Search This Blog

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Modelland by Tyra Banks


Tyra Banks, people. Another effing inspirational YA book to egg you along your journey as  writer. All you need to do is be famous in some other way first. Super model to literary author. What's your path? To tell the truth, despite how ridiculously breezy she makes it all look--she even drives and writes her novel at the same time--I still kind of like her. I don't know why. Call me crazy.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you apply what she says about modeling to writing . . . it all makes sense. To wit: when modeling sweat pants, pretend as though you're modeling evening wear; when you're in evening wear, pretend you're modeling sweats. Applies perfectly to prose. You must subvert expectation; dress up the ordinary; play down the exceptional so that it seems as common as dirt. Good stuff in there.

Radek said...

super- model would be easier except that i carry a lot baggage and I'm A MALElol

Radek said...

I was joken about the baggage lol, but writing is in a way easier, no one cares about how you look.

Tom L. said...

I contract for a company that has Tyra co-branding on one of its products. The woman only cares about the $$$$$, not the quality or the long-term reputation of her brand.

Her novel could be nothing by pages of "Lorem ipsum asdf asdf asdf asdf" and it would still sell enough copies to satisfy her greed. Tyra "banks" indeed.

Radek said...

that maybe true "tom L"

she is not in light then

Marshall said...

any way why judge and talk about people? we all want be rich and some of us want to be powerful as well...

i feel some, feel some negative engery in this room

clean your ora's

Cari Hislop said...

She's definitely an entertainer. American's Next Top Model was a brilliant concept and one of the funniest things I've ever seen on American tv. If she encourages young people to pick up a book and enjoy reading that has to be good!

Anonymous said...

I disagree with the "at least they read" approach. This is such a low bar that the kids have got accustomed to reading simple-minded trash and never progress to reading quality writing because it feels like hard work. No wonder there is no market for good quality writing, and that is the reason we all hang around on LROD and commiserate with each other.
:{

Tom L said...

I don't think it's completely bad if young readers discover the joy of reading through books that are badly written (Twilight), however, it would be better if they learned to read with a critical eye so they could recognize bad writing, even if they nonetheless enjoy it.

I'd like to see a young fan of the twilight series concede that Meyers has prose styling issues and weak character development. There's nothing wrong if young readers still find these books compelling in spite of the writing.

Not having read Ms. Banks's novel, I can't say if it badly written like Twilight. If I had to bet, I'd say it is, simply because the company I contract for produces low-quality items that Tyra stamps her name on.