The Second Element: Mechanistic Metaphysic The materialist understanding of the universe is the most familiar iteration of this mindset to us moderns. We live in a culture which, at least pro forma, asserts that all reality is matter-in-motion, with each
The tradition of folk-magic, of ‘superstition,’ and of magic in general is old and endemic to humanity. Its philosophical bones appear in modernity, in the medieval era, and in ancient times, in materialism, in mysticism, in simple superstition. To make
Last week covered the foundations of symbolism (symmetry, sameness, and difference), as well as the levels of intentional present in narrative uses of symbolism. This week I promised to discuss…. Analogy Analogy is symbolic, though it is not symbolism proper.
Symbolism is the domain of the weird and the wibbly, of the grandmasters and the buffoons. On the one hand, it seems a rich field, ripe for the author and reader to revel in. On the other, it seems a
#1 – Characters Need to Hurt A good story matters. A good story touches the reader’s soul and changes it, just a little. A good story matters because it touches the reader’s soul and changes it for the better. Which
Choosing details is a critical part of writing a narrative. They can make or break a scene, can build a character or destroy him, can draw the reader in or break his suspension of disbelief. This is true in all
The last entry in this series tackled the beginning of my published novel; this entry turns to the beginning of a short story I don’t believe I’ve ever published, though I’ve shown it to some people. It’s old, just under
Have you heard of Twilight? The financial success of the series cannot be doubted. Its writing? If it has a claim there, it rests in creating a successful blank-slate everyman protagonist (or everywoman). The same can be said for many
Theology and writing have a sometimes fraught interaction. Art has an apparent opposition to theology, if we consider how awful preachiness can get, how making a story into a tract makes it a very bad story. At the same time,
Last week, we looked at the dichotomy between a sin’s historic fact and its moral guilt as they relate to redemption arcs. I asserted that redemption arcs are just not quite possible, in their fullness, outside of the Christian understanding,