When you start writing, you have the ambivalence of a toddler who both wants help down the stairs and wants to do it himself. You know you need critical feedback, but you’re inexperienced, unsure of […]
Tag: Art
How I Do It
One of the fringe benefits, I guess, of serializing longer works in shorter chunks, is that I’ve iterated a lot the last couple years. In fact, I’m about to produce my eighth title in the […]
(Curiosity) The Anatomy of Excellence in Art + Fiction
Hugo Froelich created the following diagram, The Stages of Conventionalization, in 1905 for Keramic Studio Magazine. It proposes a hierarchy of representation, what’s sometimes called a mode of genre. Impressionism, for example, employs a decorative […]
In which I ramble about art & criticism
I feel like it should be kind of taboo for a writer to talk about the beta reading experience, except in very general ways. I mean, beta readers are giving up their free time — […]
Elements: How I Approach Setting
I feel like I’ve crossed another milestone. I’ve had a realization recently about setting, which writing instructors will tell you is one of the key elements of fiction, along with characters and plot, but which I […]
(Curiosity) Wabi Sabi: Notes on the Japanese Aesthetic
I am not that species, the Common Western Japanophile. I first visited in 2001 because my friend, who is a Japanophile, was teaching English in Kyoto and offered a free place to stay. I didn’t […]
Namio Harukawa’s Gender-Swapped “Hentai” Art
namio harukawa is a japanese artist known for inverting the traditional themes of hentai and other graphic erotica of his country which typically (but not universally) depict men in positions of sexual control over young […]
(Curiosity) The Art of the Collage: Visions of Excess
If you don’t follow the art world — which is its own thing separate from the art itself — you may not know that the collage, once the pinnacle of fourth-grade art class, has made something […]
