Jack Kerouac’s Essentials for Prose (& Online Content)
Author and poet Jack Kerouac was the master of improvisational prose, which is to say that he enjoyed a fluid writing process, heavy on the process. For those in the world of content, we're keen on refining that process---an act that Kerouac would surely shirk at.Still, there's a sense of camaraderie among all us writers, and there's a bit to be learned from every approach, especially one as successful as Kerouac's. He was gracious to share a bit of his process in a list of 30 guidelines he called “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose.”
Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
Submissive to everything, open, listening
Try never get drunk outside yr own house
Be in love with yr life
Something that you feel will find its own form
Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
Blow as deep as you want to blow
Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
The unspeakable visions of the individual
No time for poetry but exactly what is
Visionary tics shivering in the chest
In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
Like Proust be an old teahead of time
Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
Accept loss forever
Believe in the holy contour of life
Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better
Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
You’re a Genius all the time
Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
(via)I'm not sure I can relate all of them to online content (truthfully, I don't fully understand all of them even), though there are plenty here to make for some really great advice and encouragement for anyone who writes, any which way.Here's my translation:
Study your topic deeply, fully, and joyfully --- Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
Help others, know how to help by listening --- Submissive to everything, open, listening
When the time comes to write, Just Write --- Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
Use clear language --- No time for poetry but exactly what is
Be descriptive and complete in your detail --- Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
Believe in yourself. You will do great work. --- You’re a Genius all the time