Recent posts tagged creativity
2023
Putting Tinsel On A Painting
Single images, strikingly chosen, make the best cover designs. More than that is tinsel on a painting.
On Writing As Folk Art
Those who create because they want to, the way they want to, are not children of lesser gods.
Profiles In Failure
On the anatomy of a discarded story.
2022
Mind's Eye Theater, 2022 Edition
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.
On Doing One's Homework
Especially when you want to write about your world, of which you've not seen very much yourself.
Happy Accidents
Commercial success for creative work is less about the work itself and more about its circumstances.
The Kessel Run Is A Unit Of ... Fun
How consistency, foolish or otherwise, can be the hobgoblin of small minds in SF&F.
Show, Don't Tell (A New Way To Get It Wrong)
"Just depict, don't also imagine" is a poor program for art.
Fronting And Faking
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.
Imagine 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.
Mystory, Repeating Itself
On examining what feels like the formula I've devised for most every book I write.
Workaholica: Read 'Em All
How I've unthinkingly made too many fun things into "research" or "creative work".
Pens Down!
"Getting lost in your knowledge management system is a fantastic way to avoid creating things."
End(game) Result
People see your results, not your efforts. By design.
Campbell's Folly
"The 'three-act structure' and the 'hero’s journey', are editing tools, not writing tools."
Fast, Cheap, And Under Control
Paraphrasing Neil Gaiman: "Make cheap art."
Towards A More Lovely Dog Biscuit Package
"What makes dog biscuit packaging an unworthy object of a designer's attention as opposed to a museum catalog?"
A Mouthful Of Ideas
Comparing and contrasting two critics, Roger Ebert and Serge Daney.
Wrinkling My Nose
Where am I obliged to like anything merely because it exists?
I Got The Feelin'
Gut wisdom and creativity, examined.
More Wrong Lessons From The Singular Sensations
The lessons we learn from singular, idiosyncratic works are not necessarily positive ones.
What I Was Trying To Be All About
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.
The Human Use Of Human Beings, And All That
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."
Tell It To Me Straight
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.
Roll Them Dice
At some point I imagine someone came up with (or should come up with) a game theory of creative work.
