ambiguity in writing as a good thing - thoughts? -- Ambiguity Message Board

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Date Posted: 08:43:12 09/30/04 Thu
Author: No name
Subject: ambiguity in writing as a good thing - thoughts?
In reply to: the1337357d00d 's message, "Good morning, accomplices!" on 22:19:25 08/28/03 Thu

I�ve been thinking about that statement we keep saying, I keep repeating:

�Everybody wants to tell a story. Not everyone has a story to tell.�

I�m not sure I feel the same way, as strongly about it, as I did before. I think that�s part of my obsession with people. I do think everyone has a story to tell, and damn it, they may not have all the right words, but I want to hear it. Maybe I can tell it for them.

I�m reminded of the homeless group I spoke with briefly yesterday, the ones, I suppose, I could meet again today. They have stories. But so do I. Maybe its related to how you can�t quantify suffering�

Do I need their stories to tell my own? Not really, it doesn�t work like that. But their stories are worth telling, so I can do that, because otherwise they may be forgotten. Remember how Sonia was saying that writers get in tune or contacted by spirits whose stories remain untold, and in a frantic effort of obsession that writing takes, the writer tries to get all these stories down, just to die and realize she forgot to tell her own story in all that time. That writer has now relegated themselves to the spirit that still has a story to tell. Thus the cycle is fueled and continues.

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Let�s talk about ambiguity and how it works in writing. Writing like Dionne Brand�s. Like what I was trying to do with my paintings, esp. the one currently hanging on my wall. Like the way sonia and I speak in half-whole conversations, but we get it. These gaps are completed in emotion, or in a spirit, or in some other form of communication. But the thoughts and feelings get through, IF you turn off your rational mind. You have to step back and trust intuition. IS this something you can teach??? How would you even go about that if the person on the receiving end doesn�t know where to bend or begin?

Ambiguity evinces a clarity that comes through in parts. It does take a lot of words to be that specific.

Any further thoughts?

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