All people are selfish, artists or not. This might sound like a hot take, but it’s actually trite: When all are something, nobody is. In other words, all people are selfish because that’s human nature – we are the center of the universe because that’s how we perceive everything – but the fact that there […] The post Selfish Artists: Dynamics of A Peculiar Concept appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

I love deceptively simple questions. “What is fiction?” definitely counts because, on the surface, it appears childishly obvious. One might say “Fiction is writing stories that aren’t real”, or something of the sort. Probably you couldn’t even entirely disagree with that. And yet, this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Obviously enough, if […] The post What Is Fiction? The Problem of Defining Reality appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

A Trick of the Light is a short film by Brandt Ryan. If the name is familiar, you’ve also read my review of his play Restitution. If the name of the film itself rings a bell, perhaps you’ve noticed it on my Bandcamp page. You see – and this should also serve as a disclaimer […] The post Review of A Trick of the Light by Brandt Ryan appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

The topic might sound unusual and, ironically enough, this too is part of the theme. Namely, we should be able to explore a topic as ubiquitous as human sexuality. The differentiation between pornography and erotica (erotic art, that is) is problematic. United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart notoriously said he couldn’t define it but […] The post Pornography or Erotica? On Art’s Function, Purpose, and Essence appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

I recently had a hilarious (as it turned out) experience in a professional capacity. A Gothic writer wanted to hire a freelancer and I was one of the candidates. One of the interview questions was, What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with […] The post Strengths and Weaknesses as a Writer: a Pointless Question appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

In an interview in 1991 (I will share the relevant excerpt translated/transcribed in this post), the Greek-French philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis pointed out a sobering fact: We live in an era characterized by the collapse of criteria and the prostitution of art. That is to say, Castoriadis argued, we live in an era with no criteria […] The post The Collapse of Criteria and the Prostitution of Art appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

This ought to have simply been a “here’s how I write my music” post, but I decided to shift the focus a bit. So this became a “how to write a song” post. And since my music is influenced by postrock/postmetal sensitivities, the weight will naturally be on that. Perhaps you are not interested in […] The post How to Write a Song Influenced by Postrock/Postmetal Sensitivities appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

Last December I said I’d likely never write another novel. And what did I start doing before a month had passed? Writing another novel. Never say never and all that. The story of how this novel, The Storytelling Cat, came to be would make for an interesting essay on creativity and art in itself. Later […] The post The Storytelling Cat – or, OK, I Lied appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

“Shame will save the world” – often translated as “Shame, the feeling that will save mankind” – is what the character of Kris Kelvin utters near the end of Solaris, the film by Andrei Tarkovsky. Can shame save the world? For Dostoevsky, it was beauty that would perform that miracle. However, as a Greek blogger […] The post Shame Will Save the World appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more

Certain art forms are easier to “misunderstand” than others. That is, it’s easier for any kind of authorial intention to become something entirely different in the eyes (or ears) of the audience at a social level. Music and poetry are particularly susceptible to this, because of their abstractness. Misunderstanding a song is indeed hilariously likely, […] The post Misunderstanding a Song – for Twenty Years appeared first on Home For Fiction - Blog ..read more