Ask the Author: pleasefindthis
Answered Questions (14)
pleasefindthis
Yes, my father passed away in January two years ago. I write a bit about him in How To Be Happy, it's not a happy subject and so the whole thing smacks of irony.
Here's a poem about him from the book.
"It’s been a while
But I still remember the way
Your brother turned away
At the funeral
As if there was somewhere to look
That didn’t hurt."
There's a lot of that, in that book and quite a bit of him in me. We had the same name except my "Iain" has the extra "i" in it. I can't really remember him being able to walk, as he had Multiple Sclerosis from the year I was born, and at the end he couldn't read either, so he never actually read any of my books. Although my mother read some of my poetry to him and apparently he said to her once that he understood that I was successful, but not what any of it meant. Which is ok. I still love and loved him, just as he loved me. He was the strongest man I ever met.
Here's a poem about him from the book.
"It’s been a while
But I still remember the way
Your brother turned away
At the funeral
As if there was somewhere to look
That didn’t hurt."
There's a lot of that, in that book and quite a bit of him in me. We had the same name except my "Iain" has the extra "i" in it. I can't really remember him being able to walk, as he had Multiple Sclerosis from the year I was born, and at the end he couldn't read either, so he never actually read any of my books. Although my mother read some of my poetry to him and apparently he said to her once that he understood that I was successful, but not what any of it meant. Which is ok. I still love and loved him, just as he loved me. He was the strongest man I ever met.
pleasefindthis
The act of reading or writing poetry is the conscious choice to see the burning light behind all things, to not see love, hate, death, life, a drive in a car or a shopping trip simply as processes but to look for meaning and substance behind each and every act.
Is poetry a part of me?
Poetry is a part of everything. But only for those who make the choice to see it.
Is poetry a part of me?
Poetry is a part of everything. But only for those who make the choice to see it.
pleasefindthis
I think sadness can be a very productive emotion for artists and so there is the temptation to wallow in it, to bask in sadness and hold it sacred as some sort of magical gift that allows you to be creative - this can then lead to depression and in many cases, suicide.
It can be harder to write moving work from a place where you're not saturated with emotion but as a writer you can't go around holding the back of your hand to your head yelling "Woah is me!" and expect anyone to take you seriously. As a writer, your job is not to do the easy thing. It's to do the hard thing, and create beautiful work regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.
The most beautiful things I have ever written have come from a place of peace and acceptance, not sadness.
It can be harder to write moving work from a place where you're not saturated with emotion but as a writer you can't go around holding the back of your hand to your head yelling "Woah is me!" and expect anyone to take you seriously. As a writer, your job is not to do the easy thing. It's to do the hard thing, and create beautiful work regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.
The most beautiful things I have ever written have come from a place of peace and acceptance, not sadness.
pleasefindthis
You get poetry out there by sharing it, which sounds like a dumb answer but that's the truth. If people like what you write, they share it with their friends who then share it with their friends. At least that's the way it seems to work from where I sit.
Note: keeping this at the front of your mind means that you will attempt to write popular poetry, which is not always the same thing as good poetry.
You can also read your poetry at open mic nights although I don't do that nearly as often as I used to. Poetry that's meant to be read and poetry that's meant to be heard are often two different things.
Note: keeping this at the front of your mind means that you will attempt to write popular poetry, which is not always the same thing as good poetry.
You can also read your poetry at open mic nights although I don't do that nearly as often as I used to. Poetry that's meant to be read and poetry that's meant to be heard are often two different things.
pleasefindthis
It all depends on what I'm writing. The tools you use influence what you write. The same way a musician might want a specific kind of ambience inside a studio to create a specific kind of music, I try to use different things for different tasks. If I have a few sentences that have been in my head for days, then I don't mind jotting those down quickly in a google document to make sure I don't lose them. But If I'm actively trying to write a poem, if I've sat down with that intention in mind, I use a fountain pen or a black ballpoint pen, never blue, on white unlined paper.
If I'm working on a longer piece of work, I work in a program called Scrivener that let's you keep track of scenes and characters and events.
Language exists in two phases, one in which it is purely an abstract phenomena - there should, logically, be no difference between listening to an audio book and reading the same story in hardcover or as an ebook.
But yet there is, there is an inherent beauty in the black shapes on the white background, there is nuance in the shape of the letters and whether they appear as pixels or as something more analogue.
The way you write something will ultimately dictate what you write.
The short answer is: Both.
What do I like most about the writing process?
The fact that it's a space I get to be perfect in. I can sit and edit and move a comma backwards and forward and move sentences around until I feel that what I want to say has been conveyed perfectly. Real life doesn't offer the same luxury.
If I'm working on a longer piece of work, I work in a program called Scrivener that let's you keep track of scenes and characters and events.
Language exists in two phases, one in which it is purely an abstract phenomena - there should, logically, be no difference between listening to an audio book and reading the same story in hardcover or as an ebook.
But yet there is, there is an inherent beauty in the black shapes on the white background, there is nuance in the shape of the letters and whether they appear as pixels or as something more analogue.
The way you write something will ultimately dictate what you write.
The short answer is: Both.
What do I like most about the writing process?
The fact that it's a space I get to be perfect in. I can sit and edit and move a comma backwards and forward and move sentences around until I feel that what I want to say has been conveyed perfectly. Real life doesn't offer the same luxury.
pleasefindthis
My name when I write anything related to I Wrote This For You is pleasefindthis, for all my other work it's Iain S. Thomas. The "S" is there as a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson and to avoid confusion with the Belgium pop star, Ian Thomas. (It stands for Sinclair).
pleasefindthis
I think every human on this planet has moments when they are deeper than anything portrayed in film or literature because we are overwhelmed by the world around us, whether someone has broken our heart or we've been told we have cancer or we've just seen someone die in a car crash. The world is only shallow until it isn't.
pleasefindthis
I would like to think that I fall within the New Sincerity idea, predicted by David Foster Wallace and exemplified by musicians such as Daniel Johnston.
You can read more about the idea here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sin...
Quote:
"The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the “Oh how banal”. To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law. Who knows."
My work is very straightforward and does what it says on the can. When I started writing like this in 2007, it gained a degree of popularity because, I think, everything else was drenched in irony, or trying to be funny, or cynical, or surreal. Back then I struggled to get a book deal because there was no reference point for what I'd done, and of course now there are four or five other writers who are constantly referenced in the same breath as me.
I write very straightforward prose and poetry about love or life or myself or other people. It's surfs up against the edge of being saccharine and I'm aware of that, but I also think that when it succeeds, it succeeds in a way that only something said truly sincerely can. That would be the beauty in it, as far as I'm concerned.
As I said in my first sentence, I "would like" to think that's where I fall within the idea of genre.
Otherwise I just write very commercially successful, very accessible poetry, which is a cardinal sin in academic circles, as far as I can tell.
You can read more about the idea here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sin...
Quote:
"The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the “Oh how banal”. To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law. Who knows."
My work is very straightforward and does what it says on the can. When I started writing like this in 2007, it gained a degree of popularity because, I think, everything else was drenched in irony, or trying to be funny, or cynical, or surreal. Back then I struggled to get a book deal because there was no reference point for what I'd done, and of course now there are four or five other writers who are constantly referenced in the same breath as me.
I write very straightforward prose and poetry about love or life or myself or other people. It's surfs up against the edge of being saccharine and I'm aware of that, but I also think that when it succeeds, it succeeds in a way that only something said truly sincerely can. That would be the beauty in it, as far as I'm concerned.
As I said in my first sentence, I "would like" to think that's where I fall within the idea of genre.
Otherwise I just write very commercially successful, very accessible poetry, which is a cardinal sin in academic circles, as far as I can tell.
pleasefindthis
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pleasefindthis
I think about what I feel and if what I feel is something everyone feels but hasn't bothered talking about yet.
pleasefindthis
A novel about the afterlife that I abandoned after my father died. Now I just circle the room around the keyboard like a nervous vulture and talk about how I should start writing it again.
The second collection of poetry and prose from I Wrote This For You.
A collection of short stories, prose and poetry that doesn't relate to I Wrote This For You.
The second collection of poetry and prose from I Wrote This For You.
A collection of short stories, prose and poetry that doesn't relate to I Wrote This For You.
pleasefindthis
Write, write more, then keep writing. No two roads are the same, I can't tell you how to do it, only how I did it and because I've already done it that way, the same route probably won't work for you.
But every writer I know seems to agree on the same thing: You need to write, a lot.
But every writer I know seems to agree on the same thing: You need to write, a lot.
pleasefindthis
I am only a writer when I write (the rest of the time, I am a husband, or a motorist, or the person who feeds the dogs and the cat) but in those moments, the best part of being a writer is writing.
pleasefindthis
I don't believe in writer's block anymore than I believe in builder's block or accountant's block. I believe there are days when writing is harder than it usually is but that's why it's called work, not 'happy fun time.'
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