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Understanding Depth in Fiction

June 3, 2024

creativity, fiction, literature, reality, writing

For most people, depth in fiction sounds like a good thing, right? Just as we conflate vivid descriptions or rich vocabulary with high-quality writing, having a deep narrative must be a great thing, right? Right?

The thing is, there are so many fluid variables in the statement “Depth in fiction is a good thing” that it’s impossible to answer that in any sense-making manner before we truly focus on what it is we’re talking about.

That’s what I’m planning to do in this post.

I’ll first offer some definitions and reflection points on what constitutes depth in fiction and whether it’s always a good thing (sneak preview: it ain’t), and then I’ll list some ways that could add depth to your narrative – if you decide you need it.

depth in fiction. image of woman looking at the sea — This might seem just like a random stock photo to convey the concept of (visual) “depth”, however there is a subtle element crucial to my argument on depth in fiction. Namely, the balance between **depth and width**. If the camera angle was wide (imagine a drone image, high above the person), we wouldn’t quite get the same sense of depth as we do here.

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Old Memories Murmured in Dreams: Young Love Poetry

May 20, 2024

Fiction

book, fiction, literature, love, poetry, writing

An old joke claims that thirty years of marriage is when she wonders what happened to the guy she married, while he wonders what happened to the girl he didn’t marry. There’s something special about young love, and poetry themed around this concept has certain unique features as well.

The most important element is of course relevant to rosy retrospection. Young love – our first romantic interactions in teenagehood and early adulthood – might be beautiful, meaningful, and exhilarating, but it’s also confusing, painful, scary, and sometimes dark and destructive.

No sane person would ever want to go through that more than once!

But that’s the beauty of art: It allows us to safely experience and reflect on feelings, thoughts, and states of mind that we wouldn’t want to experience in “reality”.

So I decided – on a whim, basically – to put together Old Memories Murmured in Dreams, a poetry collection focusing on young love. Quite frankly, I’m not even sure we can call it poetry – I tend to see it more like my Medēn art project; something between poetry and prose.

In any case, if we want to call it poetry for simplicity’s sake, it’s poetry from a naïve, young-adult perspective, but with intriguing darkness. Hey, it’s me; what did you expect!

young love poetry; cover art for Old Memories Murmured in Dreams — Cover art, made by yours truly

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The Importance of Enjoying Your Art

April 29, 2024

Experiencing

art, creativity, literature, music, writing

Have you ever noticed those ruthlessly competitive parents who live their own dreams through their children? Don’t you hate it when they approach 7-year-olds’ soccer practice like it’s the World Cup? It’s the same with art: Enjoying your art is the only way to truly become creatively good at it.

You might recall an old post of mine on whether writing skills can be taught. In it, I explained how hard work isn’t enough (and neither is talent, in case you’re wondering). What I didn’t say in that post (not explicitly, at least) was that enjoying your art is a crucial aspect of improving.

All those tiger moms who send their 3-year-olds to excruciating piano lessons or ballet – without even asking them if they like it – are a surefire way of creating technical gods and goddesses who have no goddamn clue what true art is.

Let’s see why enjoying your art is crucial – and how you can enjoy yours!

enjoying art, image of singer on stage — Enjoying your art is not just the best way of creating and performing it; it’s also the *only* way to improve where it matters

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