RECS: pulling doves and arm-wrestling cephalopods

[bronze_ribbons]

There are a lot of lines I'd like to quote from matociquala's spectacular post on David Bowie's stage presence as a lesson to writers. This one leaped out at me because I've witnessed some of you having to cope with readers who want to you to write something other than what actually moves you (so to speak).

...I don't get to lie to my readers. I am expected to tell them a story.

They don't get to decide what story I'm telling them, though, or how I tell it. (This is why beginning writers are lousy readers; they bloody back-seat drive all the goddamned time.) That is part of the contract, too. If I'm up here dancing like a spaz and making a fool of myself, then they have agreed to trust me regarding whether or not that particular microphone stand needs to be humped at this point in time.

Which is not to say I'm always right. I'm sure I've humped (or failed to hump) a few microphone stands when the other choice might have been better.

Which is why we have the wink and the nod and the agreement, between us, that this is a performance. It's a relationship. I will do my best for them and they will do their best for me.

I can't lie, but I can deceive them. There are rules. I can't cheat, but I can be sly. I can misdirect them, play games with their attention. I can grab my crotch with one hand while I pull a dove from my sleeve with the other. I can pull a dove from my sleeve while I grab my crotch.

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I'm late to the party, but hill_ posted this Giant Squid and Charlie Weasley a while back. Work-safe. Squee!