Give them the markers, Owen, but let them wander. Make them earn it. If they want TikTok level depth and velocity, the distraction is already in their hands. Keep the story in the knives mate. Cut that bastard down.
In college I took a history class that focused on the novel War & Peace. It was a small class of around probably 20 or so people. We were assigned chapters to read and then discussed them. At some point our professor started to play the movie during class time. Not the Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda version. But the 6+ hour version in Russian with subtitles. I think I made it through 2 classes before I stopped going, and I fell asleep during both. I never finished reading the book, either. Yet somehow I managed to write a paper on it and from what I remember got a reasonably good grade on it.
Like Rear Window, the book and the movie were made in a different era. Back when we didn’t have the distractions of television or the internet or social media. Back when someone would be willing to read a 1000+ page book, or sit through a 6+ hour movie (that wasn’t about elves or galactic rebellions).
We create things for the world as it is at the time. Tolstoy in 2026 would have written a much shorter book. James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock would have created a much different movie with faster pacing if they were making it today. You can lament that people don’t have the same attention spans now as they did 10 years ago, let alone 50. But the people from 50 years ago won’t be reading your book. The people with short attention spans will. I think the real art is staying true to yourself and your story and being able to share it with others.
Refreshing; you earned the turn - er...scroll...from me. Just make sure the knives are in the right spot.
Give them the markers, Owen, but let them wander. Make them earn it. If they want TikTok level depth and velocity, the distraction is already in their hands. Keep the story in the knives mate. Cut that bastard down.
In college I took a history class that focused on the novel War & Peace. It was a small class of around probably 20 or so people. We were assigned chapters to read and then discussed them. At some point our professor started to play the movie during class time. Not the Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda version. But the 6+ hour version in Russian with subtitles. I think I made it through 2 classes before I stopped going, and I fell asleep during both. I never finished reading the book, either. Yet somehow I managed to write a paper on it and from what I remember got a reasonably good grade on it.
Like Rear Window, the book and the movie were made in a different era. Back when we didn’t have the distractions of television or the internet or social media. Back when someone would be willing to read a 1000+ page book, or sit through a 6+ hour movie (that wasn’t about elves or galactic rebellions).
We create things for the world as it is at the time. Tolstoy in 2026 would have written a much shorter book. James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock would have created a much different movie with faster pacing if they were making it today. You can lament that people don’t have the same attention spans now as they did 10 years ago, let alone 50. But the people from 50 years ago won’t be reading your book. The people with short attention spans will. I think the real art is staying true to yourself and your story and being able to share it with others.