#louise desalvo

[winged-cries]

Louise DeSalvo, about Djuna Barnes

[maybebabyplease]

My admiration for Virginia Woolf has increased, and I am more than ever saddened by the example of her death. And I am affected by the other lives DeSalvo shows with such sensitivity: the silent ones, powerless to help, sitting with their sponges at the far end of the tub. Less gifted, less overtly self-destructive women than their brilliant relative, they yet found the old female ways of keeping themselves from living life. Shutting down behind self-pity and secret shame; sacrificing themselves to childish mothers and selfish men; vaguely yearning, self-medicating; painting someone else's pictures; obediently tracing the magic circle, afraid, entranced. There are so many different ways to drown.

Kennedy Fraser

[pithia]

[W]hat if we thought, not of each individual work but focused, instead, on our writing life as a continuum, with the completion of each project viewed as another important step in a lifetime of practice?

Louise DeSalvo (The Art of Slow Writing)

[prairiedeath]

tagged by @uraniumdaydreams , thanks!

last song: forget about ~ sibylle baier

last movie: northman

currently watching: scream (2016 mtv series)

currently reading: writing as a way of healing by louise desalvo

currently craving: spicy korean fried chicken & a cherry vanilla coke

last thing I researched: the ohio special election (specifically issue 1)

tag 9: nuh uh. I’ll tag @jortking and @the-infinite-mediocrity bc i know they do tag stuff, anyone else cn do it too

[dreamofmourning]

Such were the figures that seemed unnaturally brought together in the great whirlpool; and it did not need the eye of a seer to foretell collision, fracture, and at length a sundering of the parts. Where are we today, indeed, who used to stand so close?

—Virginia Woolf, “Reminiscences,” Moments of Being: Unpublished Autobiographical Writings

Drowning metaphors are frequently used by incest victims. Woolf wrote of being left an orphan “in a sea of halfbrothers”; of being “drowned in kisses”; of feeling, around George, like “an unfortunate minnow shut up in the same tank with an unwieldy and turbulent whale.” In one of the most important extant works that we have from her adolescence, which I discuss in a subsequent chapter, she describes nearly drowning in a pond covered with duckweed and she signed her work, “One of the Drowned.”

—Louise DeSalvo, Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work

[paceywittergayboatman]

Connor Roy: The Laborious Pain of Family and Acceptance of Himself

Masterlist

Non Succ References Only

Violence and the Sacred by René Girard/Faulkner's Families: A Southern Saga by Gwendolyn Chabrier/Healing the Incest Wound 2e: Adult Survivors In Therapy by Christine A Courtois/Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women by E. Sue Blume/Violence and the Sacred by René Girard/Healing the Incest Wound 2e: Adult Survivors In Therapy by Christine A Courtois/Lady in Spain Ingrid Michaelson/Healing the Incest Wound 2e: Adult Survivors In Therapy by Christine A Courtois/Anti Hero by Taylor Swift/First Memory by Louise Glück/ First Memory by Louise Glück/First Memory by Louise Glück/Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work by Louise DeSalvo/ Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work by Louise DeSalvo/ Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work by Louise DeSalvo/Dawsons Creek 5.10/Today Has Been OK by Emilíana Torrini and The Colorist Orchestra

[sinterhinde]

Sister/Outsider: Some thoughts on Simone Weil, Michelle Cliff

I found this essay in Between Women: Biographers, Novelists, Critics, Teachers, and Artists Write About Their Work on Women, edited by Carol Ascher, Louise DeSalvo, and Sara Ruddick, 1993 (originally published 1984).

I will return to this, but I'm just so grateful to read it. Cliff's experience, reflections, the insight about her seminar professor...

Separately, I attended a discussion on Weil last night which was so painful and shit - two male academics belittling her direct actions, her relationship to God, an obsession with describing her 'naivety'. It was so rank and absurd to watch these two berks infantilise a figure like Weil using a very, very thin sheet of scholarship over their misogyny.

Rant over, gratitude for Cliff's essay. Looking forward to reading the rest of the contributors.

[ulkaralakbarova]

A gangster, Nino, is in the Cash Money Brothers, making a million dollars every week selling crack. A cop, Scotty, discovers that the only way to infiltrate the gang is to become a dealer himself. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Nino Brown: Wesley Snipes Scotty Appleton: Ice-T Garald “Gee Money” Welles: Allen Payne Pookie: Chris Rock Stone: Mario Van Peebles Selina: Michael Michele Duh Duh Duh Man: Bill Nunn Park: Russell Wong Old Man: Bill Cobbs Kareem Akbar: Christopher Williams Nick Peretti: Judd Nelson Keisha: Vanessa Williams Uniqua: Tracy Camilla Johns Frankie Needles: Anthony DeSando Reverend Oates: Nick Ashford Prosecuting Attorney Hawkins: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney Police Commissioner: Thalmus Rasulala Don Armeteo: John Aprea Master of Ceremonies: Fab 5 Freddy D.J.: Flavor Flav Frazier: Clebert Ford Prom Queen: Laverne Hart Fat Smitty: Eek-A-Mouse Biff: Gregg Smrz Teacher: Erica McFarquhar Singer at Wedding: Keith Sweat Gigantor: Max Rabinowitz Woman in Hallway: Marcella Lowery Judge: Manuel E. Santiago Prosecuting Attorney: Ben Gotlieb Reporter: Thelma Louise Carter Reporter: Linda Froehlich Bailiff: Christopher Michael Recovering Addict: Kelly Jo Minter Recovering Addict: Tina Lifford Recovering Addict: Erik Kilpatrick Assistant DA: Ron Millkie Kid on Stoop: Harold Baines Kid on Stoop: Sekou Campbell Kid on Stoop: Garvin Holder New Year’s Eve Band – (Guy): Teddy Riley New Year’s Eve Band – (Guy): Aaron Hall New Year’s Eve Band – (Guy): Damion Hall Singers – Spring – (Troop): Rodney Benford Singers – Spring – (Troop): John Harrell Singers – Winter – (Levert): Gerald Levert Singers – Winter – (Levert): Sean Levert Butchie The Doorman: Jimmy Cummings Courtroom Spectator (uncredited): Akosua Busia Prostitute in The Pool (uncredited): Lia Chang Gangster Standing at Bar (uncredited): Jake LaMotta Barber (uncredited): Larry M. Cherry Brides Maid (uncredited): Cynthia Elane Girl in the Window (uncredited): Toni Ann Johnson Connie The Waitress (uncredited): Candece Tarpley C.M.B. Member (uncredited): Chris Thornton Film Crew: Director: Mario Van Peebles Story: Thomas Lee Wright Music Supervisor: Doug McHenry Screenplay: Barry Michael Cooper Casting: Pat Golden Production Design: Charles C. Bennett Director of Photography: Francis Kenny Casting: John McCabe Editor: Steven Kemper Unit Production Manager: Preston L. Holmes Costume Design: Bernard Johnson Original Music Composer: Michel Colombier Music Supervisor: George Jackson Associate Producer: Fab 5 Freddy Associate Producer: Suzanne Broderick Associate Producer: James Bigwood First Assistant Director: Dwight Williams Stunt Coordinator: Jery Hewitt Stunts: Danny Aiello III Stunts: G. A. Aguilar Second Assistant Director: Joseph Ray Production Supervisor: Brent Owens First Assistant Editor: Kevin Stitt Camera Operator: John Newby First Assistant Camera: Gregory Irwin Second Assistant Camera: Myra-Lee Cohen Additional Camera: Ed Hershberger Steadicam Operator: Ted Churchill Production Sound Mixer: Frank Stettner Boom Operator: Keith Gardner Cableman: Rosa Howell-Thornhill Art Direction: Barbra Matis Art Direction: Laura Brock Art Department Coordinator: Roberta J. Holinko Set Decoration: Elaine O’Donnell Script Supervisor: Cornelia ‘Nini’ Rogan Makeup Artist: Diane Hammond Assistant Makeup Artist: Ellie Winslow Hairstylist: Larry M. Cherry Hairstylist: Aaron F. Quarles Wardrobe Supervisor: Barbara Hause Wardrobe Supervisor: Jane E. Myers Wardrobe Assistant: Jill E. Anderson Gaffer: Charles Houston Rigging Gaffer: Martin Andrews Best Boy Electric: Val DeSalvo Key Grip: Robert M. Andres Best Boy Grip: Paul Wachter Dolly Grip: Tom Kudlek Property Master: Octavio Molina Assistant Property Master: Laura Jean West Assistant Property Master: Kevin Ladson Charge Scenic Artist: Jeffrey L. Glave Construction Coordinator: Raymond M. Samitz Special Effects Supervisor: Steven Kirshoff Special Effects Coordinator: Wilfred Caban Second Unit Director: Jeff Lengyel Second Unit Director of Photography: Jacek Laskus Second Unit First Assistant D...

[razorsadness]

I just read a little book by Louise deSalvo (Adultery) and she reminds me so much of you! The synthesis of her teenage years and adulthood, especially.

Oh, interesting! I will definitely check it out. Thanks, anon!

[kafk-a]

[cherryfleisch]

I have searched far and wide (online) for any digital copies of ‘The letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf’ by Louise deSalvo and have had no luck in finding them. More importantly I have been looking for a physical copy of this book to see their letter exchange in all of it’s glory. If anyone could please let me know where I could find this I would be forever grateful.

[pink-lemonade-rose]

The purpose of her work, she [Djuna Barnes] said, was not revenge but justice - to right the wrongs done to her. She believed that unless we tell the stories of our traumas, we become members of the "living dead."

Louise DeSalvo, Writing as a Way of Healing

[maaarine]

How to live with chronic illness (Jennifer Crystal, Psyche, July 20 2022)

“In her book Illness as Metaphor (1978), Susan Sontag says: 

‘Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. 

Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.’ 

Some people only pass through the kingdom of the sick, like tourists, but others unwittingly take up permanent residence. (…)

If you live with a long-haul illness, perhaps you knew the pleasure of life on the other side before you got sick. Or maybe you were born with life-long illness. 

I began in the kingdom of the well, took an unexpected trip to the kingdom of the sick at age 25, and have straddled the two worlds for almost two decades since. 

Felled by a case of mononucleosis that slipped into chronic Epstein-Barr virus, I became bedridden, eventually discovering that I also had several underlying tick-borne infections. 

I had to give up my job and my independence for the better part of three years. I battled my way to remission twice, through intense treatment and a shattering relapse. (…)

Ultimately, I learned that with my particular illnesses, there was no going back. 

Instead, I needed to figure out how to move forward in the context of chronic illness. 

Though I didn’t yet know the term – I’d learn it years later in graduate school – I’d been craving a ‘restitution narrative’, as the American author Louise DeSalvo called it in her book Writing as a Way of Healing (2000). 

In this type of narrative, the narrator returns to a pre-illness state, eg: ‘I broke my arm; it healed; now I’m better.’ 

We love those types of stories but, try as we might, sometimes we can’t write them for ourselves; our bodies have other plans. (…)

When I stopped focusing on the word ‘back’, I reframed my thinking, and my way of being, so that my illnesses could come along with me. I learned not just to survive, not just to live, but to thrive.

What helped me achieve this shift? First, it was gaining a deeper understanding of my illnesses, their possibilities for relapse, and my role in controlling external factors that could affect those possibilities.”

[pithia]

[David Boyd] put a stroke on the canvas, then another, then another. And as he worked, he reflected on the process and said that when we begin a work of art, anything is possible. But that with each successive stroke, the possibilities become more limited, until, by the end—the most difficult stage—we have relatively few choices left because the universe of the work has been defined.

Louise DeSalvo (The Art of Slow Writing)

[twigcollins]

Hi! Hope you are well :) I'm a huge fan Steadfast Tin Soldier. It's genuinely one of the best fics I've read, and even now, I find myself rereading chapters for comfort. Your characterization and dialogue is *chefs kiss*, and the narrative flows brilliantly in a way that just makes sense. I was wondering, if you don't mind, if you had any writing tips, or if you could offer some insight on your writing process? I'd absolutely take a writing class from you tbh. Thanks <3

Wow, thank you for the kind words. Very glad the fic is enjoyable - and very sorry it is unfinished. I never had as strong grasp on the universe as I wanted to, and the more Blizzard added to their lore, the less interest I had on where they were taking things. (The subsequent news about ActiBlizz as a company didn't help, either.)

As far as writing tips go, I can offer up a few suggestions that I've picked up along the way, and a few book recs:

Writing Tools - Roy Peter Clark (this is my favorite book on writing, and covers a lot of the things that I try to keep in mind when writing)

The Art of Slow Writing - Louise DeSalvo (strategies and planning that may be useful in developing a writing process)

Boss Life: Surviving My Own Small Business - Paul Downs (not a book on writing, but seeing a year in the life of someone's hopes and dreams and fears all on the micro, day-to-day level is a really great way to study motivations and how many different ways a person can be impacted by the various events that happen in their world)

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I would recommend a screenwriting class far above any others for any kind of fiction writing, for how it shifts the concept of writing out of the realm of trying to get emotions onto the page and into the more nuts-and-bolts strategies of "you have X number of pages and no more to introduce characters, love interests, rising action, etc." Having hard limits on the various elements of a story can help with focusing on getting the most impactful version of a moment out on the page.

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In terms of flow, in a course once I was shown a long clip from the movie 'All About Eve,' where an older actress and a younger actress are in fierce career competition, and in the course of maybe five minutes the shift of who is winning and who is losing in the power struggle flips about five times.

In terms of a long story, having this continual tension and high-low tradeoff is a great way to keep things moving and keep the audience engaged and never sure what will happen next. If you have multiple character POV's, you can have some characters having a moment of triumph while others are Going Through It but it's a good idea to mix up the wins and losses. (Even in the overall descending arc of Jack and the fall of Overwatch, I tried to have a few moments of victory - like getting citizen status for Athena or a character moment with always-sunny Tracer - amidst the overall decline.)

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That being said, the biggest difficulty I have as a writer is when I can feel something needs to happen in a story but I'm not sure how to make it happen organically - which is critical in maintaining the illusion these are characters with personalities and decisions that lead to cause-and-effect instead of just a plot leading them around to what I want to happen next.

As an example from STS - I knew I wanted Jack to break down briefly from the stress of everything so that later events with Athena could happen, but just having him crack for no particular reason wasn't very satisfying, and doing something like starting the scene with him already broken down also seemed a bit like cheating - although I will use that trick on occasion if it feels like getting the readers to a scene is much less interesting than what happens when they're there. I sketched out a couple versions of Jack having a bad day on a mission but it all felt like I was stuffing too much unnecessary filler into the scene.

I wish I could say I had some cool brainstorming trick or technique, but it just hit me out of the blue - Jack would have been counting the days, even if he wasn't admitting it to himself, even if it didn't make sense, from losing Amelie to Widowmaker showing up, and that date would be when he would have to admit to himself Ana was gone for good.

It was a pain to keep things on hold, but waiting around for the right detail made that scene a lot more specific and satisfying, I think.

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I've read a lot that says specificity, physical sense details and understatement are the best ways to handle big emotions. In a way, this kind of all ties back to 'show, don't tell' - you can tell me that a mother is still deeply grieving the loss of a daughter, or as in the exceptionally well written 'I have no choice but to keep looking', you can write that the mother makes a lunch for her lost daughter every day and takes it to the ocean, and I'll remember that detail for six years and counting (and probably forever).

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I’m hardly the first to say it, but reading and editing really are the two biggest skills as equally important as writing. Reading and studying how writers use various techniques as simple as writing shorter or longer sentences in a paragraph to impact the feel of a work will help with developing a writing style.

Also I edit aggressively. I usually edit as I'm going along, then within sections, then within the chapter as a whole - usually at least twice - and reading back on previous chapters to make sure things feel consistent and there's not too much repetition.

I'm trying to learn to let myself write crappier first drafts because figuring them out in the edit is easier.

I think that this is what that 'first million words' that gets mentioned a lot in writing really changed for me - the more I write, the less fragile what I'm writing seems to feel and the less afraid I am of moving around or adjusting or pulling out paragraphs to deconstruct and use elsewhere. Most everything of mine that looks like a smooth narrative in the version for public consumption goes through edit after edit after edit to get there.

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I hope that some of this was helpful, and thank you again! Keep writing!

[listentothestories]

Through our reading we can travel to other times and other places, into other peoples minds and hearts and souls: it is a transcendent experience.

Louise DeSalvo, The Art of Slow Writing