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What Is Fiction? The Problem of Defining Reality

April 8, 2024

Literature

creativity, fiction, literature, reality, society, writing

I love deceptively simple questions. “What is fiction?” definitely counts because, on the surface, it appears childishly obvious. One might say “Fiction is writing stories that aren’t real”, or something of the sort. Probably you couldn’t even entirely disagree with that. And yet, this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Obviously enough, if we want to talk about fiction and reality (aren’t they, after all, supposed to be antonyms?) there are special cases, too. “What is fiction?” seems to have a different answer if we offered as an example fantasy fiction, and yet a different one if we talked about, say, historical fiction. And what about memoirs? Not to mention the crazy notion (of yours truly) that all books are autobiographical.

The problem of comprehensively answering the question “What is fiction?” boils down to two main issues:

  • Who is the author of a work?
  • What is reality?

I told you, I love deceptively simple questions. “The author of a work is the person who wrote it, you dummy!” I hear someone telling me. The same person might even roll their eyes hearing me asking what is reality.

But, as you will see in this post, neither of these questions has a clear answer. And this complicates our attempt to answer “what is fiction?” as well. Though worry not, I’ll face the challenge!

“What is fiction?” is not a question that can be answered with recourse to whether it depicts reality or not, but whether it’s predicated on affect
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Confidence and Creativity: What the Drumeo Sessions Reveal

April 1, 2024

Experiencing

art, artist, confidence, creativity, music, writing

I recently had an interesting, eye-opening experience regarding the connection between confidence and creativity. I was watching a video of a drummer trying to play along to a song she hadn’t heard before. It was clear she was way outside her comfort zone. There was neither confidence not creativity in her playing.

Eventually she managed to get into the song and (judging by her expressions) have fun with it. After all, she is a professional drummer who, as I read, has played with some known artists in Quebec, Canada, and has appeared in several big shows.

Yet there is a difference between having played for “known artists in Quebec” (I can’t name anyone, but that’s just me) and, say, having played drums professionally for decades, touring with bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Megadeth. Respect to her and Quebec, but it’s simply not the same thing.

The drummer outside her comfort zone was Domino Santantonio who faced the challenge of the unknown on Drumeo, that has offered the same challenge to (among others) Chad Smith and Dirk Verbeuren, drummers for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Megadeth respectively. I will share the videos below, but as you might guess, their confidence was supremely evident. When you’ve played in huge stadiums next to musicians like Flea or Mustaine (with all their quirks), a little studio session for a YouTube channel can’t scare you.

The difference was so pronounced that it inspired me to write this post about the inseparable connection between confidence and creativity. Only someone truly comfortable with themselves can be creative.

The topic is more complex than what it might appear – not the least so because both confidence and creativity are peculiar concepts – so let’s try to unpack it.

confidence and creativity. painting of chair and window
I have some very rudimentary painting skills, but not artistic confidence. I can create something like this, which displays very low technical skill and even lower artistic one. Unsurprisingly, I would be far, far more confident creating an artistic instantiation of the same scene with words
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Review of A Trick of the Light by Brandt Ryan

March 25, 2024

Criticism

creativity, film, Gothic, music, review

A Trick of the Light is a short film by Brandt Ryan – based on a short story by Pinckney Benedict that first appeared in the Zootrope literary magazine. If the name is familiar, you’ve also read my review of his play Restitution. If the name of the film itself rings a bell, perhaps you’ve noticed it on my Bandcamp page. You see – and this should also serve as a disclaimer of sorts, though it hasn’t affected this review – I’ve composed the score for the film. I’ve also had many interesting conversations with Brandt about art, creativity, films, and the Gothic.

Speaking of, you might have noticed “Gothic” is one of the tags accompanying this post. Is A Trick of the Light a Gothic film? There isn’t a yes/no answer to this (which, funnily enough, would be a heck of a Gothic marker if you asked me as a Gothic fiction specialist), but I’ll come back with the long answer in a moment.

You might also recall there is (at the time I’m writing this) one more film review on Home for Fiction: Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse, which is as Gothic as it can be. Plenty of coincidences – another Gothic markerPerhaps I’m being a bit hasty calling coincidences a Gothic marker, but there is an undeniable connection between the Gothic and what Bakhtin called “adventuristic time”. If you’re interested in the topic, also see my post on coincidences in Frankenstein.! Let’s take a closer look to see why A Trick of the Light is a genuinely intriguing, affectively impactful short film.

A Trick of the Light, album art of soundtrack
Album art of the A Trick of the Light soundtrack
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