Sorry to inundate you with facts about and quotes from Hunter S. Thompson. It’s only natural, since he’s one of my main literary inspirations. It just so happens that The Proud Highway, his first volume of collected correspondence, is “chock full” (as he would say) of useful advice. Before he reached the irreversible state of constant drug and alcohol use, he was an aspiring novelist who stuck with journalism more for the search for truth—and the occasional paycheck—than for a love of the industry. In fact, this volume is also loaded with biting hatred for the news business, pointed at everyone from reporters to editors to publishers.

After devouring Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (a book I have not yet read), Thompson was on fire with the concept of individuality. In a letter dated 10/24/57—when he was only 20 years old—he wrote the following:

“Although I don’t feel that it’s at all necessary to tell you how I feel about the principle of individuality, I know that I’m going to have to spend the rest of my life expressing it in one way or another, and I think that I’ll accomplish more by expressing it on the keys of a typewriter than by letting it express itself in sudden bursts of frustrated violence. [...]

“Certainly not independence in the everyday sense of the word, but pertaining to a freedom and mobility of thought that few people are able—or even have the courage—to achieve. [...]

“Keep in mind that the ability to create is an integral part of the makeup of man. If a lack is encountered, it lies not in the ability, but in the scope of perception of one’s own creative ability” (pp. 69-70).

Thomspon was at a stage where he started to work out a balance between ideals and reality, between thinking and action. He was starting to see that creativity is one path to fulfilling the human desire for personal achievement. To a certain lot it even seems like the best path, which was something on my mind when I coined the new slogan “Freedom Is Expression.” After all, the word “create” can be applied to many different things, and is more often connected with physical or architectural projects than intellectual or artistic ones. Think of all the skyscrapers and pyramids and monuments that humans have built throughout the centuries. These can be referred to as “sublimations,” or the outward expression of our subconscious drives (I will return to this concept in further posts).

I’m starting to feel very strongly that creative works are the purest form of creation that doesn’t inherently involve equal or greater destruction. Now if you’re an environmentalist like me, you’re probably thinking, “But what about all the paper used by writers?!” Well, now we have digital compositions, and they are increasingly taking over for traditional paper-based publishing with the help of the Internet. The really difficult part is, once you get the urge to attain individuality through creative expression, you have to constantly battle the feeling that your efforts are futile; that you will never fully express yourself or what it means to be a human being; that you will never really be an individual, and your actions certainly won’t help people after one or two generations have passed; that you will die alone just as you were born alone, and immortality will be lost.

Okay, so I’ve taken that strain WAY off the deep end, mostly to make a point. Of course I don’t always feel that way. I do think it’s important to learn the complexities of this type of philosophical thinking. And Thompson would soon learn that thinking is useless without extremes of action—but to set rules for action based on the thinking process makes less sense than acting and then figuring out what it meant.

Reading these letters makes me slightly angry that I didn’t start reading consistently until the age of 21—but better late than never, even if I am five years behind Thompson in starting to understand these concepts. You can definitely look forward to more quotes from HST on this blog, so hopefully I haven’t crossed your comfort threshold yet.

The day I launched Supraterranean.com, someone wrote a post on the Facebook group to share his opinion. He runs an index of Facebook groups that are devoted to creative writing. He informed me that he is an expert on the subject of literary publication, since he’s editor for the North American Review at University of Northern Iowa. He is — as far as I can tell — a pathetic boob. (Correction: I don’t know him well enough to be certain that he is either pathetic or a boob. I was simply angry.)

In the post, he called the site “narcissistic and solipsistic.” The former was a complaint that I created almost all the content in issue #1. The latter was…well, I haven’t figured that one out yet. In one piece, I did say something about the possibility of time not existing. Does that mean I think nothing exists outside myself? Apparently the man thought it was more effective to chuck big words at people than to take a moment to explain what he really meant.

Here’s how I responded:

“If you read the ‘about us’ page, you’ll see that part of the inspiration behind Supraterranean was ‘to evade the pretentious nature of existing literary journals.’ Your academic high-mindedness and literary tyranny are exactly what I was trying to progress beyond. You take a huge leap in calling the first issue ‘narcissistic.’ I’ve only received three submissions so far, since site development just began in May (you’re welcome to submit…that is, if you can stoop to my standards). Another inspiration was that I hadn’t found a suitable outlet for my work that already exists (including journalism, if that makes you feel better). I think it was Henry Miller who said he’d rather build his own ladder than waste his time climbing someone else’s. (Correction: It was Hunter S. Thompson who said this, in a letter from 1/26/58 printed in his first volume of correspondence, The Proud Highway. The exact quote: “I find that I’d rather build my own figurative ladder than start at the bottom rung of the existing one.”) Well, I just created a customizable ladder for everyone who hates yours. Now I see the real reason you keep the index of creative writing groups — you’re trying to preside over them. Thank you for your consideration, but you can go to hell.”

I will welcome two descriptors: stubborn and sarcastic.

It’s been very difficult for me to explain what I want this web site to be. I regret even calling it a literary journal and I may change the slogan. (Correction: Today, 7/2, I changed the slogan to “Freedom is Expression.” Please comment or email admin@supraterranean.com and tell me what you think.) There’s no single term or concept for what it can become. It’s more of an artistic and creative community on the web than an actual publication. However, since anything posted on the web is now considered “published,” it will be impossible to avoid that tag. Since the site was imagined as something that can not be easily categorized, it made me extremely angry to see someone from a traditional literary journal try to do so.

If you read one thing on the website, please make it the “About Us” page, especially the Mission Statement and Goals. I am not going to be choosing what is placed on the website. My role will be more moderator than editor. I will rant on this blog and post my own creations on the site, but eventually I hope that my content is the minority of what appears there. That’s where you come in. Email your submissions to submit@supraterranean.com today, and let’s get this revolution on its way.