m-alexander: "Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there."

~Henry Miller, Sexus


m-alexander: aneettebda introduced me to this speaker/poet through her poetry who's quite an entertaining guy. I thought this poem was rather hilarious:



Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.


m-alexander: "Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded."

--Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of Crime and Punishment

I could never get through Dostoevsky's book, not for its length, but its content. Yet after reading Tolstoy's work, I rather find him a less interesting man that Dostoevsky, who suffered so many injustices in his life that it's enough to make one shudder at the thought.


m-alexander: Though I can only call myself a fan of her first four books, that doesn't change the fact that Rowling transformed the art of commercial fiction for us all and opened doors of opportunity and inspiration to many authors, especially in the young adult and children's genera.



J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.


m-alexander: "...There is among you, dear readers, a particular group of people--by now a fairly sizable group--which I respect. I speak arrogantly to the vast majority of readers, but to them alone, and up to this point I've been speaking only to them. But with the particular group I just mentioned, I would have spoken humbly, even timidly. There is no need to offer them any explanation. I value their opinion, but I know in advance that they're on my side. Good, strong, honest, capable people--you have only just begun to appear among us; already there's a fair number of you and it's growing all the time. If you were my entire audience, there'd be no need for me to write. If you did not yet exists, it would be impossible for me to write. But you're not yet my entire audience, although some of you are numbered among my readers. Therefore, it's still necessary and already possible for me to write."

Nicolai Chernyshevsky, What is to be Done?

Quite a witty man whose work I greatly value.


m-alexander: I love this man:


Quotes from the video (may be paraphrased):

"It's really not a question of whether or not something's been done before, but what you can do with it. I've always maintained that if you haven't seen another movie on a subject or read another book on the subject, these things are never alike, they're like snowflakes."

"It's an artificial distinction between what's literature and what's popular fiction...We have fiction that we call literature, which tends to be about extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances, and then we have popular fiction, which is supposedly about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, but it's not always true."

"I measure my success by how interested I still am in what I do and how committed I am...but I measure satisfaction to some degree in people saying, 'that knocked me out.'"

--Stephen King


m-alexander: Well, I've been here for about a week, and I have to admit that--there's really no other way to put this--FS is freakin' sweet. It's like a small university of writers. I'm pretty satisfied with all the useful feedback I've gotten. Most people are fairly genuine and very pleasant, that's always a plus! I'm grateful to all the reviews I've received and I'll definitely be sticking around to hear more from you and review your work.
    Nicnac: Welcome to FanStory! :) -


m-alexander: Disregarding the tragic ending to Dazai's life, he wrote of a pure-hearted character who simply could not find conformity in humanity despite trying time and again. This is a quote by the renowned Japanese author who has written one of my all-time favorite works:

"Not long ago I learned from a certain person in considerable detail about the worthlessness of your character. All the same, it is you who have given me strength, you who have put the rainbow of revolution in my breast. It is you who have given an object to my life."

-- Osamu Dazai, author of The Setting Sun and No Longer Human



m-alexander: A fantastic speech by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, on writing and creativity:

    annettebda: was this where she spoke of the real nature of genius, and the need to 'show up, so that the genius can speak through our words.
    Annette -
    m-alexander: Yes, of how creativity, or "genius," exists outside of ourselves and will come to us so long as we continue to pursue our work. -
    annettebda: I had read her book "eat love pray" but that talk really made me a fan of hers. She spoke so much truth, especially when she stated that as a society we make huge demands on our creative people and give back very little in the way of support. -
    m-alexander: I'm actually reading it right now. I read the first few chapters online and then ran out and bought it the next day after listening to her speech! She has quite a talent of captivating people with how she views both life and writing. And yes, indeed, we do. All the more reason to support each other when we can :) -


m-alexander: What I've found to be one of C.S. Lewis's best lines in his fictional work:

"High above the last rags of scurrying clouds hung the Moon in all her wildness--not the voluptuous Moon of a thousand southern love-songs, but the huntress, the untameable virgin, the spearhead of madness."

-- C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength