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Spacewarp, v. 5, issue 2, whole no. 26, May 1949
Page 8
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WHAT'LL I WRITE ? by EDCO Did you ever have an urge to sit down in front of your cold typer and write 'n write 'n write? Flood the fanzines with the products of your musings and opinions on the fan-topics of the day? Well, I have. But there's one big difficulty that keeps my typer from growing hotter and hotter as the white sheets are inserted and black and white ones pour forth ..... no ideas ! "No ideas!" you shriek. Yah, that's what I said. Seems sorta queer, doesn't it, considering the almost innumerable topics that the field of fandom embraces now. But look, when you sit down and think about it, aren't those subjects pretty well taken care of by dozens of other fan-columnists already, in one way or another? I mean, you write something and then find that it's only a variation of some article a guy wrote recently which is a variation of something somebody else wrote not long before that, etc., etc. See? Of course, there are always new things popping up in fandom. Like a coupla three years ago when the shavermess burbled forth. Then guys by the dozens had something to write articles about and lotsa variations on the theme as the war progressed between the mass of anti-shaverites and the anti-Palmer fan and the pro-etc. But that's daid now. At least we hope it is. Even daider is the Dogler Cosmic Circle thing which was once a favorite object of article-writers. And then there is always the write-about-yer-fave-author theme of articles. Lovecraft certainly caught it both pro and con for a long, long time and luckily mostly pro by article writers. In fact, every once in a while a fresh burst will issue forth other than the regular quota in FANTASY COMMENTATOR. Feuds, too, are objects for articles, but who wants to start a feud just to write articles about, except maybe my neighbor over in File 13? Right now there is the fracas between Paul Cox and fandom over you-know-what. And most recently the Vaughn Greene letter in PEON. Only, about sebenty-leben other guys are writing and already have written plenty about them. But to write articles on authors, mags, books and such takes some research...and who wants to do that? Easier to just sit down and rattle something off without the bothersome biz of digging around in yer mag files and re-reading a lot of stuff. Sure is. Then there is always the technical theme for articles. You have read dozens of 'em by the more gifted (and edyukated) fen, about atoms, molecules, rockets and stuff. But who wants tuh go thru a whole raft of textbooks and prof's lectures to learn enuf to be able to write that kind of article? You guess right! And that includes to some extent the raft of articles lately on semantics altho you nearly have to be van Vogt to know what you're writing about. So we're still where we were. Nowhere. So what's the solution? Anybody got any ideas? Well, if you have, write an article about them. I don't care any more. I got a page out of this, and maybe r-tRapp might like it! - END - 8
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WHAT'LL I WRITE ? by EDCO Did you ever have an urge to sit down in front of your cold typer and write 'n write 'n write? Flood the fanzines with the products of your musings and opinions on the fan-topics of the day? Well, I have. But there's one big difficulty that keeps my typer from growing hotter and hotter as the white sheets are inserted and black and white ones pour forth ..... no ideas ! "No ideas!" you shriek. Yah, that's what I said. Seems sorta queer, doesn't it, considering the almost innumerable topics that the field of fandom embraces now. But look, when you sit down and think about it, aren't those subjects pretty well taken care of by dozens of other fan-columnists already, in one way or another? I mean, you write something and then find that it's only a variation of some article a guy wrote recently which is a variation of something somebody else wrote not long before that, etc., etc. See? Of course, there are always new things popping up in fandom. Like a coupla three years ago when the shavermess burbled forth. Then guys by the dozens had something to write articles about and lotsa variations on the theme as the war progressed between the mass of anti-shaverites and the anti-Palmer fan and the pro-etc. But that's daid now. At least we hope it is. Even daider is the Dogler Cosmic Circle thing which was once a favorite object of article-writers. And then there is always the write-about-yer-fave-author theme of articles. Lovecraft certainly caught it both pro and con for a long, long time and luckily mostly pro by article writers. In fact, every once in a while a fresh burst will issue forth other than the regular quota in FANTASY COMMENTATOR. Feuds, too, are objects for articles, but who wants to start a feud just to write articles about, except maybe my neighbor over in File 13? Right now there is the fracas between Paul Cox and fandom over you-know-what. And most recently the Vaughn Greene letter in PEON. Only, about sebenty-leben other guys are writing and already have written plenty about them. But to write articles on authors, mags, books and such takes some research...and who wants to do that? Easier to just sit down and rattle something off without the bothersome biz of digging around in yer mag files and re-reading a lot of stuff. Sure is. Then there is always the technical theme for articles. You have read dozens of 'em by the more gifted (and edyukated) fen, about atoms, molecules, rockets and stuff. But who wants tuh go thru a whole raft of textbooks and prof's lectures to learn enuf to be able to write that kind of article? You guess right! And that includes to some extent the raft of articles lately on semantics altho you nearly have to be van Vogt to know what you're writing about. So we're still where we were. Nowhere. So what's the solution? Anybody got any ideas? Well, if you have, write an article about them. I don't care any more. I got a page out of this, and maybe r-tRapp might like it! - END - 8
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