On Lovecraft, Nietzsche, Kirk, and...me
It's in that space of the switch, the moment when we teeter on that edge between human and monster that I seem to find stories that compel. If the world is as Miéville's Lovecraft says it is, then we're all looking into that abyss and we've just realized it's looking back and the stories come when we decide we need to do something about it. Or to let it take us.
Can you believe?
This is an adaptation of an address I gave to a congregation so as you read it, keep in mind it was written for a specific audience. The ideas are more broadly applicable.
Belief is not something that happens to us. It is something we cultivate. It is something we seek. We can’t force it. We can’t will it into existence. We must build it, bit by bit over time with the experiences we choose. It takes effort, but it’s worth it.
Commitment to the Lord
This is an adaptation of an address I gave to a congregation so as you read it, keep in mind it was written for a specific audience. The ideas are more broadly applicable.
What motivated Abraham to lead his son up the slopes of Mount Moriah, to bind his son on the altar, and to lift that sacrificial knife? He had no idea that the angel would stop him, that the ram was in the thicket, and yet he went anyway.
Can we learn anything about fiction from balloon animals?
This isn't therapy, at least not entirely. I'm not writing this to exorcise any demons and I don't need a couch to lie on. But the point of this whole thing (I mean this whole site) is to explore creativity, including fiction, to dig into it and find out what it is, and to tease out something about its relationship to us. We can't really do that unless we start to explore ourselves.
Remix: Write—an idea
Think about remixes. Sure, there are some lazy, bad ones that just add that uhm ts uhm ts uhm ts beneath a famous song and call it done, but the best ones are something different. They take the ideas, sounds, and textures of a great song and create something new (and sometimes better). Really great covers are the same way. Some are just tributes, but some take what's there and build on it to create a new song that can stand independently.
This can happen with stories too.