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affective power

Pink Gothic: The Cathartic Aesthetics of The Owl House

December 5, 2022

academia, aesthetics, affect, criticism, defiance, Gothic, visuality

Academic knowledge that doesn’t attempt to create something new isn’t worth a damn. So, to put my own academic expertise to good use, I coin the term Pink Gothic to refer to the aesthetics of The Owl House – particularly, how “Gothic pinkness” assigns a cathartic quality to these aesthetics.

If you already feel a bit overwhelmed – “too many unknown words!” – worry not. I plan to make this post accessible and interesting. So here’s a simpler way of expressing the same thing as above:

I decided to write a post where, inventing the term “Pink Gothic”, I explore how colors and other visual elements in a narrative are associated with the resolution of fears and anxieties – typically brought to the surface by the very same narrative. In this exploration, I use the animated fantasy series The Owl House as an example.

Indeed, it was the aesthetics of The Owl House that inspired me to reflect on this matter. It’s likely (if not highly likely for my usual readers) that you’re not familiar with The Owl House. Again, worry not. I will offer plenty of examples along the way.

aesthetics of the owl house pink gothic — Pink Gothic is all about **juxtaposition**; combining visually – and ultimately **affectively** – incongruent elements. When it comes to the aesthetics of *The Owl House*, in particular, their cathartic quality is a direct result of intelligent use of color, depth, and space

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Emotional IQ and Writing: Why It Is Important

May 3, 2021

Writing

affect, characters, emotional iq, fiction, writing

“Emotional IQ” is one of those phrases people in marketing and recruiting love to throw around. Many of them might not even know what they’re talking about. For writers – but also readers – emotional IQ in writing is more than important; it’s crucial.

By “emotional IQ” we generally mean the ability to recognize emotions (our own as well as others’) by noticing patterns and expressions. These can belong to various categories:

Visual. For instance, noticing the way someone’s eyes move, or the way their lips are puckered; body language, in general.
Aural. Think of someone’s speech, including tempo, hesitation, pitch, etc.
Textual. The kind of language we use – including syntax, register, and other such details – can reveal a lot about our emotional inner worlds.

For our context, that is, emotional IQ in writing, you might think the last one is the most important. To some extent you’d be right, but don’t neglect the other two. Visuality and sounds can be major aspects in narrative. If, for example, your goal is to write realistic characters, you’d want their emotional expressions to be subtle, rich, and believable. Visual and aural cues, then, are important.

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Restraint in Writing: Doing Your Characters Justice

March 15, 2021

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

ambiguity, fiction, pace, patience, restraint, writing

I’ve often talked about patience and “less is more” in my posts. I’ve also often referred to the importance of subtlety and ambiguity, rather than over-explaining. Restraint in writing is part of this grand concept, and it basically refers to keeping your authorial eagerness in check.

To exercise restraint while writing means to understand narrative journeys. Exercising restraint and subtlety means to resist ~~divine~~ authorial intervention: If a certain outcome, way out, or solution is unlikely to happen in real life, then it’s twice as unlikely to happen in fiction.

Remember that, although life doesn’t need to make sense, fiction does!

And so, in this post I’ll show you why restraint when writing fiction is important. I’ll also show you ways to find and maintain this restraint. The way can be challenging, but the result will be worth it: You will end up with a narrative that is far more mature, engaging, and rewarding for you and your audience alike.

But, as a first thing, we need to zero in on the concept of restraint. So, let’s begin with some definitions and examples.

For many authors, restraint in writing sounds negative; it connotes limitation, being chained. Well, as you can see in the next photo, further below, being chained can be a good thing!

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