Dec 2017
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TimCaloweh
Dec '17

What's an example of genius writing you have experienced. A little bit ago i just finished watching season 4 episode 9 of BoJack Horseman called "Ruthie". I really really recommend you watch it before continuing to read this.

SPOILERS

It started out with a future setting where a young cat girl beginning a presentation of her ancestor, a cat woman named Princess Caroline. She explained that in the face of disappointment and failure, Princess Caroline would figure out a way to push through her short comings and move on stronger than before. Throughout the episode PC is going through struggle after struggle and in the future her great great great granddaughter is pushing forward with the assurance that the story will have a happy ending.

Last chance. This is a SPOILER

At the end of the episode, Princess Caroline talks on the phone with her "friend" BoJack and tells him that her method for dealing with a bad day is imagining she has a great great great granddaughter in the future giving a presentation in the future about the hardships and strength her ancestor had.

That smacked me so hard with the most clever, most genius writing i have ever experienced. I can only hope one day i can come up with something like this.

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Heliox14
Dec '17

If you want an example...
Have you ever read "Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock."?
(WARNING: SPOILER)
The main character's way of coping with his depression and suicidal tendencies is writing letters to himself from the point of view of his future self. The environment that was there is just so...beautiful, and how the people in that future world believe in that past character...it's beautiful.
I'm sorry if my description skills aren't that good.
Just read it, please?

scythe
Dec '17

To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.

TimCaloweh
Dec '17

Riddles are great if they're good. Just explain.

EDIT: nevermind there's no point in understanding the written word of Shakespeare.

Rhombik
Dec '17

Explain the riddle? I'm afraid I don't understand. It's a scene from a play.

Do you mean explain why it's genius? Hamlet's soliloquy simultaneously advances the plot by letting us know Hamlet's thoughts and intentions, presents a philosophical debate and is beautifully written. I think that's why many people think it's very good. I don't want to put words in @scythe 's mouth though - they might have different reasons.

TimCaloweh
Dec '17

No i just meant that the way shakespeare wrote his stuff back in the day was a real riddle. The man was way too charismatic. But thanks for explaining it. What was the debate?

DiegoPalacios
Dec '17

I think "Don quijote de la Mancha" from Miguel de Cervantes is an example of genious comedy writing. Is one of the first and most iconics parodies written in history. It parodies knight novels like King Arthur and mocks and deconstructs so many tropes used in the genre. For newcomers or people unfamiliar with these tropes, it has a lot of physical comedy and crazy shenanigans, so it gave this story 2 layers of access. One to the more educated, and other for the newcomers or common folks. He made his work entertaining, deep, but also accesible.(when it comes to people who can read and can afford to buy a book)

Rhombik
Dec '17
TimCaloweh

Basically, the gist is in the lines:

"To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them."

My interpretation is that Hamlet is considering death (the philosophy bit: alive and unhappy or dead and maybe worse off) but dressing it up as a debate about whether to follow through with his revenge on his uncle.

Should he "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and continue to suffer or "take arms against a sea of troubles" and avenge his father's death?

Rhombik
Dec '17

Exactly! He didn't know what would come after. He compares it to sleeping but when we sleep, we dream.

scythe
Dec '17
1

Hamlet feared "the undiscovered country", which is a truism that every human being understands implicitly. We stick with the familiar, no matter how mundane, irritating, hard, harmful, dangerous, oppressive etc that thing may be, because the alternative is unknown. Thus, our doubts and fears stand in the way of our ultimate potential.

I chose this soliloquy not just because the language is sublime, but because it articulates the human condition so brilliantly, and also because it contains multiple phrases that had such an impact on our language that we still use them today, nearly 500 years later. To me, it's a clear case of genius writing.

scythe
Dec '17
Rhombik

What dreams, may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.

Absolutely. Even as someone who doesn't believe in an afterlife, I know I cannot know for sure, and the mere thought of it leaves a lump in my throat.

Rhombik
Dec '17

It is a stunning piece of prose. Shakespeare knew what he was doing.

UzukiCheverie
Dec '17

Look no further than House of Leaves. Everything from the topic material to the way its conveyed is just a beautiful mess of prose and afterthoughts. A lot of how I write Time Gate: Reaper is actually inspired by House of Leaves.

“Little solace comes
to those who grieve
when thoughts keep drifting
as walls keep shifting
and this great blue world of ours
seems a house of leaves

moments before the wind.”

indagold
Dec '17

The Southern Raiders Episode from Avatar I feel had some pretty genius writing for a children's show, the series itself is probably one of the most well written shows I usually don't see much. Writing a revenge plot is always difficult but seeing a character look at the person whose ruined their life and realize how much of a pathetic human being they are, the years they've spent stewing in hate only to see them like this is extremely impactful especially when they walk off on him sitting there crying. It takes everything you want out of an interaction like this and changes it so much.

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