Best American Toss-Off

[thedarkages]

Writing the Great American Novel requires time, talent, and dedication. Pick two.

But thanks to a simple act of trademark registration, those who sprint rather than run marathons can hope to write the Best American Short Story. Travel Story, Spiritual Story, Science & Nature Story, Essay, Mystery Story, or Non-required Story.

I have no hopes for becoming a Great American or a Best American. (The search for more superlatives is reminiscent of the contention between New York's uniformed services: New York's Finest (NYPD), New York's Bravest (NYFD), and New York's Strongest (NYSD)) All I have is a stupid idea about a young boy who uses nuts to perform mathematical calculations -- at first physical nuts, then nuts in the head. He's probably about seven years old, lives in the Bronx back when it wasn't a deathtrap, wears flannel shirts, and is on first-name terms with the squirrels in his local park. And there isn't one damn reason why he should live to walk this earth. He's a cliché. End of story.

Comments

NYSD?

[mcohenmn.livejournal.com]

New York's Strongest (NYSD)

I'm not sure which you mean -

NYSD National Youth Service Day
NYSD New York School for the Deaf

Perhaps
NYSD New York Social Diary

Re: NYSD?

[thedarkages]

New York Sanitation Department

[yesenixan.livejournal.com]

Everything written since the early spring of 1949 at the latest, and probably since Ecclesiastes, has been a cliché. The point of writing is to say things worh saying, not to say things that are to a certain percentage unlike anything said before. For example, "The purple rhinoceros embezzled Doritos from the Federal Cheese Bureau." is an utterly original plot concept, whereas Hamlet is an utterly derivative work.

When taken past a certain point, originality becomes a fetish.