Single images, strikingly chosen, make the best cover designs. More than that is tinsel on a painting.
Those who create because they want to, the way they want to, are not children of lesser gods.
On the anatomy of a discarded story.
Every time I see an artist whose work makes me tell myself, "There's a story there," I know I'm on the right track.
Especially when you want to write about your world, of which you've not seen very much yourself.
Commercial success for creative work is less about the work itself and more about its circumstances.
How consistency, foolish or otherwise, can be the hobgoblin of small minds in SF&F.
"Just depict, don't also imagine" is a poor program for art.
Too many times I've started a project only to shelve it because it was nothing but putting some attitude on display. And a bad attitude at that.
Over the course of my life I've emigrated from one kind of imagination to another -- from just "making things up" to seeing what we have in front of us in a new way.
On examining what feels like the formula I've devised for most every book I write.
How I've unthinkingly made too many fun things into "research" or "creative work".
"Getting lost in your knowledge management system is a fantastic way to avoid creating things."
People see your results, not your efforts. By design.
"The 'three-act structure' and the 'hero’s journey', are editing tools, not writing tools."
Paraphrasing Neil Gaiman: "Make cheap art."
"What makes dog biscuit packaging an unworthy object of a designer's attention as opposed to a museum catalog?"
Comparing and contrasting two critics, Roger Ebert and Serge Daney.
Where am I obliged to like anything merely because it exists?
Gut wisdom and creativity, examined.
The lessons we learn from singular, idiosyncratic works are not necessarily positive ones.
The only thing I want from my work is to use it as a way to make sense of myself and my world, and to do that in a way that other people can share.
What are people for in SF&F? To show us what's possible, and to show how that's possible right here, not just "out there somewhere."
We don't want validation just to know that we're doing the right thing, but also to know we're not doing the wrong things.
At some point I imagine someone came up with (or should come up with) a game theory of creative work.