“Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence.”
— Tennessee Williams
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Posts Tagged ‘creativity’
Good Hunting, Artists
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, artists, creativity, quoteandaprettypicture, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Leveling Up
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, current events, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Storytelling is good for so many things: entertainment, shared cultural touchstones, lessons from elders, or other instruction manuals for living. Even so, speculative fiction has always been burdened by accusations that it is less able to comment on reality than, say, literary fiction.
I disagree.
In fiction or nonfiction, no matter the genre or approach, storytelling is always, always, grounded in the cultural currents from which it springs. It’s how we pass on what’s important, even if it isn’t always “real.” Whether it shows us futures to avoid, goals to achieve, values of importance or daily ways to survive, the work’s foundation always reflects its context.
On a related note, here’s a short document on surviving difficult times, written in the form of an RPG-style guide. It wouldn’t surprise me to see an actual game follow soon.
Because life and art are two facets of the same die. And we’re all just players, trying to level up.
“The idea that any of us can do everything is instant failure. We all have our own skill sets and our own passions and we will accomplish the most if each of us works within those arenas to do what we’re already good at, what we already care about. You don’t have to do it all. Just a little.”
— Bree Bridges
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Telling Stories for the Future
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, climate change, creativity, storytelling, Writers, writing on February 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“To care about climate change, you only have to be one thing, a human living on Planet Earth.”
— Katharine Hayhoe
(I submit that other animals and any Earth-bound aliens also qualify, but “humans” is a good place to start.)
If you are a creator concerned with the livability of the planet, this guide from This Is Planet Ed may be useful. It’s designed for works aimed largely at younger audiences, but the ideas apply across the board.
A Toolkit For Climate Storytelling
Whether you want to develop a whole show, a story line, or embed climate solutions in your character’s world, this guide offers ideas, strategies, and tips to help.
Because as my landing page reminds us:
“Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
— G.K. Chesterton
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Time to Move
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, change, creativity, power, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 6, 2025| 1 Comment »
“Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change. It can not only move us, it makes us move.”
— Ossie Davis
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You’re Ready
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, artists, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on February 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“If l’d waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started ‘being creative,’ well, I’d still be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it’s in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are. You’re ready. Start making stuff.”
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Saturday Night Remixed
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, family, home, inspiration, music on February 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
This one’s for my father, who introduced us to Saturday Night Live and to music.
Questlove’s Fantastic Video Mix of 50 Years of SNL Music
Oh this is just delightful: for the opening of his documentary film on the history of music on SNL he co-directed with Oz Rodriguez, Questlove produced what the NY Times calls “a high-speed, six-minute DJ mix of SNL music highlights”. So. Good.
There’s a link to the video in the article. It’s mostly blurred but the audio is still playable (you can watch the full video on Peacock if you have it; I don’t but the audio was still fun).
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Happy Book Birthday, David Hankins!
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #wotf, #wotf39, book birthday, creativity, Dreamforge, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 28, 2025| 2 Comments »
It’s release day for friend and fellow Writer of the Future David Hankins, who has published the second book in his fun, funny and well-written Grimsworld series. The series started off with the award-winning Death and the Taxman, and keeps rolling with book two, Death and the Dragon. He’s also got a new collection of related stories out called Grimsworld Tales.
Maybe you were part of David’s Kickstarters, in which case you already know what I’m talking about. If not, I highly recommend you pick up these books.
Want to get a taste for David’s writing? Check out sample chapters at your online bookseller of choice or read this free multi-award winning* story at DreamForge.
To Catch a Foo Fighter by David Hankins
To catch a foo fighter, you need three things: tech, speed, and bait. I’m the bait.
Hehe. Recommended!
* David wins lots of awards because he’s just that good. He’s also a great guy, even if he does have a thing for rubber duckies.
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Today, It’s Baking
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, artists, creativity on January 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I work in whatever medium likes me at the moment.
—Marc Chagall
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Have Fun Writing
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, life, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“We are the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities.”
— Rudyard Kipling
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To a Future of Promise and Ingenuity
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #ChooseYourFuture, books, climate, climate change, climate fiction, creativity, environment, free fiction, green futures, inspiration, Writers on January 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps you remember me mentioning the submission call for this year’s Grist climate collection. Folks submitted (1200 of them!), editors did their editing thing, and now we have a brand new collection of free climate stories for 2025!
Here’s the full collection, including twelve new stories with the goal of looking “beyond the current moment to picture what could be.”
Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest: The 2025 collection – Grist
Welcome to the 2025 Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors collection. For four years, this contest has celebrated stories that invite us to imagine the future we want — futures in which climate solutions flourish and we all thrive. These stories have never pretended the path will be easy — some of the most compelling Imagine stories showcase the struggle as well as the successes — but they all offer the promise that through the transformative power of radical imagining, we can envision a better world and work toward making it our reality.
Yes, please!
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