for thinking people
March 22, 2021
These short stories – some would refer to them as “flash fiction” – with the collective title “Coffee Trilogy”, are authored by Igor da Silva Livramento, friend and fellow writer, academic, and creative-writing advisor. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. You can find him on LinkedIn, and also take a look at his blog and his page on Bandcamp.
Oh, and if you’re looking for my own coffee musings, well, you know what to do.
March 15, 2021
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.
March 8, 2021
Before I say another word, here’s a disclaimer. Yes, the subtitle is somewhat misleading, albeit catchy. Bram Stoker’s Dracula didn’t quite foretell the Great War, that is WW1, in the sense it didn’t intend to. What happens in Dracula – and the reason this post exists – is that Stoker, reflecting the cultural milieu of the late 19th century, subconsciously included in his magnum opus the reasons why modernity fails. These reasons partly overlap with the reasons behind the Great War.
Perhaps what is more important in all this is that the reasons don’t seem to be all that different today. More than a hundred years later, modernity fails us again. Crucially, modernity fails us for the same reasons. We’re dealing with somewhat altered dynamics, of course, yet the basic ingredients are the same.
We’ll begin by taking a brief look at the historical context of Dracula – the cultural milieu I referred to. Then we’ll see how Stoker’s novel explains why modernity fails, and how that relates to the Great War.
Like every self-respecting Gothic work, Dracula hides a complex nexus of meaning. Blood-sucking vampires only form the skin layer, but the heart – no pun intended – of the novel contains a multitude of allegories, many of which are not the result of conscious authorial work.
