Looking for safe, creative--good vibes--type community in Idaho: Help please. (Boise: rental, how much)

[cassidy2]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Idaho isn't like Montana, where a lot of writers moved to be among other writers, but I know a couple of novelists who ended up here.

They moved here because they needed to get away to somewhere with no hustle-bustle and the distractions of the big cities so they could write in peace and quiet.

And be left alone so they could get some work done. Idahoans tend to ignore fame. A famous person doesn't get a bunch of hangers-on here like they do in other places.

If the writer is a nice person who gets along with the neighbors, we generally don't care how famous they may be somewhere else- they're just getting by and doing their job like the rest of us.

As long as they take us and where we're living for life as it is here, not where they came from. Those who come and expect to find all the big-city stuff have a harder time fitting in. That's why there are always a few movie stars, singers, etc. who come to live here. Those who adapt quickly to our laid-back ways always end up doing well. Those who don't adapt eventually go back to where they came from.

Hemingway was so famous that he was instantly recognized as soon as he arrived, but he was happy to stand in line at the grocery store and chat with the customer next to him, and he was soon just another guy in the neighborhood. It's all in the attitude a person brings with them.

Writers have a big advantage though- people generally know their names more than their faces. A writer can be very famous, but won't be spotted in a crowd like a movie star.

Banjomike,

Would you mind explaining the difference between Idaho and Montana in relationship to the writing culture.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by cassidy2

Banjomike,

Would you mind explaining the difference between Idaho and Montana in relationship to the writing culture.

Beginning in the early 1970s, Montana gradually became a place where writers moved to. Many of them went due to the influence of a couple of famous authors who also taught creative writing; Richard Brautigan and Norman Maclean were two who were particularly influential.

Maclean was a native who taught literature at the University of Chicago. He didn't publish any of his own writing until he was 70, but taught for over 30 years. His most famous book was "A River Runs Through It".

Brautigan actually spent most of his life in San Francisco, where he both wrote and taught off and on at the California Institute of Technology. During the 60s, Brautigan wrote a lot of poetry and several novels; "In Watermelon Sugar", "Trout Fishing in America", and "A Confederate General in Big Sur" were his most popular.

Both men developed many devoted acolytes who were both students and later, personal friends. Where they went, others followed.

Of the pair, Brautigan was less famous as an author, but more influential to younger, aspiring writers. Brautigan was an outdoorsman who liked to spend his summers in Montana fishing, and he would be joined by some other writers there.
Authors Tom McGuane, Gatz Hortsenberg, Jimmy Buffet, and others became a loose group who all hung out in the Paradise Valley, close to the northern entrance to Yellowstone Park, where they would all write, drink, and fish. Brautigan also taught at Montana State in Bozeman off and on.

They became a loose "Montana School", writing fiction that was set in Montana or in the west, with distinctly western characters and themes. McGuane became a best-selling author who also wrote screenplays, notably "The Missouri Breaks" and "Rancho Deluxe". Gatz also wrote several screenplays.

Movie writers attract actors, and Paradise Valley became a spot where a lot of actors and musicians built second vacation homes. Where glamorous people go, others follow, so there was a lot of carousing, and lots of hangers' on, but there was a lot creative literature being made there for about 15 years, along with a lot of song writing.
In some ways, it was sort of like what happened in San Francisco in the 1950s. Writers and poets hang out with painters, painters hang out with musicians, and musicians hang out with actors. And all attract groupies who want to join the goings-on. Eventually, the scene becomes such a big everlasting party no one gets any work done, and it all falls apart.

The Montana school gradually fell apart in the 80s. Brautigan eventually moved back to California full-time, and died in 1987. Without him at the center, the group began going their own ways. Some stayed in Montana, while others moved away. But though it's gone, it left Montana with the reputation of being a good place for writers.

As far as the business goes, though, Montana is pretty much like the rest of the intermountain west. It may be a good place to write, but to publish still means writers need connections in the big cities where the publishers, editors, agents, and sales agencies are.
All the writers in the school already had those connections before they went to Montana. And they were all published authors before they began living there.

Idaho never had a similar group like this, but Idaho has been the home of authors who were more famous. Ezra Pound was a native, Hemingway moved to Idaho after leaving Cuba, Vardis Fisher was hugely popular (but forgotten now), and Wilson Rawls. Many famous novelists currently live in Idaho, some part-time and others full-time.

They associate with each other, but they don't carouse like the group in Montana did- they like Idaho because it offers peace and quiet, good things for writing. They also prefer to keep their privacy, so they can go around un-noticed in daily life. Some leave during the winter, moving to some city, where they do all their other related business, and just spend most of their time here in relative isolation, writing on their latest project.

Both states are good places to work for established writers, but its much easier to become established in places where the distances aren't so great and more people who are involved in the industry work and live. Chicago, for example, has always been full of writers, along with Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Atlanta and others. For those who are trying to break in, it's a lot easier to go across town to meet with someone for a couple of hours than to get on an airplane and spend days away from home and work.

[cassidy2]

Wow...I love your post. Very nice. Thank you.

[javatom]

Best author originally from Montana IMO - Ivan Doig

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by javatom

Best author originally from Montana IMO - Ivan Doig

He's real good! Doig is more popular than anyone I mentioned; only Maclean could compare, and he only wrote a few books. Doig wrote a slew of best-sellers. He's like Montana as Larry McMurtry is to Texas.

[Cnynrat]

I agree, Doig is one of my favorites. While he grew up in Montana, I think he did most (maybe all?) of his writing while living in the Seattle area.

Dave

[javatom]

I think your are right.

[cassidy2]

Can anyone tell me is Pocatella, Idaho a good place to live? Note, Pocatella's rental market is very compelling. Also, what is the main difference between Northern Idaho and Eastern Idaho?

[cassidy2]

Originally Posted by cassidy2

Can anyone tell me is Pocatella, Idaho a good place to live? Note, Pocatella's rental market is very compelling. Also, what is the main difference between Northern Idaho and Eastern Idaho?

I am so sorry "I am thinking of moving to Pocatello, Idaho." Thank you.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by cassidy2

I am so sorry "I am thinking of moving to Pocatello, Idaho." Thank you.

No probs- typos are common.

Pocatello is culturally in the middle between Boise and Idaho Falls. Mostly it's similar to either, but Idaho State U. has been there forever, so it's a college town. Pocatello also developed as more an industrial city than Idaho Falls, as it was a railroad junction, which always helps build industry, and it's close to the phosphate mines that lie to the south. The phosphate was processed in Poky and shipped out by rail.

The temps there are typically warmer than most of S.E. Idaho, and the culture is a bit more youthful than most of the other towns in the area. It's quite scenic, as it lies in a hole surrounded by mountains, and it's a pretty nice place.

Poky is only an hour away from I.F. on the Interstate, so if you visit Idaho Falls, it's easy to go down and check it out. Pocatello was the larger of the two cities for a long time, but Idaho Falls is the larger now by a little bit.

The Shoshone-Bannock reservation, Fort Hall is nearby, and some friends of mine who went to college there lived in a rental on the rez and loved it. The rent was cheaper, and they had a good time.

Pocatello is named after a famous Bannock chief.