tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post3019478368429609723..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Ask Me Something Hard Ken Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-21263290610105510022012-12-06T21:52:29.098+00:002012-12-06T21:52:29.098+00:00The thing you're talking about strikes an odd ...The thing you're talking about strikes an odd chord with me, and that's because I have a similar reaction to hard questions, but <i>only when I'm drunk</i>.<br />The awkward thing here is that I don't much like the answers I give when I'm drunk, or maybe it's more that I don't remember them too well, and therefore distrust them…<br />Before you ask, I'm not drunk now, no ;-)<br />Very interesting dissection of your thought process as well!<br />I'll be looking forward to that footage breaking out onto the internet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-8734813983373292452012-11-27T19:17:51.960+00:002012-11-27T19:17:51.960+00:00I think it's the old "Flight or Fight&quo...I think it's the old "Flight or Fight" syndrome kicking in. Answer the question and save face or...run. :)<br /><br />It's amazing what the mind is capable of when we allow it to work without second guessing every word. Well done!hopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03306622656461205674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-25420377874499261232012-11-26T14:35:40.950+00:002012-11-26T14:35:40.950+00:00Haha! I was asked a very long-winded question in a...Haha! I was asked a very long-winded question in an important interview once. As I tried to understand the question I did the same as you i.e. listened to my mind panicking. When my time came to speak I opened my mouth and... Started talking about something entirely irrelevant. On and on I rambled until , mid-sentence, I registered the interviewers' baffled faces. So I stopped. Mid-sentence. Mid-word actually. I stared at them, paralysed..... and then did the only thing I could think of to do.... I grinned. Broadly. Then I closed my mouth and just sat there, staring expectantly back at them. <br />It was one of the most excruciatingly embarrassing moments of my life. <br />Oddly enough I got the job. I can only imagine that I was the only candidate.Mummadocnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-53941574282104246152012-11-25T22:40:58.304+00:002012-11-25T22:40:58.304+00:00Wowzers! Can't wait to see that.
I wonder if ...Wowzers! Can't wait to see that. <br />I wonder if the point is that someone else asks you the hard question. Maybe asking yourself a hard question doesn't do the trick. <br />You know me... I've loads of stupid questions :) but they might be hard to answer as well, by coinceidence!auntyamohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08213728883228063200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-40805397482285984692012-11-25T15:52:05.401+00:002012-11-25T15:52:05.401+00:00William: I think we will need some help to apply t...William: I think we will need some help to apply the pressure necessary to get the diamonds out. :)<br /><br />Jim: Thanks. I enjoyed it and my dwindling ego enjoyed it too. :) I know that the points I make in these posts are hardly original but I enjoying discovering them for myself and then finding, without surprise, that they already exist elsewhere. As we know, there is little in the world that is new. Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-56722090960784237002012-11-25T15:38:47.514+00:002012-11-25T15:38:47.514+00:00Well done Ken delighted you'll be on the '...Well done Ken delighted you'll be on the 'box'.Don't be too hard on yourself ,speaking on a subject you love I'd have the utmost confidence in your abilities,looking forward to seeing it.Ihope you'll tweet a reminder closer to time ,I'm 50 now grey cell are becoming extinct.My legal team are on standby lol.. take care Ken GHseoirse mac enrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11894305600071657649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-20786400406172034912012-11-25T13:55:29.162+00:002012-11-25T13:55:29.162+00:00Firstly, let me just say how pleased for you I am ...Firstly, let me just say how pleased for you I am that you've had this opportunity. I'm not the slightest bit jealous. I would hate to be interviewed like that. It's why I'm a writer. I like a <i>long</i> time to think about my answers. But I do get the whole 'hard question' thing. It's basically what writing a novel is to me. I have been trying to answer a single question for almost two years now. Like all really difficult questions it's not an especially long one—let's face it probably the hardest question on the planet is, "Why do you love me?"—but it's got me stumped. I've never tried articulating this question before but it would be something like: "How do you choose what you remember?" On a conscious level we don't but some part of us does; we pick and choose what we remember and what we forget. Now, let's say we could move the decision making from the subconscious to the conscious mind: How would you decide?<br /><br />I think the point you make here about being put on the spot is interesting; I've read about this before. It's not that far removed from a word association test if you think about it. You say the first thing that comes into your head. It does suggest that we have to trick ourselves to get to the truth, that we're basically dishonest with ourselves. I'm becoming more and more aware of the important part my subconscious plays in the writing process. Often I feel like I'm just the scribe and he's the brains behind the operation and that annoys the hell out of me. My conscious mind gets the grunt work to do—the proofreading and the editing—but not the fun stuff. <br /><br />We don't talk enough, not real conversations. I see my daughter every couple of months—if she doesn't come here we meet in Glasgow and go for a meal—and the time is filled with conversation, catching up stuff, but it's been a long time since we've had a meaning-of-life type father-daughter talk. I'm not saying our chats are completely superficial but you need to be in the mood for a tête-à-tête like that. They're always revealing when they do happen. I have experienced moments of insight when two characters I've been writing get into it on the page—the conversation between Milligan, Murphy and the priest is a perfect example. That opened up the whole book to me and just because it was a conversation going on in my head doesn't make it any less real; it wasn't just me playing chess with myself because I really had no idea what anyone was going to say next. Maybe you should try that.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-512815668315784112012-11-25T11:56:26.335+00:002012-11-25T11:56:26.335+00:00Eerie. I had the same thing happen to me and I jus...Eerie. I had the same thing happen to me and I just enjoyed it, just thought a combination of phew and (for a moment anyway) how clever I must be. I stopped there and went off into an actually-you're-not riff where you've seen that it isn't a fluke, it's a deeper truth about what we're all like under pressure. And that we should put ourselves under more pressure because of it.<br /><br />I'll have to think about that.William Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13315381474957511300noreply@blogger.com