Tag: Storytelling

Storytelling, Tarot and the Kuleshov Effect 2006-1-10 (233 words)

Readers of this blog know that I see a very strong conection between Tarot and storytelling. I have been interested in story-generative tools for quite some time.

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Amazon Mechanical Turk 2005-12-2 (179 words)

Wow, this is deep. And it's really not a joke at all. To me this new program has a very special meaning:

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first, second and n-th level creativity 2014-3-30 (437 words)

"Stick with your first idea, it usually is the strongest." - One of the more useful writing advice I recently read was: "Never stay with first level creativity. Go at least one level further, if not two."

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Tarot as a storytelling tool 2005-7-23 (65 words)

I've been talking about this for some length now, but somehow never really explained what it looks like....

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writing flash fiction - like a joke 2005-9-23 (144 words)

Michael Mallory 's essay Writing Hot Flashes explains how he writes one of these flash-mysteries each day. The trick seems easy.

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Father, I have been dreaming 2006-2-18 (49 words)

I just posted my latest audio track to my tracks page. It's more of a mystery play, with spoken text etc. Oh, and some understanding of the Warhammer 400000 universe is helpful to understand what happens, but not neccessary. (Father, I have been dreaming.mp3 6:46min 6.2mb)

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The Random University 2006-1-23 (416 words)

Inspired by that Paul Graham quote I went off on a tangent. This is maybe a story idea or an utopian view of a possible future. Imagine our way of "finding a job" worked differently...
[update: I have started to write some scenes for a story to illustrate this idea. Scrolldown in the post to see links]...

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Limitation As A Creative Tool 2011-6-20 (537 words)

The blank page is a nemesis for many writers. The hardest part of many creative processes seems to be the simple act of getting started. What to write? What to write about? Where to begin? It feels as if all inspiration suddenly drains away. The dreaded writer's block. No idea, no words.

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re-interpreting contemporary classics 2005-7-22 (410 words)

In my favorite literary genre - Science Fiction - there is a wealth of vibrant settings and compelling stories. So mayn in fact that there is hardly a shortcomming in thing to read and be entertained. But sometimes there are those things one should read but somehow never manages to. In my case I have a long tradition of being totally fascinated with Frank Herbert's DUNE cycle of books, but never managing to actually read the books themselves. I tried alright, several times. I never got far. I know the setting and the history of event outlines must be totally intriguing, and I see very many parralels in the Warhammer 40000 universe. ...

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revisiting the Random University 2008-2-28 (216 words)

Some time ago I jotted down a concept for a (fictional) education system I entitled the Random University. A recent oist by Dave Pollard (Not Knowing What We Need) made me instantly think about this concept again :)

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The Random University (Scene I) 2006-2-17 (339 words)

Here's a quick intro scene to illustrate some further thoughts I've had about this "Random University" idea. You might want to read that post after you read this, or the other way around.

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because they don't exist, they cannot fail 2006-2-16 (104 words)

What Mark writes about his unfinished novels is so true about all the things "we want to do". "{B}ecause they are pure, sweet potential, they cannot be sullied by snarky comments from would-be critics. They cannot languish, unloved, in a pile of remaindered titles at Books-a-Million. In other words, because they don't exist, they cannot fail."

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collaborative utopia 2005-11-30 (100 words)

Mark Bernstein has a post linking to my "Collaborative Plotting" post that had me confused at first.

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dreaming plots 2004-11-24 (171 words)

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My Writing Process - Blog Tour 2014-4-21 (656 words)

Well, I was tagged by not one but two lovely authors to participate in this Blog Hop Thingie. So here are my answers to the four questions, and below you'll find links to more lovely creators of fiction.

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Tarot storytelling 2005-10-4 (158 words)

Here's an article dealing with Tarot storytelling, in a very tarot-ish way. You may gloss over the spiritual mumbojumbo all you like, but it has some very useful concepts in there:

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take a break - then edit 2006-6-7 (244 words)

After a long pause, I will finally be re-editing my article "Designing a Tarot Deck in Tinderbox". It was and is meant to be published on TEKKA.net, but somehow the process stalled. I took it as a sign that there might be a time dor everything, and that this was not it. I haven't really looked at it for a few months now. So now this post on Wrestling the Angel seems to come in like synchronicity. Base message: "You need distance from your own words to edit. Take a break, let it lie in a cupboard for a few weeks. Then edit." Well, I guess I now have sufficient distance for that :)

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on detail 2006-3-30 (168 words)

My favorite writer of flash-fiction, Bruce Holland Rogers muses about the right level of detail on his blog: "[I] aim to give the reader just enough to collaboratively imagine the scene without making mistakes. That is, I don't want the reader to think of a particular locomotive as painted black if I'm later going to mention its red and green livery. But if color doesn't matter one way or the other, I'm probably going to leave it out.
When I was working on Ashes of the Sun, the editors asked me to put in more descriptions. It felt to me like adding an unnecessary barrier between the reader and the experience. If the reader wants more detail, let the reader imagine it. That's what I thought."

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collaborative plotting for large groups 2005-11-30 (1092 words)

The recent discussion about using Post-Its and a WiKi-like Whiteboard to facilliate collaboration in a large face to face group meeting finally got me to write up my own use. I have hinted at my method on the "Never Work Alone" Google-group, and you can read it in context on the blog. Here I will now try and write up the complete process and how I used it...

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Theme-Thology: New Myths 2014-4-7 (115 words)

It had to happen sooner or later. You can now buy an anthology that has a story by me in it. Theme-Thology: New Myths: Meet a wayward son who returns a Rainmaker. Find out what happens when a fourth grader uses a computer to find the secret of reality. Sit with Grandfather while he tells you about the Light... and the Dark. Ten original myths by ten amazing authors. Each story will take a unique look at a mythology, either by building on top of existing mythos or by creating something wholly new.

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Two new 2013-5-13 (62 words)

Two new stories, which are actually not that new. They were posted elsewhere before, but they really belong here.

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Everyone is a rockstar in the making 2006-1-26 (88 words)

Vlad Spears on being an artist (or not): "[An] artist is only different from a non-artist in one way... the non-artist has not yet realized their own areas of artistry." Tell you what: in my personal opinion I can not draw. But that has never stopped me from doing it. I have always felt that is was by far more the urge that made an artist than the pure skill. Skill is important, it helps express an urge. But without urge skill is an empty thing.

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retrofitting context 2014-3-30 (493 words)

Joe: "I hold that only mammals are capable of high level communication."
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