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Rabbit Hole: an Infinite Text Exploration of the Sublime

November 21, 2022

literature, philosophy, programming, subjectivity, sublime

Chances are, the title – as well as the listed categories – might sound confusing. “Rabbit Hole”? “Infinite Text”? “the Sublime”? Ironically enough in this context, this program – which I named, rather predictably, Rabbit Hole – precisely exploits two interrelated faces of language:

Language is both ambiguous and limiting; we have fewer words than we have possible concepts and ideas to express.
As a result, language is subjective; we create our own meaning.

With all this in mind, Rabbit Hole is many things at once. In a sense, it’s an infinite text generator – a bit like the one in Word Journey. In another, it’s an exploration of the sublime – our inability to go beyond certain thresholds, though we might still be able to taste what lies beyond them. After all, as I implied above, talking about the limits of language, how can we represent the unrepresentable?

In a way, we could say Rabbit Hole is an exploration of art – in the most subjective sense of the word. It is what its user wants it to be.

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A False Start Versus a Failed Project

November 14, 2022

Writing

book, creativity, fiction, literature, society, writing

One of the cornerstones of becoming better is completing things. There are sadly many people who begin something full of enthusiasm, yet sooner or later abandon it because it has become too difficult. Then they start something new, only to soon quit as well. The vicious cycle then continues, and they never (or rarely) complete anything. But there are crucial differences between a false start and a failed project, and learning to recognize them is pivotal for learning how to complete things.

Indeed, as societies we don’t talk enough about quitting. We don’t talk about learning how to abandon something when you have to. We seem to live in a world teaching people how not to quit. Instead, we should learn how to do it – properly.

And so, in this post, I’ll draw on my own experiences with false starts and failed projects, to show you how we can separate them.

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What Donald Duck Taught Me About Fiction

November 7, 2022

Fiction

experience, fantasy, fiction, literature, narrative, reading, science fiction, writing

I might have mentioned it before: I owe a lot of whatever I know about writing fiction to… Donald Duck. Reading Donald Duck taught me a lot about reading, writing, and writing fiction. Indeed, I learned to read and write before I went to school, thanks to Donald Duck.

My folks got bored of reading stories to me, so I had to figure it out myself. Then later, when I was maybe seven (memory is very thin ice when it comes to factual accuracy), I wrote my first fiction thanks to Donald Duck. You’ve likely read the story on the main Home for Fiction site:

One day, when I was perhaps seven years old, I read a Donald Duck mystery which was divided into two parts. The first one ended in a cliffhanger, and I sadly had no access to the second part. That was seriously devastating. I solved the problem the only way I could: I took pen and paper and wrote the ending the way I imagined it to be. Those three paragraphs were my first work of fiction.

Years passed. I’ve written a lot, I’ve read a lot, I’ve spent twelve years at the university studying and teaching literature, and overall I have a professional, high-level engagement with fiction.

Imagine my surprise when I realized Donald Duck had more to teach me about literature!

Donald Duck taught me about fiction — Donald Duck has taught me a lot about fiction. And there’s more to learn, still!

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