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A Poem for the Fall (excerpt from the Self versus Self Project)

August 12, 2019

fiction, LGBT, literary fiction, literature, poetry, self versus self, sexuality

I know, I know, it’s still summer. At least in some parts of the world. In the southern hemisphere August is the last month of winter. And in Finland, summer is the time of the year that it can be sizzling hot or snowing. It’s all a mater of perspective. This is what this poem for the fall conveys.

Note: what follows is an excerpt from my Self Versus Self project, that contains a narrative poem and a literary-fiction novel. It’s not available for sale, but see the bottom of this post for info on how to download it for free.

Fall can be a time of melancholy; or elation. It’s all a matter of perspective. This is what this poem for the fall attempts to convey

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How to Write Vivid Descriptions for Your Novel

August 7, 2019

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

art, descriptions, fiction, literature, meaning, writing

When I was a young(er) and stupid(er) author, I thought I needed to write long, elaborate descriptions of my settings. I read books where writers spent three pages on describing a wall, and I thought that’s how you write vivid descriptions.

Only much later, as I became more experienced, did I realize the truth: To write vivid descriptions that actually offer added value to your novel, you shouldn’t focus on wordy details. Indeed, more often than not, I’d advise against it.

But that’s not the end of the story, either. And so, with today’s post, I want to share some of my experience and offer you a tip or two about how to describe the setting of your novel in a way that does your story justice.

How to Write Vivid Descriptions — If you want to write vivid descriptions, focus **neither** on lengthy, detailed depictions, **nor** on fancy words

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Literature Is More than a Sum of Its Parts

August 3, 2019

Writing

art, meaning, symbolism, visuality, writing

I have often mentioned this in the blog: Literature is more than a sum of its parts. In other words, a literary text – like any self-respecting art form – provides you with more than simply all of its words, paragraphs, and chapters.

To talk about literature being more than a sum of its parts is another way of saying the following two things:

The creation of meaning is not only the author’s job.
Symbolic power is exclusively (think about that for a moment) found not in what you see but in what you don’t.

I was pondering on today’s topic while listening to a song – as I mentioned above, all self-respecting art is more than a sum of its parts. And so, I decided to use this song as an example case.

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