/lit/ - Literature

Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange in three weeks. A significant portion of that novel consists of entirely new words, invented and deployed so intelligently and meticulously that it feels totally natural. It was iconic, spawning a film adaptation that has seen tribute in dozens of works since then. The Ludovico Technique has become cultural shorthand for brainwashing. He managed to craft a protagonist who is remorselessly sociopathic and yet strangely alluring. He achieved almost every writer's dream: pop culture influence and genuine artistic innovation. 63,687 words actually typed out, one after another. In three weeks.

And hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people try and fail to hack out 50,000 words for nanowrimo every year. There's a good chance you, reading this, haven't even produced that many in the last six months. What minor obstacle has prevented you from producing one full-length novella? Too busy slaving away at some soulless "job", pinching pennies for retirement? Joylessly masturbating in the dull blue light of your computer monitor? For me, it's my relentless commitment to perfection, it sometimes even stops me from getting started. But you probably have no real excuse.

What’s his best work that’s not Clockwork Orange?

Is creativity broad or narrow? Is it likely a poet could succeed as a painter, for example? Any literature on this?