Alan Moore’s philosophy on writing
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- Опубліковано 9 кві 2024
- Hear from legendary storyteller Alan Moore about his unique approach to writing and his take on what every writer should consider at the start of their journey.
Timestamps:
00:10 - Develop your moral platform
4:11 - Writing and magic
Useful links:
See Alan Moore’s BBC Maestro course on Storytelling here - bbcm.co/3U9iErs
Find out more:
From fiction writing and poetry to screenwriting and songwriting, see our collection of writing courses - bbcm.co/3U9EtY3
I once saw Alan Moore having a coffee at Milton Keynes train station and it was like witnessing the second coming of Christ in a room of nonbelievers.
Did he drink it black? And did those around him try and recrucify him?
I was lucky enough to meet Alan and his lovely wife Melinda about 12 years ago. It still seems like a dream, my favourite author ever and a genuinely lovely bloke.
I could listen to Alan Moore discuss the evolution of grass for hours on end and still be absolutely captivated. Kudos to you for a job well done!
We might be biased but... his entire course is absolutely captivating!
@@BBCMaestroI can vouch for that 👌🏻
I can see why he began to do some acting lately. He is a very charismatic person. Want to watch him in The Show!
@KwaidanGhostStory he's great in that one! Utterly captivating and magnetic. He effortlessly gives an enigmatically errie performance full of power and magic and wisdom that's ever veiled behind a smirking charm that both lures you in and makes you want to flee into another county, nay, dimension to get away from him. You never know if he is evil or good or beyond (or beneath!) such dichotomous imposition. Also, he sings a song and plays the banjo.
@@8ballstreet Cool! I will definitely check it out then!
Writing changes the reader's consciousness. A simple and profound idea.
I don't get it though... So does speaking. Or doing a cartwheel 🤸
@@Cloven137 It's true, many other experiences can be significant for a person and change their consciousness in important ways. However, it is written language that has proven throughout history to articulate and preserve ideas over time. It is precisely this language that distinguishes us from other species and allows for the generation of elaborate culture, from which your consciousness is structured. And while oral language also possesses some of this capacity, it is evident that the written word endures and maintains the rigor of what has been said.
@@Cloven137You must be young. The things you mentioned are super limited. With writing, there is no limit, everything is possible. "To know is nothing at all; imagination is everything."
@@Lenny.262 Lol. Well, I'm not old anyway. I just don't know what makes writing special or different than let's say music. I don't know how to address the other part of your comment because it just sounds like you had a stroke or something.
@@Cloven137 What? I wrote it in plain English, what about it do you misunderstand? Do you have comprehension skill issues? Lol I knew you were just a young punk 🤣
Even if someone don't want to become a "professional" writter, or philosopher, or simply thinker, you must have an intellectual part, you must write down your thoughts and feelings, or take note of things that interest you and fuel your thoughts and emotions. Writting is indeed magic. Mr. Alan Moore - agree or disagree with him - spoke a global truth: writting can change you and by writting you can change others. It *magically* gives flesh to your thoughts, gives them existence.
*writing*
*Writer*
"Discipline. Consistency. Deadlines. Creativity. Reflection. Repeat." --an award-winning author
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
Writing is magic.
As someone who gestures and grunts, I feel called out
I guess I will start reading everything by Alan Moore because he's so on point.
Strongly recommended! You might want to start reading in publication order, because his later works reflect his own development as a person, and may be somewhat challenging to grasp. But by all means, start reading him!
You won't regret it! Great stuff.🙂👍
The challenge with reading everything by Alan Moore is “Where to begin” (personally, {if you can find it} I recommend Miracle Man as a good place to start)
Over the years I have collected and read much of what he has written and can say it has been a truly rewarding experience. I envy you because you are about to embark on a wonderful journey..there is so much to discover and enjoy.
I've only read V for Vendetta so far, but it's so worth it.
This mans voice makes me want to levitate
I think he discounts the power of COLLECTIVE memory and the pre-literate oral tradition, but there's still much of value here.
Brilliant. 🎉 Alan Moore's insights .
Writing is thinking
Writing is transformation
Writing is a way of Life
It is a philosophy
Ironically, I have to develop as a person and figure out who I am and what I believe by watching videos, reading books, listening to podcasts because my world is so small and I do not have the means to expand it through travel and meeting people from different backgrounds and prospectives. I often wonder if any of what I believe is real and if I traveled I will find that the greater world is a very different place then the one I am creating in my mind through the media I consume.
Check out “ The book of Disquiet “ by Fernando Pessoa. Interesting person who loved being in his own home traveling within his mind with little care for the great big world.
The funny thing is that when we hear Alan Moore talk about any subject, we're certain we're not listening to an expert but a prophet. Eternal life to the wizard.
Yes, he is a wizard.
I first properly discovered Mr Moore’s writing in the pages of Warrior magazine & Swamp Thing which I used to purchase as an alienated teenager in a local newsagent in provincial Northern Ireland in the 1980s. They were life altering, horizon expanding experiences. He has been a creative inspiration across multiple mediums in my life since. Greatly enjoyed this & just want to say thanks. ✨
I used to see Swam Thing on the shelf as a child,but I would get Power Pack or X-Men instead. I wish I had bought an issue or two back then. But, then again, maybe I wasn't ready.
Imagine arriving at Hogwarts and he is the headmaster.
“It doesn’t matter if Voldemort is gone, Harry. We are still living in a faux-democracy. Authority is the true dark Lord we must defeat.”
Ha-ha! Gods exist because unconscious people continues to bow to them. Don’t get caught on the double-bind of Dualism, hence you need to develop a Persona (MasK) or Character (Pseudo-Self) -“a way of seeing which is unique to you.”
Funny choice of comparison, considering he made Harry Potter the literal Antichrist (and a school shooter) in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
We can call it satire, but I have a hard time reading it as anything but him hating that book series/franchise.
@@christianotholm9330 I forgot about that! Never stop being a madman, Alan.
@@christianotholm9330 Oh…did he now ? My respect for Alan Moore went up by 10 points
Shudup dork
I'm really looking forward to "The Great When: Long London Book 1". I absolutely love Moore's comics work, but I love his prose works even more. Great segment!
Alan Moore inspired me to write this comment. Thanks, Alan.
A big fan of Mr Moore.
His voice is so good and convincible.
Very inspiring. This puts together several ideas I've had in a cogent way.
just in time when Im trying to learn more, Im just starting to write my second book
God I love that man probably one of the most underrated great thinkers of all time
Long time ago that I don't see too much hair in a same head.
Like the ancients wises.
Love this man
As my dad told me when I was very young ".. You'll eventually find the answer - don't rush it" :)
interesting take on writing , im a big fan x
Great author
Thanks for this
Excelent advice. I was a creative writing major, and a lot of college children definitely needed it.
amazing
He is great.
Powerful
Very educational.
It's high time for the British royalty to confer upon this man the title of sir.
He would never accept it! But he should have the honour of refusing!
Thank you Alan Moore for giving us Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta & Watchmen!!
And From Hell.
@@nl3064 from hell imo is his best !
This is brilliant, however... - writing could have been first used to record grain storage for the winter, etc. to enable folk to survive, thanks to bureaucrats. Also there seems to be evidence of certain cultures, in early times, being averse to the written word and preferring knowledge being passed on by reliable / trusted teachers. Regardless of how important these two points are, it is a joy to listen to a real maestro - and someone who seems to be a genuinely decent bloke
I can confirm that this philosophy is interesting. It is poetic, and inspirational.
excellent video. i never comment, but this is excellent.
Agree!
One of the GREATS.............
very tru
Love hearing people talk about the occult powers of language and taking it seriously
Hell yeah.
Epic
Maestro .
Thank Glycon for the Magus!
Interesting mudras, MagicMan
He's cool
i dont know how much more character development i can take Alan...
I love when people talk slowly, beacuse I can understand them well
Alan Moore is the truth
The master
❤
One of the features of shamanism is change or transition and if you can effect change, if you can turn one thing into another ie. tragedy into comedy, then by this metric, comedians are shamans. 😂
They are right out there showing the world how to make such a shift in thinking, in feeling and so one.🥰😂
I tried writing my OWN philosophy of language
Philosophy is not something that u can learn.U can only Imitate.
It's one of the hardest fields.And that's why there so few philosophers
💯💯💯
3:56
🌻
"To cast a spell is simply to spell." - Alan Moore
❤️❤️
Maestro, you are right. Alas, I know what books can do. Flute or pen I shall not use to charm anyone. Not even for their own good.
2:24
Dumbledore, Gandalf, Three-Eyed Raven.. all in a nut'shell. 😂
3:32
Thats a wizard!
I will always write phosphate. I mean, philosophy! 😂
"Content" has entered the chat.
😮😮😮
🙃
Dude can talk about the shit he took this morning and make it sound amazing.
Didn't he write the Watchmen
Yup.
Yes he did. Who watches the watchmen? 🙂
Yup, and The Killing Joke, And V for Vendetta, among many others.
OH
I love you Alan. Thank you for demistifying the materialistic bulsh*t and sanctifying the pagan in all of us.
'rooitin
Much as I hate to correct the great Alan Moore, the early Bards memorised everything - we believe there was a Druidic taboo against writing. However, if you replace "writing" with "creating stories" everything makes perfect sense. Writing is relatively modern compared to the magical origins of storytelling.
I"ve been learning recently about memorization techniques and I'm amazed by how crafty the ancients were in devising these toolboxes that pretty much allowed them to memorize anything. Extensive bodies of knowledge that sometimes comprises the traditions of an entire culture.
That came to my mind also. The paleolithic was prehistoric because we required writing to record history. At least, that's how I understood it.
@@seyadeodin Any good resources for this? It sounds interesting.
@@HWSNISNWStart with searching for "memory castle". Lots of YT videos, of course, but please don't stop there.
Alan's grandchildren are my cousins
I feel like I was just lectured by a grand wizard
God is that you?
Yes, its him
profound
I really like the beginning of this video. His later points about writing being the seperator between cavemen and civilization feels very ignorant though given the plethora of cultures which were able to store information across generations orally with remarkable accuracy without written language.
His point is that writing is a way of leaving records not dependent on the life of the person who knows it.
What is a “wroita”? 😉😄
What a block
a red-blooded genius
what does this mean
I know Alan Moore from Watchmen and V for Vendetta I really liked the concept of Doctor Manhattan and I wonder what if dr Manhattan had the background of Rorschach what he would have become in relation to the human species that are in some special cases despicable
No wonder people unironically identify with Rorschach, despite him being as repulsive and incompetent as he is. Alan Moore really is The GOAT.
What Alan’s describing in the first few minutes is dialectical materialism, the philosophical foundation of Marxism and Communism
My name's Del Winterbottom. I've been a fiction writer for 15 years.
And, well, here's one of my effects on the entirety of the human future.
It's a scene from my 11th book (so far, I've written one chapter).
Let me know what you think 😊
Last I was here, it did not end well...
For you:
Marcellus Garcia.
The cold dismal day.
Damp streets.
Grey sky.
The Condensated shop-windows.
I followed you through the market.
When you stopped, I stalked.
Quiet as Death before the swing of the scythe.
Could it have been the breeze?
The way that puddle rippled?
Or how the crows scattered…
I’ll never be sure…
But like lightning, you fled.
I chased like the wind.
You knocked a woman over and her groceries flew.
Barking dogs.
The school bells rang.
Discordant children.
At last, your gasp.
I knew you’d give.
Breathless, you saw Mitas’ crowned king, Rauze Aruld, on the balcony of his palace, waving at his fools.
Then he waved at you…
I wonder…
Did he wave goodbye?
You thought the alley was a good move…
That in shadow, I wouldn’t see you.
Shivering, you thought you were watching me…
But he was my decoy, whom I conned to don my cloak.
You had no clue I was breathing down your nape.
No inkling my knife was pointing at your heart.
‘Til your eyes followed that first drop of rain.
First the splash.
Then the plunge.
In my arms, you slept...never to wake again.
Reads like something Matt Holness would write. Or a crap Alan Moore for that matter
I generally have a lot of time for Moore's views on these things, but he's not quite right about the necessity of writing for building a corpus of knowledge and a history of events, and so on. Many cultures that had no writing have detailed verbally transmitted histories. My grandmother's culture had verbal stories that accurately described changes to the landscape as the ice age retreated, that describe the first visits by early European sailors, and many other things.
This is the only good kind of writing advice. None of this "follow these stringent rules from Joseph Campbell's self help books" nonsense. Writing isn't a thing you can just teach someone, it's something you have to teach yourself. It's an intuition that exists only to yourself. Know yourself, know your heritage, know your world. The rest is buzz.
Genio ❤️❤️
writing out this comment to have an effect on human history and the entirety of the human future.
'rioting'
Holy crap. The first 2 minutes explains why Hollywood can’t make a good movie anymore. The combination of writers, directors, and studio decision makers result in movies that make absolutely no attempt to understand the world or morality of anyone but the activist left. Every movie and TV show is about political power, and none of them explore anything. And this explains why. People who have an inclination to explore are cut out of the creative process.
It all makes sense now.
“Its all bullshit anyway”
- Alan Moore
Aha yes. The subject of Roiting. Roiting is magical, genuine, and serious. Did I write this? No! I roit this!
If only everyone from shoe town was that open-minded
What is this thing he's talking about, a "roiter"?
A person who roites.
He doesn't give a damn about money
This criticism doesn’t really challenge his ultimate conclusions but he wrong about the trivia of the origin of writing. Writing developed out of the mundane tracking of grain and trade, not stone age shamanism, and he dramatically underestimates the retention of information by illiterate oral societies. If we are being charitable then we can call these aesthetic statements. But I love Alan Moore, what he is saying about the value of writing is as good as anything. If his conclusion is that writing can change the world and human consciousness, then I can’t disagree with any of that.
I agree! If you are interested in where he got this idea, here is Alan's source:
(Janes, Julian. "The Origin Of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind." 1976).
This text and its ideas have pros and cons. Some of the cognitive archaeology is solid (particularly the focus on the cognitive change in the minds of ancient Greeks), but Jaynes is speaking out of pocket about disciplines that are not his focus, which leads him to speculate heavily about the origin of language with little proof. He also makes bold claims about the origins of mental illnesses without the neccesary evidence, which make the book seem like pseudoscience.
I think, on one hand, Alan has aptly identified the importance of language in the ancient world. But, like most people, his knowledge of its specific origin is 10% evidence and 90% speculation.
At the end of the day, his perspective is what makes him succesful unto himself. He may not have made an effective archaeologist, but he's still one hell of a writer.
@@blackcurtainanimation I recognized the Jaynes in the background of Moore’s ideas as well! I agree its an imperfect book, but I think its value is in its presentation of an idea so radical it really forces the reader to examine their own preconceptions about history and consciousness. Its a thesis that’s impossible to prove or disprove, which makes it bad science, but as free thinking speculation about the past, boy is it a tour de force. It really makes you wonder. Thanks for your response in drawing out some fascinating parallels. 😀
I love Alan Moore but I'm not happy to see he's letting his t-shirt text dictate his beard length
(Either that or his beard and hair reached an equality accord.)
bollix
I don't really want to be a řœter,. but he looks wœse.