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The Place of Style in Thinking about Literature

October 16, 2023

creativity, guest post, Igor Livramento, literature, writing

Today’s post – “The Place of Style in Thinking about Literature” – is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. You can find him on LinkedIn and here is his own blog.

Art is contact with the inhuman that dwells in all of us: be it the animalistic and abject subhuman – as in Lautréamont, Clive Barker, Artaud, Pierre Guyotat – or the angelic and sanctified superhuman – as in the biblical psalmist, Rōdhakī, Hāfez or Petrarch. Style, therefore, is not a form of individual expression, externalization of the soul, exposition of a supposed interior, but the making up of a just form (fair, as in Law, fit, as in Fashion). This form is just because it is homologous to the world, it follows the same logic as the world (homo-logos): as obscure, dense and impenetrable as the matter of the day.

Style, therefore, is the way to make things – ideas, beings, moments – last in time, which means that language also lasts to allow this lasting. It thus opens up the chance for a reader to place their own time transversely in the timed chronometer of work and routine.

style and thinking about literature — Style, thinking, literature. Art. Language.

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Literary Analysis of Three Excerpts I Like; of my Own Fiction

October 9, 2023

Fiction

book, creativity, criticism, fiction, literature, writing

Ah, yes; another egotistical post. A bit like the one where I essentially reviewed my own work. But as there was value in that, there is value in this one, too. A literary analysis of three excerpts of my own fiction can be revealing to you for two reasons:

As a writer, it shows you how to critically approach your own work; why you like something, how it made you feel. Doing so helps you gauge your writing and move past the “first book” stage (with or without quotation marks).
As a reader, you get a “behind the scenes” of writing. Not only does this offer you unique insights in regard to the writing process, but – which is more important – makes you a better reader, too.

Naturally, in order for this post to be accessible to anyone, whether they have read the books or not, I have selected the excerpts in a way that they don’t depend on their context. Not too directly, at least.

anime image of woman and man. Literary analysis of three excerpts — If *The Other Side of Dreams* were an anime, Anna and Ahmed – the two main characters – would perhaps look like this, walking the streets of Rome on a summer evening

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How to Name a Character in Fiction

July 31, 2023

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

characters, creativity, fiction, literature, writing

What’s in a name, huh? Choosing how to name a character shouldn’t be too big a problem, right?

Well, not so fast.

Just as coming up with the perfect title for your novel is harder work than might initially appear, choosing a name for a character in fiction or even a video game contains significant complexity. The reason?

Names are symbolically powerful. Moreover, because – for better or worse – names form an integral part of our identity, naming a character assigns a huge weight on their shoulders. Allow me to use a short excerpt from Illiterary Fiction to make the point:

With a sigh, [Paul] turns around and begins to walk in the direction of the bar – amused by the fact that he still doesn’t know the bartender’s name, and probably never will. Names can be misleading, he thinks, because each name carries with it an entire ideology. What if the man’s name were Giuseppe or, heck, Hassan? What if it were Sabrina, what would then Paul think?

And so, in this post, I’ll offer you a few tips on how to name a character in your work. The right name can work wonders in terms of conceptual integrity, as well as relatability. Overall, naming your characters is a crucial part of the overall affective impact of your narrative and, as such, an author shouldn’t ignore the potential.

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