Featured
Journal
Latest Articles
Read All
-
Blood from a Stone – 29th July 2023
I’ve known the topic of this letter since the day after I posted the previous, but ironically it’s taken me four weeks to sit down and write it. And what’s worse, is I’m not entirely sure what to say now I’m here.
So let’s start at the beginning. If you have spent time with any creative person, or are yourself a creative bod, you’ll have experienced the following conversation…
Sonder – 24th June 2023
I’ve been thinking a lot these past few weeks about empathy. A whole bunch of conversations happened to align around the same week that this month’s recommended podcast ‘Empathy Gap’ was released, and I found myself saying different iterations of the same thing. In a way, it felt eerily coincidental – some may even say kismet – that almost by design…
The Curse of Discovery – 27th May 2023
I don’t know if I identify as a discovery writer because that is my preferred way of working, or because I’m allergic to organisation. Because oh boy, didn’t I fall victim to past Atlas’ decisions this week. Please allow me to take you on my humbling journey that resulted in only two minor tantrums, hours lost staring blankly into the middle distance, and a truly harrowing moment when I accepted that I’d made a mistake…
Resources and Links
29th July, 2023
All of this is to say we all experience the beginning signs of burnout, the key is to listen to your body and ease of the gas, before things go too far. Burnout is no small matter and should always be taken seriously. The stress of the last few years is really creeping up on all of us these days. Here’s a good listen to hear how some of the most successful authors of today deal with burnout:
Feel the Burn: Writing Excuses
And for further reading on getting yourself out of creative burnout, this blog is brilliant: Artwork Archive
24th June, 2023
The aforementioned podcast that sparked the fated topic of this week’s blog is The Empathy Gap: How to Understand What Your Publisher is Telling You. Writing Excuses as a general rule of thumb, should be something that you subscribe to. This episode in particular talks about the writer/agent/editor/publisher interpersonal relationship dynamic and provides some key insights on how to navigate it from an experienced perspective. This episode is mostly led by DongWon Song, a literary agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.
27th May, 2023
If you’re interested in exploring more about worldbuilding, I highly recommend watching Hello Future Me’s video essays exploring this topic. Tim Hickson’s essays are really good at using beloved examples to pick apart worldbuilding techniques in applicable useful ways.
– Hard Worldbuilding vs. Soft Worldbuilding | A Study of Studio Ghibli
– 4 Amazing Stories with Soft Worldbuilding [ Lovecraft | Hollow Knight | Nier | Dark Souls ]
Tim goes further to explain how hard and soft worldbuilding will seep into magic systems in these essays:
– On Writing: soft magic systems in fantasy [Tolkein | Game of Thrones | Harry Potter]
– On Writing: hard magic systems in fantasy [Avatar | Fullmetal Alchemist | Mistborn]
2nd April, 2023
The focus of this week’s writing bane has been tone. The chapter just wasn’t hitting the way I wanted it to. Writing Excuses has done a short mini-lecture series on juxtaposition. Turning up the Contrast on Juxtaposition goes through different genres and how juxtaposition is a strong tool that adapts to any given scenario, turning up the stakes when needed (and it actually helped sort out my thoughts about my chapter).
Storyboarding Aesthetics
Regan Atlas 