Home For Fiction - Blog - Page 19 of 149

Individuality and Capitalism: Lessons From Remaking my Website

November 13, 2023

capitalism, home for fiction, programming, society

For a long time I’ve been meaning to revamp Home for Fiction. When I put it together back in 2017, I was in the middle of defending my doctoral dissertation, and I had no time or energy for coding, so I simply picked a ready template. Recently, I finally decided to modify it, and the process was thoroughly revealing. From all things, it also taught me a thing or two about individuality, capitalism, and how society is becoming increasingly more dysfunctional.

Yeah, I know; all this from putting together some web pages?

But, in the end, that’s why we need to be experiencing the world around us before we write: in order to discover the connections that lie there unnoticed.

So, in this post, I’ll briefly explain my motivation in changing some things and, above all, what it taught me about individuality and capitalism. And we’ll begin precisely from this point.

individuality and capitalism – cartoon of Punning Walrus in front of computer — This image holds *meta-* value, because the inclusion of my **Punning Walrus cartoon** was one of the motivating factors behind modifying the Home for Fiction website

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Writing Violet Evergarden Style

November 6, 2023

Experiencing, Writing

creativity, experiencing, fiction, literature, writing

Violet Evergarden is a character in the eponymous Japanese light novel series – and subsequently anime. But what does “writing Violet Evergarden style” mean, and why should we care?

Well, as I’ve said before, finding connections in fiction is crucial for creating a cohesive, conceptually solid narrative. But there’s more: Finding connections in general leads to more knowledge, more productive imagination, more surprising paths.

To blow my own trumpet, one of the best compliments I was ever given in my academic life – in the official report accompanying my MA grading no less – was that I have “an uncanny ability in finding connections”.

And so, writing Violet Evergarden style – writing the way a character in a young adult anime writes – might sound like an odd thing to base a writing advice post on – probably not as odd, though, as pairing narrative diversions with a scantily dressed comic heroine. In any case, there are very, very important lessons here.

writing Violet Evergarden style – a typewriter against the sunset

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Ember’s Disappearing Clothes: Unnecessary Diversions in Fiction

October 30, 2023

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

aesthetics, art, creativity, fiction, literature, writing

I’m sure this is one of those post titles I really need to explain. I mean, “unnecessary diversions in fiction” gives you at least some idea what the post will be about, but who the heck is Ember? And what do her disappearing clothes have to do with all this?

Ember is a character in the comic series Storm, drawn by Don Lawrence. In the non-English-speaking world she’s also known as Redhair, from the original Dutch “Roodhaar”. Storm was among my favorite childhood comics – together with Donald Duck. Don Lawrence was an incredible artist, and to me his work still is the reference point for realistic, affectively impactful art.

As a child, I only had the first ten or so Storm books – there have been something like thirty-plus in total, together with some spinoffs. I recently decided to search the net for the books I hadn’t read, and I did find them. It was a nostalgic trip – nostalgia is a trap – but I couldn’t help but notice something interesting: The more the stories progressed, the less… covered Ember became.

diversions in fiction, Ember's disappearing clothes — At first, Ember was dressed in rather ordinary clothes. But after a few books, her style became more and more revealing. By the end of the series (bottom left), there is very little left to imagination (scanned images from original drawings by Don Lawrence).

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