I'm only responding because I haven't slept yet and my comcast bill is overdue and the dog ran way with my pick up truck.
I always ask people to ask me if they want to use my blog for other publications. Its common courtesy and a matter of copy right protection.
Also, I find that I have no trouble having sex with the women who have a passing interest in my work, I don't think theres a line to be crossed but rather a legend that needs to be lived up to.
I never ask if to use my friends in stories, I find that its easier to ask forgiveness then to ask permission.
As for playing a character online, I can't really write about the real exploits of what goes on in my life without fear of police crackdowns and government reprisals and so I have to go about coding my endeavors and alluding to things that should be plain. But, thats the life of a bartender.
I too agree that it is easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission...
Another friend of mine pointed out this really great interview with the incredible David Sedaris on "Here and Now." The show aired on 6.9.2008, so you have to search for it...but it is well worth it. While David is not a blogger, this interview touches on all the same questions in regards to writing your experiences while including family or friends who perhaps don't wish to be written about. Plus he has a lovely moment on the work of embellishing.
Here is what my good friend Matt has to say on the subject...
Where is the line drawn between flattery, caricature, entertainment, and truth?
Do you have permission to write only good things you feel or see about someone, and none of the other stuff?
I try to keep the focus of the comic on myself, and try to bring the humor and drama out of my faults and insecurities instead of other people's. I do touch on other people's insecurities and problems sometimes, but I always try to relate it to what's going on in my own head. As for flattering caricatures, I enjoy drawing everyone as beautiful, though my concept of beauty might differ from the subject I'm drawing. The most common request is that I draw them thinner, which, as an adorer of round figures, is hard request to fulfill, but usually it's more important to them than my silly adoration so I change it.
Does one have to ask permission if using someone in a story, even if it is set up in an anonymous way?
I talk to everyone who appears in the comic before I start and talk about what the story will encompass so there's no surprises. I don't feel like my comic is important enough to risk causing someone else pain or embarrassment. So far everyone's been really nice about letting me do pretty much anything. If someone asked me not to include them I'd skip the story and move on to another one. Though I then might save that story for a fictional piece.
Is there a difference between writers blogging their experiences and the fact that artists have always created work based on their experiences etc...(whats the diff. between a personal blog and a comedian sharing a fucked up story..think margaret cho, david cross. etc..)
Intimacy maybe? An artist tends to embellish or change a story to optimize the drama or the comedy, where as a blogger might be more raw, not necessarily more truthful since that's subjective, but less edited. So where as an artist might rewrite a piece again and again to improve it, a blogger posts and moves on to the next post. So when a comedian is telling an edited/embellished/streamlined joke about their mother, it's a bit more abstract, even if their mom is in the audience. But a blogger posting a raw/unedited/written in a heat of emotion "joke" about their mother, it loses the (healthy?) abstraction.
How does a writer bridge the divide between sharing and respect for those who do not choose to live their lives in the public realm?
I'm sort of afraid of exploitation. I see so much of it in Hollywood that I fear becoming part of the system that sacrifices empathy and compassion for success and goals. I think if someone doesn't want to be part of a writer's story, then that's that. Yeah it's the writer's story too, but instead of getting stubborn about that, I'd take it as a writing challenge. How do you tell YOUR story without exploiting THEIR story.
Are you reporting the facts with credible sources on a blog or is one re-interpreting one's life for artistic gain? Cuz the copyright laws and laws of privacy differ for the two...
I'm reinterpreting my life for artistic purposes, but I get permission first (not in writing though).
What differentiates blogging for art, for entertainment, for therapeutic reasons, or for a mishmash of all/any of the above...
I think the difference is the intended audience? The audience your writing for sort of dictates the style and direction of a piece. The problems I see come when people write in one style but then broadcast to another style's audience. For instance writing for therapeutic reasons something that should only be seen by themselves, something that should be deleted or thrown away once they've gotten things off their chest, but then broadcasting that as a piece of art or entertainment. Those audiences will critique the piece as art or entertainment, but if the blogger was writing therapeutically, it might be hard to find the distance that allows for accepting and learning from criticism. A lot of art and entertainment is also therapeutic to the creator, but since blogging is very immediate, the blogger might not have had the time to abstract themselves from the piece in the way as artists in other much much slower mediums might.
What do you consider healthy blogging? (what are the reasons you blog)
I do my comic cause it's a cheap creative outlet that I can do on my own as opposed to filmmaking, which would be my other outlet of choice. I missed drawing and I enjoyed having something to show people (as opposed to a lot of my fictional writing, which is only seen by myself and my close friends). The most healthy thing I think I do is the portraits for charity, I get to flex my creative muscles, a person gets a portrait and a charity gets money. It's win win win. A lot more satisfying than when the money goes to me or something, then there's always the faint whiff of commercialism or exploitation.
Does having an audience encourage stagnation? Do your commenters "enable" you, as whichever character you yourself play online (the drinker, the slut, the workaholic..etc)
I guess I've been lucky in that my audience either isn't very vocal, isn't very big or both. Either way, I've never really had the kind of fans that cling to a style or character. The fact that my comic is more than a year behind my real life, means the stories are pretty much set before an audience even sees it, so I'm headed in a certain direction whether the audience wants it or not. Sometimes I reorder stories based on what I'm in the mood to draw that day, but that's just whatever I'm fancying.
What do you personally keep private in regards to your writing that you won't blog about? Why and what do we feel we have to share with an audience, be it coworkers, friends, or the blogopolis at large? Is it a desire to be "understood" or a search for some deeper connection with a community? Is it a reaction to alienation?
Since my comic is a year or more behind my real life, I don't think too much about what's off limits, cause it's in the past and doesn't really concern my present much. And sometimes I like doing the taboo stuff cause of the juxtaposition with my cuter comics. I tend to consider negativity, hatred or spitefulness off limits though, cause I don't see the benefit for myself or others. There's enough hurtful, mean-spirited entertainment out there, I don't need to contribute to that machine. The personal satisfaction of engaging in a creative thing is what I enjoy, so I try to make sure there's something entertaining for the audience, otherwise I just do figure drawing or doodles for myself. I feel strangers probably understand me less due to the comic since they don't realize that the comic is only 25% of my life (sometimes less). I enjoy the comic community, but like most communities, my comic has little to do with it as it's just the jumping off point for conversation. I guess I feel alienation, but the comic isn't so much an emotional reaction to that, as simply a way to pass the time since I've got a lot of it to myself.
So, If you have anything you would like to add to the conversation, please do now! Send me your thoughts, opinions, concerns, comments or just plain dirty stories! Let's get down to the nitty gritty of this topic and see where we can all go with it. I am leaving for Israel and will be gone for two weeks but will be checking in throughout my trip.
xoxo -
holly
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