{"id":137852633,"date":"2023-10-11T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T12:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137852633"},"modified":"2023-10-11T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T12:30:13","slug":"when-your-idea-has-been-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137852633","title":{"rendered":"When Your Idea Has Been Done"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;Except for the camper and the trucks, it could be two hundred years ago, he&#8217;s pretty sure.&#8221; &#8211; Stephen Graham Jones, &#8216;The Only Good Indians&#8217;<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>But first, your weekly <\/em>Vine<em>: Monday was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.storiesfromvine.com\/2023\/10\/09\/chapter-twenty-seven-an-accounting-of-the-tva-at-vine\/\">Chapter 27: \u201cAn Accounting of the TVA At Vine.\u201d<\/a> Tuesday was Chapter 28: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.storiesfromvine.com\/2023\/10\/10\/chapter-twenty-eight-squatters-at-the-butler-house\/\">\u201cSquatters At The Butler House.\u201d<\/a> Today is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.storiesfromvine.com\/2023\/10\/11\/chapter-twenty-nine-mary-wife-of-vine\/\">Chapter 29: \u201cMary Wife Of Vine.\u201d<\/a> Remember to <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/lazyandentitled\">check out the audiobook\/podcast<\/a> if you haven\u2019t already, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.storiesfromvine.com\/\">sign up for the newsletter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Remember in <em>Mad Men<\/em>, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=r0fPOela-Ow\">Pete Campbell indignantly protests that he\u2019s a man with ideas<\/a>, too, you know, he thought direct mail advertising all by himself, before he knew someone else had already invented it? It\u2019s an unimportant scene, season one or two, but it always stuck with me. First, perfect thing for Pete to be mad about. Second, I totally sympathize, dude. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My idea, for the record: to write a horror novel in third person, but have some chapters where the entity\/ghost\/monster\u2019s perspective. It would probably shift from third person in these chapters, either to first or second person. The story would <em>feel<\/em> very much like the main characters\u2019 story, but it would really be the entity\/ghost\/monster\u2019s. Of course, last week, I started reading Stephen Graham Jones\u2019s <em>The Only Good Indians<\/em>, and it\u2019s honestly not spoiling anything (grow up) to say some chapters are from the entity\u2019s perspective. It\u2019s the entity\u2019s story as much as the human characters\u2019 story. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This isn\u2019t a big deal. This doesn\u2019t mean I can\u2019t do my thing. This book probably isn\u2019t the first time someone\u2019s done this (movies have monster POV shots all the time). <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But of course my first thought was <em>damn<\/em>. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hey, speaking of <em>DAMN<\/em>:<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ANOMALIE - QUARANTINE BEAT #1 (THE AUDACITY)\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p67TVGhgcBI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pretty sick track, huh? That\u2019s Anomalie, all the way back in March 2020, laying the groundwork for what would become Polyphia\u2019s \u201cThe Audacity.\u201d It\u2019s a wild ride of a song that seems so divorced from guitar playing in its core writing that I\u2019m not surprised the idea had its genesis elsewhere. A little shocking, though, how much of the track is Anomalie\u2019s writing, but the band <em>brings<\/em> <em>themselves<\/em> to the track with shredding, thumping and fingerstyle picking, a little slap bass, and the impossible rudiments of Hell\u2019s Own Drummer, Clay Aeschliman. Anomalie can\u2019t do all that in his bedroom during lockdown. Here\u2019s the full band version for comparison: <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Polyphia - The Audacity (feat. Anomalie) (Visualizer)\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FHalHkfM5Aw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking around, I can\u2019t find the story of how Polyphia and Anomalie got together, the conversations around ownership of the song, or how Anomalie feels about the final version that made it to <em>Remember That You Will Die<\/em>. I should be able to track this down, but 1) it\u2019s not a big deal for my overall point 2) this is a free blog 3) it is late Tuesday night and I would like to go watch <em>Columbo<\/em> with my wife.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s be charitable and assume a harmonious collab: Polyphia was thinking \u201cwe\u2019d really like a funky, arrhythmic, proggy keyboard song to round out the album.\u201d They asked Anomalie if they could develop the song. Everyone has a wonderful time in the studio. The album comes out. A year a later, some dipshit with a blog is like \u201chey guys I\u2019ve been listening to Anomalie lately and you should really check out this track featuring India Carney.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Anomalie - Untouchable feat. India Carney (Live Performance)\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xhUQlrijwkY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The end result is that \u201cThe Audacity\u201d is unmistakably an Anomalie song\u2014I cannot stress enough how much I don\u2019t understand how a person just <em>thinks<\/em> to put <em>those chords<\/em> in <em>that order<\/em> with <em>excuse me what\u2019s the count<\/em>\u2014but with unmistakable Polyphia vibes. Scott and Tim both have their own idiosyncratic styles of guitar playing (with traceable lineages), and the two Clays are seasoned enough at beatmaking behind nutso guitars that you really feel like the song took the journey it was supposed to. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s Polyphia playing \u201cThe Fucking Audacity\u201d live, sans keyboard except for a light click track outlining chords. It\u2019s safe to say they can rip the track. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Polyphia Live at The Factory in Deep Ellum\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7ynHVGCehoM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bringing this all back to writing: you can\u2019t be precious with ideas. You already know this, long-time reader of this blog, but ideas don\u2019t make fiction or poetry go. Execution is what makes anything worth reading (don\u2019t use that as an excuse to click out of this tab). You shouldn\u2019t <em>steal<\/em> ideas, you should shoot for originality as much as you can, but is there even such a thing as a purely new idea? Everything has a lineage. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What you do when you see an idea you\u2019ve already thought of in the wild, or you see something in a book you\u2019d like to imitate, is you figure out how <em>you<\/em> are going to approach it. I reject the idea that every writer needs to \u201cfind their voice\u201d or whatever, but you do settle on stylistic habits. You settle on themes and character archetypes you like to explore. Sure, you try to make every book different. But you\u2019re you, you can\u2019t help being you. <a href=\"https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/p\/when-did-you-figure-you-were-kinda\">Embrace your own inner weirdo<\/a>, and then write your own thing with the thing. One thing Bob\u2019s mentioned on <em>The Line Break<\/em>, which I wholeheartedly endorse and will paraphrase, is to find the work that already exists that you want your work to be in conversation with. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One last songwriting anecdote: back in high school, Brendan, Spencer, and I had a rule never to use \u201cL-shaped chord progressions\u201d in our songs. The short version of this is no I-IV-V, aka C-F-G, aka most every song that\u2019s ever been written. It forced us to be more original, sure, but sometimes to a point where the songs didn\u2019t make sense, like on a <em>the-sonic-vibrations-hitting-my-ears-are-uncanny-and-unpleasant<\/em> level. The first time Brendan and Spencer wrote a song with a I-IV-V verse and a vi-V-IV chorus? I walked into practice like \u201cdamn that is a good-ass song,\u201d only to immediately learn it was heavy-scare-quotes \u201cwriting like everyone else.\u201d No it wasn\u2019t. It was us. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not to be Potter Stewart, but you\u2019ll know in your heart when you\u2019re ripping someone off vs. when you\u2019re making something your own. Bend and twist and distort any idea until the execution could\u2019ve only come from your head. It\u2019s a really rewarding process. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After all, it\u2019s important to remember to have fun with art. Like this guy:<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Audacity feat. Anomalie, Polyphia (8bit? Cover)\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l0TQ1nQRETU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes you need to 8-bit a song, whatever the writer\u2019s equivalent of that is. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorry you got an email, <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris<\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">Thanks for reading shipwrecked sailor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Except for the camper and the trucks, it could be two hundred years ago, he&#8217;s pretty sure.&#8221; &#8211; Stephen Graham Jones, &#8216;The Only Good Indians&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137852633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137852633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137852633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137852633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137852633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137852633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137852633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}