moore put it "the world's an orphans home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling too, of connection, of communion."
Page 237 (On why Writing Matters)
"Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
By Anne Lamott (1994)
Published by Pantheon Books, New York.
Introduction: Page xix
"The other kids always wanted me to tell them stories of what had happened, even---or especially--- when they had been there. Parties that got away from us, blowups in the classroom, or on the school yard, scenes involving their parents that we had witnessed---I could make the story happen. I could make it vivid and funny, and even exaggerate some of it so that the event became almost mythical, and the people involved seemed larger, and there was a sense of larger significance, of meaning.
Page 50 (On Narrators)
"They shouldn't be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting. I like for them to have a nice sick sense of humour and to be concerned with important things, by which I mean that they are interested in political and psychological and spiritual matters. I want them to want to know who we are and what life is about."
Page 103 (On the Moral Point of View)
"Telling these truths is your job. You have nothing else to tell us. But needless to say, you can't tell them in a sentence or a paragraph; the truth doesn't come out in bumper stickers. There may be a flickering amount of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words."
Page 204
"...as Marianne Moore put it "the world's an orphans home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling too, of connection, of communion."
Page 237 (On why Writing Matters)
"Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
On Collage
I am really interested in using collage as a design strategy to draw people into reading. I think that collage is a good way to cohesively illustrate a variety of eras and subjects. I am thinking of this in the way that it could be used in an Ipad app that "recommends" or introduces certain books to readers.
Collage is really flexible in the way the subject of the imagery can control the tone; masculine, feminine, 1950s, 1980s, fun, scary etc, but it still consistent because the overriding aesthetic of the medium.
Collage is also really playful and engaging. It is not intellectual or intimidating. It can be done artfully and subtly, it is tactile and has a romance and nostalgia which ties in nicely with promoting the reading of physical books. I would like to see the contrast of simple handmade collage (and collaged videos) on the technology touch screen of the Ipad. I see it as a really nice contrast.
Also it doesn't over power the imagination as it is quite abstract. Illustration to a novel could easily take away from the text, constricting the freedom of the readers imagination to picture the scenes and characters in a way that they best connect with.
Also it doesn't over power the imagination as it is quite abstract. Illustration to a novel could easily take away from the text, constricting the freedom of the readers imagination to picture the scenes and characters in a way that they best connect with.
Monday, April 23, 2012
James Bridle Talks About Books
James Bridle has many interesting things to say about books and e-books. In "The Condition of Music" talk he talks about how new media should not be used to "embellish" or add illustrations to books but instead to give the book a context. He talks of introductions etc. I agree with that idea, I think that the adding on to text can be very gimmicky. He is also interested in how we could "own" the reading experience in the new digital era. Online book communities etc. His blog is: http://booktwo.org/
Here is a little sketch of his of the book's lifeline.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
NZ Book Council
New Zealand Book Council
Bringing Books and People Together
Like no other human activity reading opens up our imagination. It enables us to understand those around us. It allows us to project the future and reach back into the past. Reading can entertain, challenge and educate. We believe that reading can transform people's lives.
Our mission is to inspire more New Zealanders to read more; to promote reading in general, but particularly to represent and promote New Zealand writing and writers – our own artists, stories and points of view.
http://www.everythingmarketing.co.nz/showcase/2011/6
NZ Book Month’s Books Change Lives campaign was announced as the winner of the Not-for-Profit Award at the 2011 NZ Marketing Awards.
In March this year, the organisers attempted something huge and, as part of the Books Change Lives campaign, aimed to put a book in the hands of every New Zealander by distributing more than four million $5 vouchers. It was an immense undertaking and to do it, buy in was needed from the country's publishers and retailers so point of sale advertising could be shown in stores and vouchers could be redeemed for any book.
Benchmarks were difficult to set, as the campaign was a world first, but its objectives were all well and truly surpassed. The organisers aimed to get 50 percent of booksellers on board, and felt a one percent redemption rate would make it a success. Amazingly, they managed to persuade 85 percent of the retailers and 95 percent of the publishers to join the scheme (in theory, a $20 million commitment) and the redemption rate was 2.25 percent.
In January and February, New Zealand book sales were down eight percent. In March, as a direct result of the campaign, they were up 12.5 percent year on year and sales continued to increase in April, with increases across all categories particularly non-fiction and children's.
NZ Book Month’s Books Change Lives campaign was announced as the winner of the Not-for-Profit Award at the 2011 NZ Marketing Awards.
Not-for-Profit Award
Open to organisations whose activities involve fundraising, community services or any other activity where profit is not used as a measure of success.
Year
2011Winner
New Zealand Book MonthThe People
Donella Parker, Member of the BoardThe Partners
Marnie Brannigan, Account Director, Rapport Advertising and MarketingBooks Change Lives
NZ Book month is an annual celebration with a simple intent: to promote books, reading and literacy amongst all Kiwis – young or old, beginner or pro. It was established six years ago to address the fact that, year after year, the number of books sold in New Zealand decreases. And this creates a serious cultural issue: Kiwi authors struggle to maintain a career and our country's stories go untold.In March this year, the organisers attempted something huge and, as part of the Books Change Lives campaign, aimed to put a book in the hands of every New Zealander by distributing more than four million $5 vouchers. It was an immense undertaking and to do it, buy in was needed from the country's publishers and retailers so point of sale advertising could be shown in stores and vouchers could be redeemed for any book.
Benchmarks were difficult to set, as the campaign was a world first, but its objectives were all well and truly surpassed. The organisers aimed to get 50 percent of booksellers on board, and felt a one percent redemption rate would make it a success. Amazingly, they managed to persuade 85 percent of the retailers and 95 percent of the publishers to join the scheme (in theory, a $20 million commitment) and the redemption rate was 2.25 percent.
In January and February, New Zealand book sales were down eight percent. In March, as a direct result of the campaign, they were up 12.5 percent year on year and sales continued to increase in April, with increases across all categories particularly non-fiction and children's.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Telling Truths through Telling Stories
The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths through Telling Stories
By A. E. Spaulding
p. 4 “Much commercial advertising and certainly politics uses story, sometimes legitimately, to make something clear and sometimes to lead an audience to an “inescapable” conclusion. The issue is introduced here just to ensure that the story's power is recognized.”
p.4 “In contrast to formal education, storytelling allows a listener to allow an idea to grow naturally to fit the hearer.”
p. 8 “Storytelling is a form of giving. It can be used to impose ideas, but that is something else. You can preach with a story or sell with a story or teach with a story, but true storytelling should be a gift, with no demands that the story be interpreted in a particular way.”
p. 11 “A student once told my class in young adult literature that she read Animal Farm knowing that it was about racism–something that she was dealing with in her new parochial school. Orwell was writing about communism but she was reading it under different circumstances. One cannot help but view things through ones own experience.”
p. 11 “As a storyteller you are responsible for telling stories that have value of some kind, whether by putting forth questions, supplying answers, or providing wonder, comfort, or plain old entertainment.” ---- Similar to my thoughts on art and artists.
p. 13 “The joy comes not just from the story but also from connecting with others while sharing that story. It does not matter whether you are “sharing it out” by telling it or “sharing it in” by hearing the tellers words and creating it in your own mind.”
p.117 “This seems an appropriate place to say that there is a significant difference between learning and wisdom. One can be unlettered and very wise indeed, or one can have a great deal of learning and not be very wise. Before literacy was common, expertise was generally gained through experience, and it taught many generations very well. Now there are many people who have had had much education but have not allowed themselves to be “fertilized” by it, almost as if they attended an intellectual trade school, acquiring information rather than growing or changing.”
p.136 “The issue of choosing answers is supported in storytelling, sometimes just by reasuring the reader that consequences can't be known in advance, like the “bad luch/good luck” parable, so that self-blame can be avoided.”
p. 136 “Stories give one the chance to work in a laboratory of imagination to sort out values and issues relating to trust, integrity, self respect and so forth in a place where no physical danger is involved.”
Monday, April 16, 2012
Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative #2
Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative
By Will Eisner (2008)
Page 47.
Empathy
"Perhaps the most basic of human characteristics is empathy. This trait can be used as a major conduit in the delivery of of a story. It's exploitation can be counted upon as one of the storyteller's tools.
Empathy is a visceral reaction of one human being to the plight of another. The ability to "feel" the pain, fear, joy of someone else enables the storyteller to evoke an emotional contact with the reader. We see ample evidence of this in movie theaters where people weep over the grief of an actor, who is pretending while in an event which is not really happening."
Page 48.
"On the other hand, researchers argue that empathy results from our ability to run through our minds a narrative of the sequence of a particular event. This not only suggests cognitive capacity but an innate ability to understand a story."
Page 71.
Reading Comics and Watching Films
"Both are storytellers working through their mediums to make contact with an audience. But each has a different engagement with its audience. Film requires nothing more than spectator attention, while comics need a certain amount of literacy and participation. A film watcher is imprisoned until the film ends while the comics reader is free to roam, to peak at the ending, or to dwell on an image and fantasize."
Page 166.
E.H. Gombrich "Art and Illusion"
"The true miracle of the language of art, he tells us, is that it can teach us to see the visible world afresh and give us the illusion of looking into the invisible realms of the mind."
By Will Eisner (2008)
Page 47.
Empathy
"Perhaps the most basic of human characteristics is empathy. This trait can be used as a major conduit in the delivery of of a story. It's exploitation can be counted upon as one of the storyteller's tools.
Empathy is a visceral reaction of one human being to the plight of another. The ability to "feel" the pain, fear, joy of someone else enables the storyteller to evoke an emotional contact with the reader. We see ample evidence of this in movie theaters where people weep over the grief of an actor, who is pretending while in an event which is not really happening."
Page 48.
"On the other hand, researchers argue that empathy results from our ability to run through our minds a narrative of the sequence of a particular event. This not only suggests cognitive capacity but an innate ability to understand a story."
Page 71.
Reading Comics and Watching Films
"Both are storytellers working through their mediums to make contact with an audience. But each has a different engagement with its audience. Film requires nothing more than spectator attention, while comics need a certain amount of literacy and participation. A film watcher is imprisoned until the film ends while the comics reader is free to roam, to peak at the ending, or to dwell on an image and fantasize."
Page 166.
E.H. Gombrich "Art and Illusion"
"The true miracle of the language of art, he tells us, is that it can teach us to see the visible world afresh and give us the illusion of looking into the invisible realms of the mind."
Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative
Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative
By Will Eisner (2008)
Pages 1-6.
By Will Eisner (2008)
Pages 1-6.
Storytelling and Branding
Storytelling: Branding in Practice
By Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz, Philip Munch & Stephen Blanchette
2nd Edition (2010)
Page 8.
"A company's culture is their reason for existing and shows the direction for the future. When it comes to making that culture visible, nothing is stronger than the ancient art of storytelling."
"....the core story is attached to branding and marketing as a tool for creating an understanding of the company internally and externally. In other words, a story describes the core of the company."
Page 9.
"Our long journey into the storytelling universe has taught us that the core story in itself--and the authentic stories that support it--has far greater potential that goes beyond the borders of branding and marketing."
"As many know, strong corporate culture cannot be bought. The only way to achieve a strong culture and a strong brand is to develop you company culture and then make it visible. In this respect, storytelling is an indispensable tool for activating and making the company's DNA visible and creating a shared direction. Authentic stories are tools for your company's business strategy--without a strong company culture you will not succeed in achieving a solid and credible brand."
Page 17.
"As a concept, storytelling has won a decisive foothold in the debate on how brands of the future will be shaped."
Page18.
Page 21.
The West is a world of material excess, yet most companies continue to manufacture products and services that look pretty much the same. They have failed to understand that we do not want more products. The marketplace is already so saturated, we have difficulty choosing and the rational arguments as to why we have to buy a specific company's product are not sufficient. A quality product at an affordable price is no longer a decisive factor or an advantage. Instead, we demand products that provide us with unique experiences: products that appeal to our dreams and emotions and add meaning to our pursuit of "the good life".
Page 24.
By Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz, Philip Munch & Stephen Blanchette
2nd Edition (2010)
Page 8.
"A company's culture is their reason for existing and shows the direction for the future. When it comes to making that culture visible, nothing is stronger than the ancient art of storytelling."
"....the core story is attached to branding and marketing as a tool for creating an understanding of the company internally and externally. In other words, a story describes the core of the company."
Page 9.
"Our long journey into the storytelling universe has taught us that the core story in itself--and the authentic stories that support it--has far greater potential that goes beyond the borders of branding and marketing."
"As many know, strong corporate culture cannot be bought. The only way to achieve a strong culture and a strong brand is to develop you company culture and then make it visible. In this respect, storytelling is an indispensable tool for activating and making the company's DNA visible and creating a shared direction. Authentic stories are tools for your company's business strategy--without a strong company culture you will not succeed in achieving a solid and credible brand."
Page 17.
"As a concept, storytelling has won a decisive foothold in the debate on how brands of the future will be shaped."
Page18.
Page 21.
The West is a world of material excess, yet most companies continue to manufacture products and services that look pretty much the same. They have failed to understand that we do not want more products. The marketplace is already so saturated, we have difficulty choosing and the rational arguments as to why we have to buy a specific company's product are not sufficient. A quality product at an affordable price is no longer a decisive factor or an advantage. Instead, we demand products that provide us with unique experiences: products that appeal to our dreams and emotions and add meaning to our pursuit of "the good life".
Page 24.
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