Standards of Intelligence Are Actually For The Misguided

Collectively we tend to demarcate certain measures where those in the same vocation are to assess themselves. So-called 'standard bearers' are there to quantify our own talents and our own competence in relation to or colleagues.

Yet it seems to me this waste of competition is nonsensical and that every time I run across one of these yardsticks it falls short from the start.

For news it is always the  'New York Times'. For a paper that wins awards, and therein lies the problem, it seems it has always had difficulty in getting the to and out the truth out. Whether its the Spanish-American War, the existence of Concentration Camps in Germany, and a celebrated wunderkind writer who paints tales of being overseas while chomping on pizza in his Manhattan loft; I can't it seriously.

And while we are in Gotham, what about those cartoons in 'The New Yorker'? The vague insipid caricatures that Seinfeld's show so successfully slew with sarcasm. I actually had a friend from the City tell me she knew whether or not to pursue a romantic relationship with someone depending upon that person's reaction to the 'joke' from that issue's cartoons.

Really? Really.

What brings me to this point is a recent editor I spoke with in connection with a new set of classes I am going to teach told me the sure sign of writing excellence and overall talent is possessed in the simple test of brevity. Those who can write a story in less than two hundred characters is a true story teller; in other words embrace the 'twitter-verse' the future of fiction. If you can't, then he told me, you can't write.

Right? Right.

When writing consider the editor who is going to chose. Prizes, awards, degrees and  punch-less statements  may seem clever to some, but if someone believes he is clever he isn't and its best you stay away from those who look to mold you and constrict you.

To be an artist, a true artist, is to expand and experiment but also push for more. One line stories and twitter tales are cute exercises and exercises only; in the same way flawless jumping jacks may look impressive, but will never win a game at any sport. 

"Gloomy Gus' realization the 'self-control' is what WAS missing in his life came ironically too late as his car flipped over the cliff."

In days prior this would be first line to a story now it is the story. We are missing a lot in our writing these days.