So many video essays about how to get the 3 act structure right, the Hero's journey, analyzing films through this lens, etc. Dan Harmon is always yapping on about his "story circle"... it's like damn is writing really that bland?
I feel like adherence to these guidelines and the quest to find the perfect structure cheapens things and generally gets in the way of things. But I don't know anything about writing so maybe that's nonsense. What do you guys think?
Bernhard writes these giant rambling books about the moral and political decay of Austrian society. He hated the country, and explained how it was merely a Nazi state that refused to deal with its past, replacing the swastika with the Catholic cross and carrying on. He books are pounding, stylistic triumphs that meander and drive you crazy, really making you feel like you're inside the mind of the narrator, all of whom are trying to create the "perfect" piece of art and losing their minds as they do it. Words spiral, thoughts repeat, sentences lead nowhere and you get to go on a wild and unrelenting journey with no chapters, no paragraphs, just a giant wall of manic text. They're both fun and very serious, and I really recommend him. I'd start with Woodcutters and go from there.