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How Did Dracula Become a Vampire: Ethics and Accountability

November 29, 2021

academia, criticism, Dracula, Gothic, literature, responsibility

At first, you might consider the question “How did Dracula become a vampire?” meaningless. The obvious reason is that Bram Stoker’s novel doesn’t offer a clear answer. However, not only is there actual meaning in this deceptively simple question, but it’s one that is fundamental for the way ethics and accountability are presented in the novel.

After all, ethics as well as accountability are not consciously dealt with in Dracula. Rather, there is only an attempt by the text to explain (away) some uncomfortable truths. Of course, in a true Victorian Streisand effect, the more the novel wants to hide these uncomfortable truths, the more they emerge.

How did Dracula become a vampire?

This question – which I’m using as a starting point and metaphor – allows us to talk about a crucial aspect of the novel. Indeed, one containing another question: Is Dracula evil?

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Why It’s OK to Suck at Writing (or Anything, Really)

November 22, 2021

Writing

fiction, ignorance, mediocrity, writing

Forgive the lame title, I suck at coming up with proper ones – though I seem to have a talent for self-reference. Today’s post will be about feeling taken aback by our perceived lack of skill in writing, singing, drawing, or anything, really. Though the focus will be mostly on writing – and so the implicit thesis is: “Why it’s OK to suck at writing” – the lessons are applicable everywhere.

Indeed, inspiration for this post came after I saw something remarkable on YouTube (I’ll share it with you in a moment) that made me question my guitar skills. Question? More like, wanting to sell my guitars and never touch one again for as long as I live.

I then realized that similar feelings can be inspired regarding writing. The ultimate takeaway, as we’ll see, is this: Comparing skills in artistic processes is very thin ice.

suck writing — You might think you suck at writing (**I do too**, sometimes), and I experienced something that made me feel I suck at playing guitar. But it made me think, and that’s a good (meta-)lesson for this post

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How to Write a Short Story: Examples of Structure and Intent

November 15, 2021

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

affect, literature, plot, short story, writing

A short story is not just “a little novel”. In other words, short stories – despite their misleading name – are not about length. Rather, compared to novels, short stories are a different format altogether, with unique requirements and different dynamics. The trick in understanding how to write a short story lies precisely in comprehending these requirements and dynamics.

As I often say, fiction is not about telling a story but about instigating an emotional response. It’s about affect, not plot. Short stories aren’t different regarding that. However, what differs is the way there.

To put it simply, a novel with a word count of 80,000 words or more has a certain flexibility in its expansion. In other words, although narrative pace and the overall balance are something to keep an eye on, a novel is more forgiving in terms of digressions.

This is certainly not the case with a short story.

As a result, the way to learning how to write a short story that “delivers” passes through structure and the associated intent. We’ll look at these in more detail in this post, together with examples that can show you how to pack the optimal power in your short stories.

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