And The Known Empires of the Mind

This week, I was working on Down and Yonder (60 pages in!) and listening to Nirvana's Live At Reading. It's a substantial album, fueled by both the power of the music and its own tragic context. As I was listening to it, I began to think about the albums I've played while working and the unexpected ways I may have been influenced.

Last spring, I began working on Trailer Trash Kidnapping after hearing the song "Trailer Trash" by Modest Mouse. The lyrics go like this:

Eating snow flakes with plastic forks

And a paper plate of course, you think of everything

Short love with a long divorce

And a couple of kids of course

They don't mean anything

Live in trailers with no class

goddamn I hope I can pass high school means nothing

Taking heartache with hard work

Goddamn I am such a jerk, I can't do anything

And I shout that you're all fakes

And you should have seen the look on your face

And I guess that's what it takes

When comparing your bellyaches

And it's been a long time

Which agrees with this watch of mine

And I guess that I miss you, and I'm sorry if I dissed you

I love those lyrics. They're at once universal and heartbreakingly intimate. I love the fact that it takes a lower class set of people and makes their lives mythic and large and sad. It's a nice change of pace from dumb Larry the Cable Guy-style bathroom humor. From those set of lyrics, all of Trailer Trash Kidnapping began to fall together.

Other albums I listened to during the period were MGMT's Oracular Spectacular and The Killers' Day and Age. Never in a million years would you ever be able to pick those as influences (in fact, to expect that would be absurd). However, I can feel it, rather it be a character's misplaced optimism or this knowing inevitablily that I hope can be felt throughout the entire work.

Of course, this is not a new practice. Last year, I wrote Anywhere, Illinois and Wastelanders and I feel that they were in many ways shaped by Beck's Modern Guilt, The Hold Steady's Stay Positive, and The Black Keys' Attack and Release. These albums have a youthful (though not necessarily naive) way of looking at things, and I think it shows.

Though I can't find the quote to save my life, there is a filmmaker (whose name I won't give since it may affect the way you judge the quote) who says that you have to bring everything you have to the table when writing. If someone just broke your heart, use it. If you're frustrated in your career, use it. Life is the fodder. Maybe that's all good writing is, a collection of our experiences, our influences. Maybe it's all just brain soup.

I hate it when people say they don't write about "personal things." That's silly. Writing is one of the most intensely personal things in the world. That's why so many people hate to do it. You're putting your whole self on the page, and a rejection of that feels like a rejection of you. So, if you're reading this, lighten up a little bit on the writers you know. It's tough out there, and we're a sensitive breed anyway.

Flippo