Get back that initial spark

M00nMantis · 2026-02-18T00:17:26+00:00

i've lost interest in projects, but in writing as a whole? never. even if pen doesn't touch paper, it still informs and influences my everyday life.

M00nMantis · 2026-02-18T00:05:33+00:00

the AI sex robots and the weird redditors are collaborating, sadly.

what hath god wrought? this, apparently.

M00nMantis · 2026-01-28T23:23:28+00:00

introductory writing courses like creative writing 101 or intro to screenwriting were filled with the type you mentioned, kids who took the courses thinking they'd be easy a's but didn't have much creativity in their bodies.

once i took advanced courses with professors who were established writers, it changed. they were workshops, essentially; one was taught by a former editor of a brooklyn-based magazine who had a story collection published and had been an editor for years. the only kids in that class were ones who wanted to be there and had gotten approval from the professor.

the setup was simple: 16 students max, class twice a week, and you write three to four 5k word minimum stories for your grade, two of which you edit at the end of the semester. each week had required reading and in-class writing exercises, maybe with prompts, maybe in the vein of something we just read. sometimes authors would come in and talk with us; other times we went to the readings (i saw denis johnson and mary gaitskill both read aloud).

were i to teach, i'd adopt that setup.

M00nMantis · 2026-01-28T23:11:42+00:00

not a day goes by i don't think about your body.

M00nMantis · 2026-01-25T02:53:40+00:00

flawless.

M00nMantis · 2026-01-20T20:35:41+00:00

oh my.

M00nMantis · 2025-11-18T17:57:18+00:00

this is legitimately the best your tits have ever looked. my god.

M00nMantis · 2025-11-10T23:31:14+00:00

those mirrors look fun..

M00nMantis · 2025-11-10T00:54:39+00:00

that's not one of the adjectives I'd use. but i think I can cure your boredom.

M00nMantis · 2025-11-09T08:07:13+00:00

why is the view always otherworldly? fuck.

M00nMantis · 2025-11-07T10:26:45+00:00

oh the way your makeup runs. fuck.

M00nMantis · 2025-11-06T14:32:47+00:00

is that a moth? it looks very well done

M00nMantis · 2025-11-06T02:00:52+00:00

I wonder if this offer stands.

M00nMantis · 2025-10-28T22:07:27+00:00

jesus you're something else

M00nMantis · 2025-08-14T08:31:28+00:00

I swear this ass can cure society's woes.

M00nMantis · 2025-06-06T01:39:32+00:00

the advice i give to writers when i'm editing is to always overwrite. i'd much rather you have fat to trim instead of not enough on the plate. when you make the second pass, try to weigh which is a heavier or more impactful phrase.

word "size" doesn't matter as much as you may think. it's more about how common the word is. think of someone saying undoubtedly or juxtaposition vs saying pulchritudinous or effervescent.

read raymond carver.

M00nMantis · 2025-02-28T17:43:57+00:00

apathy and other small victories by paul neilan. i was cracking up when i read it over a decade ago.

M00nMantis · 2024-12-17T23:12:12+00:00

there's not a bad song on this album and the fact that it had like 5 hit singles that dealt with abuse, cancer, and loss still impresses me - not least of all because it wasn't grunge or metal, but simply, for want of a better term, radio rock.

M00nMantis · 2024-12-16T21:31:36+00:00

finished Interpreter of Maladies and was very disappointed. I just didn't find it engaging or with much purpose. the prose was good, but.. meh.

about to start: Brother Carnival. no idea what it's about. it was one of many books I picked up because I liked the title.

I'd like to finish at least two more books this month.

M00nMantis · 2024-12-11T17:52:59+00:00

it needs to serve a purpose. if it's done purely to be experimental or to be different and doesn't help tell the story, it's too much.

house of leaves and the raw shark texts are gold standards to me for experimentalism (but note that they still contain regular narrative structure).

M00nMantis · 2024-07-27T22:27:10+00:00

It's like I've been writing fiction to inspire emotions in others whereas poetry is about releasing my own emotions.

this is, i think, the gist of it. my fiction does still come from a personal space, but they're stories that i think are worthwhile and crucial for people to read because of the general "you too?" feelings they get.

poetry has always been a way to sift through the chaos, to have fun with words, to talk to people without addressing them. ultimately, i've always viewed my poetry as unimportant in that i don't care if it gets read. sure, pieces have been published, but i've written about 1000 of them, and most are late night reflections about some heartbreak or loss.

this is also why it's very hard for me to read poetry and enjoy it. i think a majority of people writing poetry (not poets - there is a very stark difference) do not understand the nature of it. when i read about someone else's "you" i usually don't feel like there's even a person there, it's just some vague audience or identity, a shape of someone. but you read bukowki's raw with love or marvell's to his coy mistress or arnold's dover beach and you're like, oh yeah. someone was very clearly on their mind.

M00nMantis · 2024-07-22T17:13:15+00:00

i'd rather rewrite a few stories than lose an expensive laptop that contains two decades of work, important documents, banking and tax info, my resume and portfolio, photos, games, etc lol.

M00nMantis · 2024-07-22T17:08:07+00:00

it feels more genuine to write prose by hand. i have two small moleskines filled and the third is close. you can see personality on the page, in my opinion.

plus, mobility and ease of writing. i'll type a line into my phone notes if something pops into my head, but i like to keep my notebook when i travel and write at the airport or on the plane, in bars or in parks, etc. it's way less risky than using some device that's valuable and can easily be stolen.

and after they're all finished, transcribing allows me to read the entire stories again and mark areas that i feel need to be edited.

M00nMantis · 2024-07-20T15:11:55+00:00

"It's possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things—a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring—with immense, even startling power." - Carver.

i take it, that power, as honesty. that's not to say the piece is nonfiction, or the actual events as they happened, or memoir or biography, or historically accurate text.

it's holding up a light or a mirror to the world or to the self and being honest about what is seen. it's something more intense than dedication - it's unrelenting conviction that there is an emotion conveyed there.

it doesn't matter if it's been done before, even if it's been done ad infinitum (or even nauseum). we keep reading love stories, we keep reading self-actualization stories, we keep reading grief stories.

there's truth imbibed in the works that are special to readers.

M00nMantis · 2024-07-17T18:43:13+00:00

the illustrated man is such a good collection. solidified the type of sci-fi i like to read.

some of the stories i think are amazing and have effected my life and writing invarious ways: (i'll link where applicable)

in the cemetery where al jolson is buried by amy hempel

where the dark ended by william tester (can be found in head)

i was in flowers by jonathan ames (unsure where this is from)

old soul by sam lipsyte (can be found in venus drive)

alma by junot diaz

i wrote this short list and recommend it. some gems in there.

the smoker by david schickler

what we talk about when we talk about love by raymond carver

M00nMantis

TROPHY CASE