Joe Velikovsky's Blog, page 18

Great Books on Fiction (Prose) Writing

Great Books on Fiction Writing
A list, compiled by JTV



-----------------

Q: How does one become a fiction (prose) writer? (How could: you?)
A: We need to answer this Question with another Question...(!)

Q: How did everyone else do it...?

Namely - How did great prose fiction writers, become great prose fiction writers?
A: Easy... 

Creative Practice Theory!
(Noting also: the ten-year rule, in creativity)
See:
On Creativity:StoryAlity #6 – What is Creativity and How Does It Work?StoryAlity #6B – Flow Theory, Creativity and Happiness StoryAlity #7 – On “the 10-Year Rule” and Creativity StoryAlity #8 – More on the 10-Year Rule” and Creativity StoryAlity #8B – On the 10-year-rule and creativity in Standup ComedyStoryAlity #9 – How To Be More CreativeStoryAlity #9B – Creativity in Science (and – The Arts, and Film)StoryAlity #10 – About The Creative PersonalityStoryAlity #11 – Wallas and the Creative ProcessStoryAlity #12 – Combining Practice Theory – and the Systems Model of CreativityStoryAlity #13- Creativity and Solved Domain ProblemsStoryAlity #13B – Creativity, Cinema, Stanley Kubrick & GeniusStoryAlity #14 – On some Romantic myths of CreativityStoryAlity #14B – Creativity – the missing link between “The Two Cultures”StoryAlity #14C – Two Crucial American Psychological Association speeches: J P Guilford (1950) and D T Campbell (1975).StoryAlity #141 – The StoryAlity-Theory `Robo-Raconteur’ artificial-writer
-------------------
Okay, wait, who even are, some of the greatest prose fiction writers?
Well, you can study literature yourself... 
(e.g. Do a course? Do, lots of courses? Some even do a Ph.D in it!)
Or - you can even just google the term... 
The Google answers include, things like: 
http://shortfastanddeadly.com/all-time-prose-writers
e.g. Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Austen, Hugo, Dickens, Tolkein, Orwell, Twain, Poe, Nabokov, Proust, Melville, etc.

But we need to remember there are various categories of canon...



i.e. `Classic' and `Popular (Best-selling)' rarely overlap, for example.

Stephen King, Dan Brown, J K Rowling and Stephanie Meyer don't win too many "literary" awards.

...That's not to say, they're not: great!

See The 5-C model of creativity:



Source: Five Views of the Monomyth

So -- maybe google, greatest novels of all time (which, would be: `Classics' of the canon, as judged by the Field of: Novels); and, you get information, like this:
https://medium.com/world-literature/creating-the-ultimate-list-100-books-to-read-before-you-die-45f1b722b2e5
https://thegreatestbooks.org/
http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/
https://www.listchallenges.com/the-greatest-novels-of-all-time
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2681.Time_Magazine_s_All_Time_100_Novels
http://www.greatbooksguide.com/OneHundredGreatestNovels.html
https://www.britannica.com/list/12-novels-considered-the-greatest-book-ever-written
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/the-100-best-novels-written-in-english-the-full-list
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/01/the-greatest-books-of-all-time-as-voted-by-125-famous-authors/252209/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Library_100_Best_Novels
And so on...!


Hey... Don't forget those Categories of Canon !



-------------------
Okay - well; so much for: novels...
As an aside ...Here are a few of my fave novels...
------------------------

So what about, googling (or formally studying) the best short stories of all time ?
Googling that, gets you lists like, this:
https://www.everywritersresource.com/1000-greatest-short-stories-time/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/102799.50_Best_Short_Stories_of_All_Time
https://www.mic.com/articles/94552/13-short-stories-from-classic-novelists-you-can-read-over-lunch
https://bookriot.com/2018/03/12/contemporary-short-story-collections/
https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/top-10-classic-short-stories/
https://www.listchallenges.com/the-50-best-short-stories-of-all-time
https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-short-stories
https://www.bookscrolling.com/best-short-story-collections-time/
https://lithub.com/11-very-short-stories-you-must-read-immediately/
https://lithub.com/17-great-writers-and-their-favorite-story-collections/

So, anyone wanting to be a writer, should read a lot of short stories...
---------------------------
Anyway - here's some books I'd recommend, for anyone wanting to become a prose fiction writer...!
And ideally, read them, in this order:

Thomas, Francis-Noël, and Mark Turner. 2011. Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 

Pinker, Steven. 2014. The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. New York: Penguin. (This is better than Strunk & White, it's: an update to it!)

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1996. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins. (Some of the 91 creatives studied are: writers!)

Koestler, Arthur. 1964. The Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson. 

Gottschall, Jonathan. 2012. The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

Boyd, Brian. 2009. On The Origin Of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 

Cron, Lisa. 2012. Wired For Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence. 1st ed. New York: Ten Speed Press. 

Knight, Damon Francis. 1981. Creating Short Fiction. 1st ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books.

Ingermanson, Randy, 2018. How to Write a Dynamite Scene Using the Snowflake Method (Advanced Fiction Writing Book 2), NY, Ingermanson Communications, Inc. 

And of course there's many `craft' manuals...!

You need to find the one(s) that fits you best!

And reading about 10 writing manuals is a good start.
...They each have: different approaches!

You never know which is the best fit for you, until you've read a lot of them...



e.g.: Google:  books on fiction writing
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/the-best-books-on-writing
The 12 Best Books on Writing I’ve Ever Read - By Jerry Jenkins
https://medium.com/the-mission/the-10-best-books-for-fiction-writers-b407d50656dd
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/10-books-to-read-before-writing-your-novel/
http://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-books-for-writers.html
https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/books-on-writing/
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Fiction-Writing-Reference/zgbs/books/12022

...Also, prose writers need to know (and, use!) these:
`The 31 Literary Devices You Must Know'https://blog.prepscholar.com/list-of-literary-devices-techniques 
And, more comprehensive lists, too:eghttps://literary-devices.com/andhttps://literarydevices.net/andhttps://www.artofsmart.com.au/literary-techniques/

And most of all, read a lot.
Lemme say that again:
...read, a lot.
You absorb the techniques of good writing, by: reading it!


Also, getting into Writers Groups is important, to get feedback, and constructive critique on your work, while you are learning and mastering and practising the 1,000 (or so) writing-craft rules... 
(Which is also, why: Doing a course can be very useful!)

Because there are about 1,000 rules / guidelines / heuristics for good writing, (compare with the 1,000 `rules' of screenwriting!) it takes about 10 years of practise (on average), before you master it all, and can pull it all off, in the one, great story...

...Then, you can write another one!

And, another...

And another...!

As for getting published, google: fiction writers markets
And see, what markets fit your own style / content / genres.
And - submit away! 
(And be resilient, when the inevitable rejections follow! i.e. Keep going!)
See also:  Rotten Rejections:  The Letters that Publishers Wish They’d Never Sent .
Once you have a solid portfolio of published work (short stories), you can try and write: a novel.
Once you have a novel published, you can try and get: an agent!

If you're in the flow state (i.e., having fun) most of the time, you're doing Creative Practice Theory , right!

----------------------
Also, some quotes from famous successful writers, on it all:
Stephen King says:

`If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot, and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.’
(King 2000, p. 164)

And Ray Bradbury:

“Young writers shouldn’t kid themselves about learning to write.
The best way to do that is to train yourself in the short story.
Read every damn one that’s ever been written, and there aren’t that many really good ones.
You must live feverishly inside a library.
Colleges are not going to do you any good unless you are born, raised and live in a library every day of your life.” - Ray Bradbury 

And, also - I like this - (as: it's true!)

“Just write every day of your life.
Read intensely.
Then see what happens.
Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” - Ray Bradbury 

And:

`I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it.' - Ray Bradbury
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ray_bradbury_154628

And - Here are some of my fave sci-fi short stories...

And, some short stories & essays I've written...


And, thanks for reading!

~JTV
-----------------------------

Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, asJT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems TheoristSee: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia ResearcherAcademia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:
Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

The Freelance (Screenwriting) Game - A Serious Game

The Freelance Game (Screenwriting)
As some will know, I've been a professional (million-selling) Game Designer, for over 20 years...
So, I've recently been playing The Freelance Game (Screenwriting Career Simulator), made by Good Learning Inc. (Sweden)... 
...And: It's great ! 
I highly recommend it, to all aspiring professional screenwriters , and, to all my screenwriting students... (see my PhD-blog, on High-RoI Movie Screenwriting...)
In the game, you have to successfully balance and manage: your screenwriting career, your health, your ongoing training, and much more...!

The gameplay is very realistic, so, it is a great life-sim, if you are a screenwriter! 
Practice the game on the computer, and master all of the core career skills you'll need to master and maintain in real life! Manage your clients, contacts and reputation...

The user-interface is also really well designed, the main gameplay screen (see below) is: an avatar of You, at your writing desk / home office...

And, as time ticks by, in-game, and the calendar-pages fly off the wall, You can: take incoming, and make outgoing calls on the landline phone and on your mobile phone, can email (virtual) producers, can also hunt for casual work (to survive and pay the bills) in between your writing gigs, and do training courses and attend industry conferences, writing seminars and workshops... 
A funny thing... You can even get sick if you work too hard, and don't look after your health! (Just like, in real life!) 

In the game, You can create and work on your own projects; take commissioned writing jobs (across various media: film, tv, games, theatre, etc!); even haggle over rates and schedules with producers, and - much more! 

One of the main skills you need to master very quickly is: to manage your Schedule / Calendar, so that you don't blow your deadlines...! 
The overall goal (game objective) is: To build a great screenwriting career, and `stay afloat' financially for 3 years...
I found myself in the flow state very quickly playing this game. - It's a truly great game!
As per the game website, some of the game's Unique Selling Points are:

So, once again, I highly recommend it...!
Visit: The Freelance Game website, for much more info. 

---------------------------------
A Side Note:
A somewhat-similar game that I've also blogged on previously, is  FLIGBY®  ( FLOW is Good Business™ ) - The Leadership Game . (Although that game is also great, it's not directed at Screenwriters... FLIGBY is about: managing a small company, and in that case: a winery!)


Also, another somewhat-similar-sim, (free demo) I created, is  Creative Practice Theory: The Game (Demo) ; a general life-sim game, for Creatives in general... (a mod of the game Kudos). 

(Creative Practice Theory itself, is a synthesis of the systems model of creativity, and Bourdieu's practice theory... which also applies to the Creative Industries!)
Side Note: Speaking of the Creative Industries - a terrific report has recently been published on The Hunter Creative Industries in NSW, Australia. (Check out the Report! It's free!)

...At any rate, in my view,  The Freelance Game is terrific - Try it~! 



(And thanks also once again, to Louise Lindbom, and all the talented crew at Good Learning Inc. for the opportunity to play their great: The Freelance Game (Screenwriting Career Simulator)!)

And, thanks for reading!

~JTV
-----------------------------

Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, asJT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems TheoristSee: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia ResearcherAcademia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:
Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

My fave Sci-Fi Short Stories

Some of my Fave Sci-Fi (or Spec-Fic) Short Storiesby JTV, 2019
In his great book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Harari (2018) notes:

`Of course, it is extremely important to go on doing academic research and to publish the results in scientific journals that only a few experts read. But it is equally important to communicate the latest scientific theories to the general public through popular-science books, and even through the skilful use of art and fiction.

Does that mean scientists should start writing science fiction? That is actually not such a bad idea.  

Art plays a key role in shaping people’s view of the world, and in the twenty-first century science fiction is arguably the most important genre of all, for it shapes how most people understand things like AI, bio-engineering and climate change. 

We certainly need good science, but from a political perspective, a good science-fiction movie is worth far more than an article in Scienceor Nature.’ 

(Harari 2018, pp. 243-4)

So, with all that in mind, here's some of my fave sci fi short stories...   
Probably my fave, is `WAR HERO’ by Doug Kenney (1985). I came across it as a teen, in National Lampoon’s Doug Kenney Special Issue (June 1985)... It's a darkly-funny, edgy sci-fi satire.

Years later, when the sci-fi satire movie Starship Troopers came out (1997, based on Heinlein's 1959 novel), the tone of it seemed very familiar...
I also really quite like:
The Last Question (Asimov 1956)
Fondly Fahrenheit (Bester 1954)
Evil Robot Monkey (Kowal 2008)
The Father-Thing (P K Dick 1954)
There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury 1950)
The Paper Menagerie (Liu 2011)(not sure, why it's sci-fi... more: fantasy?)

The Girl Who Was Plugged In (Alice Sheldon/Tiptree Jr 1973) 

 

Texas Radio - album samplers

Texas Radio & the big beat - album samplers
Texas Radio & the Big Beat have 2 albums to date - the black album and the white album: 



The band is comprised of Phillip McIntyre (guitar), Joe Velikovsky (bass) & Dave Carruthers (drums) ...and often a whole bunch of wonderful guest musicians!


Below are 2 video samplers:

The white album: video sampler

A sample of songs from `Everything's Okay', the new Texas Radio & the Big Beat album.
On iTunes - see: https://distrokid.com/live/?albumuuid...On Amazon - see: https://distrokid.com/live/?albumuuid... Band website: http://texasradio.com.au/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The black album: video sampler



Band website:


http://texasradio.com.au

Thanks for reading/listening/viewing!


-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as


JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems TheoristSee: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia ResearcherAcademia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:
Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

The ArtScience Manifesto (Leonardo 2011)

The ArtScience Manifesto (Leonardo 2011)
So I've been reading some older copies of Leonardo journal...
Wait, what is Leonardo journal?

"Leonardo is the leading international peer-reviewed journal on the use of contemporary science and technology in the arts and music and, increasingly, the application and influence of the arts and humanities on science and technology." Source: Leonardo journal home page, (2019, online)

The cover of the latest issue looks like this:

Leonardo Vol 52, Issue 1, Feb 2019
Anyway back in Vol 44, No. 2 in 2011, there is, a great 1-page Editorial by Bob Root-Bernstein, and his 3 co-authors/co-editors.

As of Feb 2019, it's free to download (it's only 1 page!) and it has an ArtScience Manifesto within it, which I'm now citing here (below) --- as, it's so great:

`Interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, intermedia, transmedia and multimedia are becoming ever more prominent within the sciences, technology and the arts...  

ArtScience Manifesto: 

1. Everything can be understood through art but that understanding is incomplete.
2. Everything can be understood through science but that understanding is incomplete.
3. ArtScience enables us to achieve a more complete and universal understanding of things.
4. ArtScience involves understanding the human experience of nature through the synthesis of artistic and scientific modes of exploration and expression.
5. ArtScience melds subjective, sensory, emotional and personal understanding with objective, analytical, rational, public understanding.
6. ArtScience is not embodied in its products so much as it is expressed through the convergence of artistic and scientific processes and skills.
7. ArtScience is not Art + Science or Art-and-Science or Art/Science, in which the components retain their disciplinary distinctions and compartmentalization.
8. ArtScience transcends and integrates all disciplines or forms of knowledge.
9. One who practices ArtScience is both an artist and a scientist simultaneously and one who produces things that are both artistic and scientific simultaneously.
10. Every major artistic advance, technological breakthrough, scientific discovery and medical innovation since the beginning of civilization has resulted from the process of ArtScience.
11. Every major inventor and innovator in history was an ArtScience practitioner.
12. We must teach art, science, technology, engineering and mathematics as integrated disciplines, not separately.
13. We must create curricula based in the history, philosophy and practice of ArtScience, using best practices in experiential learning.
14. The vision of ArtScience is the re-humanization of all knowledge.
15. The mission of ArtScience is the re-integration of all knowledge.
16. The goal of ArtScience is to cultivate a New Renaissance.
17. The objective of ArtScience is to inspire open-mindedness, curiosity, creativity, imagination, critical thinking and problem solving through innovation and collaboration! 

ArtScience, in sum, connects. The future of humanity and civil society depends on these connections...' 

(Source: Bob Root-Bernstein, Adam Brown, Todd Siler and Kenneth Snelson, `ArtScience: Integrative Collaboration to Create a Sustainable Future' (Leonardo 44(3), 2011, p. 192)https://www.jstor.org/stable/20869448)
Also, the ArtScience Manifesto article (2011) is one of the most widely read in Leonardo, so it is free to download (yay!) at:
Leonardo's Most-Read ArticlesAnd, I highly recommend it...! 
Also, a few points I'd like to make...
1) Everything in the article is true. So, integrate it into your worldview. LOL. Here's an article from my PhD blog, along similar lines:StoryAlity#128 – Evocriticism, STEM, and STEAM (Walker 2013)

2) The ArtScience editorial-article is talking about: Consilience (the unity of knowledge). Though, they use the term "ArtScience" instead of the term "Consilience" (...which, is fine, LOL) 
I made a diagram, for my (2016) PhD, which shows consilience; Namely, combining the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences. Here it comes:
Source: Consilience (JTV's PhD blog, 2013)
i.e. The goal is to work in the overlap of all 3 of these great branches of learning.
Also here's another diagram of it:

 Source:  Consilience  (JTV's PhD blog, 2018)
Anyway; if you like this sort of thing (i.e. ArtScience, aka, Consilience), you might even like my PhD...?

Anyway, my 3rd point is:
3) I like what they did there with the word ArtScience; combining 2 old things, to get a new thing. They combined Art and Science, to get ArtScience. Note this part from the ArtScience Manifesto:

`7. ArtScience is not Art + Science or Art-and-Science or Art/Science, in which the components retain their disciplinary distinctions and compartmentalization.' 

For more on creativity, namely, combining two old things, to get a new thing (provided that, the resulting new combination works better than what went before!) see:
StoryAlity #6 – What is Creativity and How Does It Work?And it's also how The Robo-Raconteur works... 
StoryAlity #141 – The StoryAlity-Theory `Robo-Raconteur’ artificial-writer
Anyway -- I love the ArtScience Manifesto . 
...Yay, Leonardo journal!
Also, Bob Root-Bernstein is big in the scientific study of creativity, for example, see also this article in Leonardo:

`A Review of Studies Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Integrating Arts, Music, Performing, Crafts and Design into Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical Education, Part 1: A Taxonomy of Integrated Bridges'  by Robert Root-Bernstein, Ania Pathak and Michele Root-Bernstein, Leonardo, Volume: 0, Issue: ja, pp. 1-3. 

It is also, on that same page of: most widely read articles in Leonardo, so it is also free to download (yay!) at:
Leonardo's Most-Read Articles
Also, if you like Transmedia , maybe see my other posts on it, on this blog you are now reading. 
e.g.: On-Writering: http://on-writering.blogspot.com/e.g.: http://on-writering.blogspot.com/2013/02/transmedia-storytelling-and-beyond.html
And see also some posts on it, on my StoryAlity PhD blog:
StoryAlity #64 – Why Transmedia Is DestinyStoryAlity #64B – `Story & Transmedia’ PPT @ UNSW COFAStoryAlity #96 – Transmedia Practice: A Collective Approach (2014)And for a creative technology for multidisciplinary applications, see this:
StoryAlity #132 – The holon/parton structure of the Meme, the unit of culture – and the narreme, or unit of story – book chapter (Velikovsky 2016)


i.e. Remembering that opening quote from the ArtScience article:

`Interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, intermedia, transmedia and multimedia are becoming ever more prominent within the sciences, technology and the arts...' 

And - Thanks for reading this post! 
(...Thoughts? Comments? Feedback?)
-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as

JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

My Fave Thinkers (currently... as @ February 2019)

My Fave Thinkers (well; currently... as at February 2019)
Naked Philosophy Guy... strikes again

---------------------------------
So, randomly, here is a list of my favourite thinkers... 
Currently, anyway... As at February 2019.
(This Listicle  may change, as time passes - at the exact rate of one second, per second.)

Yuval Noah Harari
Rutger Bregman
Johann Hari
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (hey, he won the Thinker of the Year Award in the year 2000)
Brian Boyd
Karl Popper
Joseph Carroll
Daniel Dennett
Richard Dawkins
Lynn Margulis
Stephen Pinker (I love his book, Enlightenment Now )
Ervin Laszlo
Alfonso Montuori
Michelle Scalise Sugiyama
Charles Darwin
Stanley Kubrick
E O Wilson
Alice Roberts
Brian Cox
Patricia Piccinini

...And for a whole lot more great thinkers, see this post ...
(it's basically, the Bibliography from my PhD)


...Wait, But Why? 


(Why do I like, these great creative, critical thinkers?)
Here comes, some details...

Yuval Noah Harari - mainly because, he applies Evolution to History, to get: Evolutionary History! Yay!

It's about time someone did that, and wrote a popular book. And: he did it! His 3 books are: just great!

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2015)
The agricultural, industrial, and tech revolutions haven't made us happier than cavepeople were.
But robots, AI and biotech will! Yay! Seriously.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016)
The future is coming, fast. Catch up to it.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018)
Get ready for the future. It's complex.

So are, most if not all of, his Youtube talks (i.e., great!).

Here are just 2 of those...


And...


Anyway, next great thinker, (though this list is in no particular order) is:

Rutger Bregman... 

Check out his great book:

Utopia For Realists (2017)

Universal Basic Income! Get robots doing the jobs, and give humans UBI.
(Bregman rightly notes: most jobs are bullshit jobs anyway. Seriously.)
So - Bring on the robots. And the UBI!

And check this out, (LOL!)



And this:


And, also:

Johann Hari 

Check out, his great books:

Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression (2018)

Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs (2015)

And his great Youtube talks... Here is just one of them...



Patricia Piccinini

Check this out... Evolutionary!


And this!


And this!



Anyway... so, there are some great thinkers...

...Read their books! Watch their videos!
...They're great.


Just sayin'.



And --- Thanks for reading!
-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as


JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

Achievement Unlocked! (2019)

Achievement Unlocked-!   (2019)
So, life is a game. Well; not really; but, life is gamified.(Speaking as, a Game Designer.)
I hear a lot about `the gamification of everything'... (e.g., frequent-flyer points, coffee-shop loyalty cards, that Good Citizen Points System in China, etc.) 
But, Life is (was always) gamified: by Evolution. ...Adaptation. Overpopulation, by the best-adapted. If your design is (say) faster, or smarter, or more agile, or stronger, or has better armour, or is cheaper, or more efficient, or whatevs, then your genes propagate, over, those whose: aren't?And, if you are fitter and better-looking than average, you probably can get: fitter and better-looking mates than average, and vice-versa, and so on.Anyway; I digest. 
So, I was reflecting, and, thinking about: What I've "Achieved" In Life. 
Most of it seems: absurd, but, hey - that's existentialist humanism for ya. It's: an absurd universe. Still, it's the only one we've (currently) got.Seems: We all have to find our own goals (aka "our porpoise in life") and, see if we can achieve 'em.
Anyway; here's some random achievements. In case I die tomorrow, What the hell did I get up to?
Well, I guess, this is some of it:
A SEMI-COMPREHENSIVE LIST, 
OF,
SOME STUFF, I HAVE APPARENTLY DONE... 
by JTV (2019)
2,000 x Quora answers (see my Quora page)...
30+ movie screenplays (see, parts of some of 'em, here)
10 x videogames (see my YouTube channel, I guess? Some Game Trailers, on there)
6 x novels (...hey, here's one of 'em... AM SO AS!)
Some plays (e.g. Darwin Down Under , The Abercrombie Zombie, The MovieMakers, etc)
3 x feature films (see my YouTube channel, I guess)
Some TV stuff... (e.g. The Comedy Sale!, Odyssey 2014, The C Files, etc.)
17 x academic articles/book chapters (see my Academia and Researchgate and ORCID pages, I guess. And, the StoryAlity PhD weblog.)
A whole bunch of blogs, n artworks (e.g. drawings, paintings, comics, n stuff...) see also: Dog-Weiner-Dog , Naked Philosophy Guy , Ask Dr N Sayne , CR4P , Diary of a Grey Alien Soldier , Robot Jesus , Uncle Stupid's Mildly-Amusing Deathbed Anecdotes, etc    
At least, one  Poem (...it's: here, within an interview - & thanks again, Morgen Bailey!)
A bunch of Horrifying Haikus ...
About 300 x Songs... (some of em, even ended up on, a couple of albums!)
2 x (nonfiction) books (eg here, both on: Movie Screenwriting)
Co-edited a book, on Transmedia Practice .
180 x PhD-blog posts (StoryAlity, also On Writering, and Outrageous Bullshit)
110 x Short Films (again - see my YouTube channel, I guess?)
30 x Flash-Philosophiction Stories (see:  Outrageous Bullshit )
A few Essays...
A few Short Stories. (e.g. Spartacus the Incubus, etc)
A bunch of computer-programs... (see, here)
1 x Ph.D. (it's free, online here)

& a hugely-important academic/scientific paper, about the meme, the unit of culture (2016, 2017, 2019)...
...And, a partridge in a pear tree.
---------------------
Hey; you want proof?

...YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE PROOF


2,000+ answers on Quora...


And as for the rest, I guess, see those links above... 
Also, after all that - I am still not really sure, what the whole point of my existence was? 
...But hey, I sure left a whole lotta crap behind, before I died.  :)

Thanks for reading/experiencing it all !!!
Or some of it,
Or, whatever. :D

-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)

& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).

& Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky

See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6741-066X

Descartes (1637) on creativity and consilience

Descartes on creativity and consilience
Portrait of René Descartes (1596-1650) - (after Frans Hals 1648), That symbol is an interrobang.
René Descartes was a very famous French thinker, but that's not his fault. 
He was a scientist, mathematician, geometer and philosopher. 
For one thing, he incorporated algebra into geometry, and we still use Cartesian co-ordinates: x for the horizontal, y for the vertical axis. 
For another thing, he had a big influence on Sir Isaac Newton. (Not bad.)

Some of Descartes' most famous writings include Discourse on the Method (1637), and Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). Among many others.
And, if you read the book  Clear and Simple as the Truth (Thomas and Turner, 1994/2017), they mention his (classic) writing style, quite a bit! (see: pp. 124–125, 153–154)
Anyway, I wanted to show you some cool things that Descartes said about creativity and consilience . 

...And this was back in: 1637 !!! He was way ahead of his time... 

And/Or, maybe folks just didn't pay enough attention to what he was saying. (These things were true back in the year 1637, and also in the year 1641, and even in 1684; and they haven't stopped being true, yet. Well except the bit about the how the heart works.) In fact, you could even build a time machine, go back and check most times, and, they would still be true. (Strange, but true. Strange, because the French are usually wrong about most things, e.g. Continental Philosophy, etc. Though Bourdieu was a notable exception.)
Okay... (my all-time favourite dialog-line, in the movies) ... here they come :

Descartes expressed it thusly:  `RULES FOR THE DIRECTION OF THE MIND
RULE 1

The end of study should be to direct the mind towards the enunciation of sound and correct judgments on all matters that come before it. 

Whenever men notice some similarity between two things, they are wont to ascribe to each, even in those respects in which the two differ, what they have found to be true of the other. Thus they erroneously compare the sciences, which entirely consist in the cognitive exercise of the mind, with the arts, which depend upon an exercise and disposition of the body. They see that not all the arts can be acquired by the same man, but that he who restricts himself to one, most readily becomes the best executant, since it is not so easy for the same hand to adapt itself both to agricultural operations and to harp-playing, or to the performance of several such tasks as to one alone. 
Hence they have held the same to be true of the sciences also, and distinguishing them from one another according to their subject matter, they have imagined that they ought to be studied separately, each in isolation from all the rest. 

But this is certainly wrong.     ...Hence we must believe that all the sciences are so inter-connected that it is much easier to study them all together than to isolate one from all the others.' (Descartes, Rules for the Direction of the Mind, 1684)

So; what Descartes is talking about here, is 

consilience, the unity of knowledge.  

See consilience for more details.
For even more detail on twelve of the Rules, see  Rules for the Direction of the Mind: Descartes’s 12 Timeless Tenets of Critical Thinking (BrainPickings 2016)


---------------------------

Below are some supercool quotes from Descartes' Discourse on the Method (1637).

`For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellences, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations’ (DotM, Part 1, Descartes 1637, p. 2) 

This reminds me of Colin Martindale's great quote: 

`Some scholars are very learned. But maybe they learned all the wrong things.'

Reminds me of:  Continental Philosophy . (What a mess of wrongheadedness, all that is.)

Anyway, back to Descartes:

`Of philosophy I will say nothing, except that when I saw that it had been cultivated for many ages by the most distinguished men, and that yet there is not a single matter within its sphere which is not still in dispute, and nothing, therefore, which is above doubt...' (DotM, Part 1, Descartes 1637, p. 5)

Yes; Philosophy asks good questions, science gives good answers! See: The Tree of Knowledge .

`…I remained the whole day in seclusion, with full opportunity to occupy my attention with my own thoughts. Of these one of the very first that occurred to me was, that there is seldom so much perfection in works composed of many separate parts, upon which different hands had been employed, as in those completed by a single master. Thus it is observable that the buildings which a single architect has planned and executed, are generally more elegant and commodious than those which several have attempted to improve, by making old walls serve for purposes for which they were not originally built.’ (Pt 2, p 7)
(This is kinda like, how: A camel is a mouse, designed by a committee.)
`In the same way I thought that the sciences contained in books (such of them at least as are made up of probable reasonings, without demonstrations), composed as they are of the opinions of many different individuals massed together, are farther removed from truth than the simple inferences which a man of good sense using his natural and unprejudiced judgment draws respecting the matters of his experience.' (Pt 2, p 7)
Watch out for trying to examine your own Epistemology. Can get spooky:
`The single design to strip one's self of all past beliefs is one that ought not to be taken by every one.’ (Pt 2, p. 8)
He goes back to hammering Philosophy.
`I had become aware, even so early as during my college life, that no opinion, however absurd and incredible, can be imagined, which has not been maintained by some one of the philosophers' (Pt 2, p 9)
(This is like Continental Philosophy. LOL.) Hey wait he has more:
`…the art of Lully, in speaking without judgment of things of which we are ignorant’ (Pt 2 p 9)
(I note, Donald Trump also does this constantly.)
Okay, so, here's the nub of it: 
Get ready for 4 things to get said about: Method...  (in fact, 4 methods!)
`The first [method] was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgement than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.
The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.
The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.
And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted. (Pt 2, p 10)
This one (Number the 4th) is always a bit tricky... i.e., How do you ever really know, when you know all of the important stuff? ...When, exactly, do you stop reading, in doing your Literature Review for your PhD ? (Answer: You never really know...! LOL. A crucial gem of wisdom may be hiding in the one book you didn't read or know about. Then again Big Data helps solve this problem, a lot.)
Here's some more nuggets of wisdom from Descartes:

`…very many are not aware of what it is that they really believe; for, as the act of mind by which a thing is believed is different from that by which we know that we believe it, the one act is often found without the other.’ (Part 3, p. 13)

(The above is like: Trump voters-!)

`…it is very certain that, when it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to act according to what is most probable’ (Pt 3, p 13)

But - then again: (stay skeptical!)
`After all, it is possible I may be mistaken; and it is but a little copper and glass, perhaps, that I take for gold and diamonds.’ (Pt 1, p. 2)
He (Descartes, in doing Philosophy, Science, etc) also seems to be putting himself in the flow state, or "following his bliss":
`This method, from the time I had begun to apply it, had been to me the source of satisfaction so intense as to lead me to, believe that more perfect or more innocent could not be enjoyed in this life; and as by its means I daily discovered truths that appeared to me of some importance, and of which other men were generally ignorant, the gratification thence arising so occupied my mind that I was wholly indifferent to every other object.’ (Pt 3, p 14)
Note “the ten-year rule” in creativity! (He says, he spent 9 years, testing out his Method - in travelling, and, talking to folks…)
`These nine years passed away, however, before I had come to any determinate judgment respecting the difficulties which form matter of dispute among the learned, or had commenced to seek the principles of any philosophy more certain than the vulgar. And the examples of many men of the highest genius, who had, in former times, engaged in this inquiry, but, as appeared to me, without success, led me to imagine it to be a work of so much difficulty, that I would not perhaps have ventured on it so soon had I not heard it currently rumored that I had already completed the inquiry.’
I think, this means: If he knew how long it would take, he wouldn’t have started the project!
The below bit, kinda reminds me of: me, (LOL) :
`But, as I am of a disposition that makes me unwilling to be esteemed different from what I really am, I thought it necessary to endeavor by all means to render myself worthy of the reputation accorded to me; and it is now exactly eight years since this desire constrained me to remove from all those places where interruption from any of my acquaintances was possible, and betake myself to this country, in which the long duration of the war has led to the establishment of such discipline, that the armies maintained seem to be of use only in enabling the inhabitants to enjoy more securely the blessings of peace and where, in the midst of a great crowd actively engaged in business, and more careful of their own affairs than curious about those of others, I have been enabled to live without being deprived of any of the conveniences to be had in the most populous cities, and yet as solitary and as retired as in the midst of the most remote deserts.’ (Pt 3 p 16)
Okay - so here comes the famous meme...
`But immediately upon this I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (cogito ergo sum),was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search.’ (Part 4, p 17)
Unfortunately, Discourse on the Method is in six parts. I say "unfortunately", because he could have left out Part 5, which is mostly some ideas he has on how the heart works (he thinks it's not a pump, but rather, a heating device that causes the pulse... hmmm. But, a very good try, considering it was only 1637!)
After going on (wrongly) about the heart in Part 5, he says, this: (note – Creativity! i.e. Imagination ). And note how, he talks about one's common sense, receiving new ideas? Sounds a lot like:  habitus to me!
`I had expounded all these matters with sufficient minuteness in the treatise which I formerly thought of publishing. And after these, I had shown what must be the fabric of the nerves and muscles of the human body to give the animal spirits contained in it the power to move the members, as when we see heads shortly after they have been struck off still move and bite the earth, although no longer animated; what changes must take place in the brain to produce waking, sleep, and dreams; how light, sounds, odors, tastes, heat, and all the other qualities of external objects impress it with different ideas by means of the senses; how hunger, thirst, and the other internal affections can likewise impress upon it divers ideas; what must be understood by the common sense (sensus communis) in which these ideas are received, by the memory which retains them, by the fantasy which can change them in various ways, and out of them compose new ideas, and which, by the same means, distributing the animal spirits through the muscles, can cause the members of such a body to move in as many different ways, and in a manner as suited, whether to the objects that are presented to its senses or to its internal affections, as can take place in our own case apart from the guidance of the will. ’ (Part 5, p. 28) 
So the bold bit above is about creativity. See Evolutionary Culturology for more.
He also rambles on a lot about God and the soul, but - he was also very worried about The Church because Galileo recently had a pretty rough time with those guys...
But hey - Check out this, re: The Dunning-Kruger Effect:
`I refer to those who imagine that they can master in a day all that another has taken twenty years to think out, as soon as he has spoken two or three words to them on the subject; or who are the more liable to error and the less capable of perceiving truth in very proportion as they are more subtle and lively. As to the opinions which are truly and wholly mine, I offer no apology for them as new-persuaded as I am that if their reasons be well considered they will be found to be so simple and so conformed, to common sense as to appear less extraordinary and less paradoxical than any others which can be held on the same subjects; nor do I even boast of being the earliest discoverer of any of them, but only of having adopted them, neither because they had nor because they had not been held by others, but solely because reason has convinced me of their truth.’ (Part 6, p. 38)
(Good call; it doesn't really matter who says it, as long as it's: a true fact.)
This problem below can occur, (sometimes) when you set about teaching (say) Screenwriting - or any other complex cultural activity:
`Though artisans may not be able at once to execute the invention which is explained in the Dioptrics, I do not think that any one on that account is entitled to condemn it; for since address and practice are required in order so to make and adjust the machines described by me as not to overlook the smallest particular, I should not be less astonished if they succeeded on the first attempt than if a person were in one day to become an accomplished performer on the guitar, by merely having excellent sheets of music set up before him.’ (Part 6, p. 38)
ie Things take time (i.e., trial and error, and error-correction to get right, but - all of life is doing science.)
(I also love, how he signs off -- basically, Leave me the hell alone to do my work, everyone! ...LOL)
`Of this I here make a public declaration, though well aware that it cannot serve to procure for me any consideration in the world, which, however, I do not in the least affect; and I shall always hold myself more obliged to those through whose favor I am permitted to enjoy my retirement without interruption than to any who might offer me the highest earthly preferments.’ (Part 6, p 39)

...Anyway, it's a cracking good read, so go check out, Discourse on the Method (Descartes 1637).
Though it caused "the mind-body problem", it's still a great argument for: why we are probably living in a Sim.
Personally, I think Dan Dennett (e.g. From Bacteria to Bach, 2018) has some much better (and rather more recent) ideas on what the mind is... 
Still, all told - not a bad effort, for 1637!
(And yes this post was glib, a bit cheeky, and even tongue-in-cheek at times. But, still: Descartes sure said a lot that relates to: consilience and creativity! So: Yay!)
And Thanks for reading!
-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as
JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

Sans Forgetica... That's, what you are...

Sans Forgetica... That's, what you are... (to be sung to the tune of: `Unforgettable' by the Nats: Cole)
Hey so - there's a new (free!) font out, that's supposed to make you remember stuff that's written using it, better than: any other font. Probably.
See this (it only goes for like, a minute):

And - so here's where you can download it from.
(Also: Don't say, I never do anything for you :)

It is, truly: a font of wisdom.
Also, hey - see how they say "desirable difficulty" in that video above?
Well I am now saying....  this : (and I haven't heard anyone else say it before)

Desirable difficulty = stuff that puts you in "the sweet spot", where you can enter the flow state, in creativity. - Just sayin'.

Now, go and read my PhD on all that good stuff. (i.e., Creativity and Movies and Screenwriting, and, whatnot.) - As, that's free, too.
Hey, also - check this out:

I sort of made that, myself... sort of.
Basically, Nobel-prize-winning Danish quantum physicist Neils Bohr, said:

“The opposite of a fact is a falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” 

– Niels Bohr

So I've compressed it down into: the above, colourful-thing. In: sans forgetica. 
So - Maybe you can even remember it better now! 
(And especially, whenever listening to that Scrotus-guy, Donald Trump, as most of that that guy says is pure bullshit, and often when you invert it, it's: pure distilled crystalline, bullshit.)

For more on all that, see:


Hey, and I don't want to bohr you with too many quotes here, but, Niels Bohr also said:

“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” -- also Neils Bohr, (apparently?).

Which is funny, cos it's true.

It is also a Profound Truth; (Try inverting it.)

Okay so here's one I prepared earlier:

"A non-expert is a humanimal who hasn't made any of the mistakes which can be made, in a broad field" (Velikovsky 2018, inverting Bohr)

Hmm - my flan didn't rise there.

Lemme try again:

"A layperson (or: amateur) is a humanimal who hasn't made any very public and professional mistakes ~ yet..." (Velikovsky 2018)

So, be (mostly) fearless, get right in there - and start trying stuff.

...You'll make mistakes - but hey, that's how you learn. Ya just gotta do: Science,

I mean - What's the worst that can happen-?
(Okay, so, sometimes, you can die, but - whatever.)

...I mean, sheesh kid, you should see, all of the ways, in which my 30 x (genius) movie screenplays haven't been made, over the past 20 years...

I mean a few of them, did get made, but I guess, that's:  The 1% Law in Screenwriting & Cultural & Biological Evolution , for you.


Anyway; I forget what we were talking about...?

Oh yeah, Sans Forgetica.

~Enjoy!

NB - I should note, in the interests of full disclosure: I am not connected to RMIT university in any way I can think of (or: remember), right now...
I mean, I gave some classes there (on Game Design, and Narrative Writing and Creativity, and whatnot), but - that was years ago.
Hey but anyway the font (sans forgetica) is free, so - cut it out, anyway.

PS - And yeah; I know I spelt "Neils" wrong as "Nils" in, the colourful-thing. I did that on porpoise. It's so I can track it, as a meme, a unit of culture. See: The Science of Memetics. Long story.

I am also tracking, the use of the word "humanimal", a word which I made up.

-----------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as
JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

In praise of Wired For Story (Cron 2012)

In praise of Wired For Story (Cron 2012)

I’ve been reading Lisa Cron’s great book, Wired For Story (2012). 
...If you’re a fiction writer (e.g. short stories, novels, prose, and even film writers…!), I highly recommend it!

Wired For Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science  to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence (Cron 2012)

And, I just wanted to note a few pearly-gems of wisdom, from this great book…
Here is, just one:

`As John Irving once said, 

“Whenever possible, tell the whole story of the novel in the first sentence.” 

Glib? Yeah, okay. But a worthy goal to shoot for.’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 17, bold emphasis mine)

It strikes me that, this greatadvice (or, heuristic / guideline / rule (of thumb) / algorithmic instruction) is similar to Blake Snyder’s (Save The Cat!) movie-screenwriting advice, of:

Have the Theme of the whole movie story on page 5, spoken out aloud, in a line of dialog… 

(Screenwriting guru Syd Field also previously said that the Theme in a movie script should be stated in dialog on page 3, but: whatever. ...Things change! And Story Gurus have different systems. 
My own system [ StoryAlityHigh-RoI Movie Screenwriting ] says, the 14% mark (e.g. page 11 of a 90-page movie script) is when the Theme should come out… 
So – be all that as it may…)
…In a short story, or a novel, stating the whole story in the first line, is: just a really great trick to do!
…Besides, it’s fun! A cool little writing-challenge! It also solves, the problem of: “What’s my first sentence in this story, going to be?”
(Hint: You can of course, wait till the story is written as a first rough draft, to come back and insert it! In fact, that may even be, a very good `rule of thumb’…)
As a writing mini-task, it also actually makes you work harder(or, maybe not harder, but just: a bit longer?) as a writer, mainly so’s the reader doesn’t have to! When they read that opening line, (well; if you’ve done it right?), they kinda know: where you’re going with this story!
(…just: Not, howyou’ll get there!)

---------------
…But - a Question: (Just playing Devil’s Avocado, now, for a moment)
Wait…Does every great story, ever, do this?
Let's look at some semi-random examples:

“Call me Ishmael.” (…Hmm, well, just in that case, not really?) 

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (Yes!!) 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Yes!!!) 

(Source: http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp... 

So - Maybe, as a fun exercise, go to:  100 Best First Lines From Novels ... And see, just how many of them, this John Irving `rule of thumb’ applies to – ?
(Namely: Have the very first line, tell the whole story!)

…Well, so, maybe not every single great (novel) story ever does it, but; Who even cares?

…I love it, and, what’s more,
I am going to do itwhenever I can, from now on! …So there.
It’s like, having a (hyper-compressed!) Abstract, or, a 25-word logline, sort of. But, inside the story! 
…Nice! (…Why didn’t I ever read this line of advice, by John Irving before?)
…And/Or, Why didn’t I ever know, or think of (discover) this, myself? 
Well anyway, now I do know it! And so do you! So = thank you, Lisa Cron!
And, thank you, brain science! (...Man, I love all that stuff.)
Moving right along - Cron (2012) also rightly notes,

`…here are the three basic things readers relentlessly hunt for, as they read that first page:
1. Whose story is it?
2. What’s happening here?
3. What’s at stake?’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 16)

Cron then cites a great opening sentence, in this case from Elizabeth George’s novel What Came Before He Shot Her:

 “Joel Campbell, eleven years old at the time, began his descent into murder with a bus ride.” 

(George, cited by Cron, 2012, p. 18)

Wow!
That opening sentence... sure does hook you right in!
(Well it did, me!)
As Cron notes, it also tells you: Whose story it is (Joel’s), what’s happening, and gives a sense of the stakes… (i.e., somebody got murdered, as that great philosopher, The Clash once said).
Also, I see, the titleof the Elizabeth George novel kind of not only attracts our attention, but gives us a bit of context also. It raises questions, that we want answered! (i.e., “What Came Before He Shot Her”… We wonder: Wait, who,shot who?)
The topic of murdersure seems to get our attention. …Ahem. (See David Buss on human Evolutionary Psychology, and, the things (subjects and topics) which tend to attract most human attention and thus, seem to - most often - get in the news headlines…)
(i.e., Whom got murdered? And, by whom? And, Why? …Wait, could this happen to: me…?)
In one way, the real job of the writer is: to trigger questions in the reader that they want answered.
i.e.: (The below is me, thinking further, on some of Cron 2012)

In a `Love/Romance’ genre story: Will the boy get the girl, and, will they live happily ever after?

In a Crime (and/or Mystery) genre story: Will the murderer be caught? 

In…any genre of story: Will, the protagonist(s) achieve their goal, (whatever, thatspecific overall goal, might be…?) …Or, if not, then what? - Is it at least, still, a satisfying story, on some level(s)-?  

(As: Tragedies / `unhappy endings’ can be awesome, too. See Hamlet, Manchester By The Sea, The Great Gatsby, and, whatnot.)

Anyway, below is another timeless gem, from Cron 2012, about writing a great story:

`Simply put, we are looking for a reason to care.
So for a story to grab us, not only must something be happening, but also there must be a consequence we can anticipate.
As neuroscience reveals, what draws us into a story and keeps us there is the firing of our dopamine neurons, signaling that intriguing information is on its way.’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 13)

 Aw Man: I love neuroscience...

(See my PhD blog! https://storyality.wordpress.com/)

I love Cron’s definitionof story, too:

`So what is a story? 

A story is how what happens affects someone who is trying to achieve what turns out to be a difficult goal, and how he or she changes as a result. 

Breaking it down in the soothingly familiar parlance of the writing world, this translates to
“What happens” is the plot.
“Someone” is the protagonist.
The “goal” is what’s known as the story question.
And “how he or she changes” is what the story itself is actually about.’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 11)

This definition is also worth comparing with Jon Gottschall's (The Storytelling Animal, 2012): 

`Story = Character + Problem + Attempted Solution’ (Gottschall 2012)

Although, I note, not allgreat prose stories are about characters who change, I still really do love this approach in Cron (2012)-!
(As indeed, manygreat stories, are indeed about: Change...! Namely, How, a person adapts / changes / adjusts /shifts their Worldview, or their Psychology, or, Mindset. Or, their Emotionallandscape…! Or in other words: copingmechanisms! The adaptation of a system, to a change in its environment!)
In short, many great prose stories are showing potential ways, that [bio-psycho-socio-cultural] systems [e.g.: us, humanimals!] can adapt to their environment. …Or, in very short: Evolution!)
Cron (2012) also rightly writes:

`As counterintuitive as it may sound, a story is not about the plot or even what happens in it.
Stories are about how we, rather than the world around us, change.
They grab us only when they allow us to experience how it would feel to navigate the plot. Thus story, as we’ll see throughout, is an internal journey, not an external one.’ 

(Cron, 2012, pp. 11-2)

Cron makes another great point:

`Every single thing in a story—including subplots, weather, setting, even tone—must have a clear impact on what the reader is dying to know: 

Will the protagonist achieve her goal? 

What will it cost her in the process? 

How will it change her in the end? 

What hooks us, and keeps us reading, is the dopamine-fueled desire to know what happens next.’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 20)

In each great chapter of this great book, Cron also really busts some old writing myths:

`MYTH: Beautiful Writing Trumps All 

 REALITY: Storytelling Trumps Beautiful Writing, Every Time’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 20)

And Cron also has great (really helpful) checklists, at the end of each chapter!
...Check out the book, it's great...!
Cron also cites my favourite literary scholar, Brian Boyd (whose work hugely influenced my StoryAlity PhD):

`Think of it as the “So what?” factor.
It’s what lets readers in on the point of the story, cluing them in to the relevance of everything that happens in it. Put plainly, it tells them what the story is about. 

As literary scholar Brian Boyd so aptly points out, a story with no point of reference leaves the reader with no way of determining what information matters: 

Is it: “the color of people’s eyes or their socks? The shape of their noses or their shoes? The number of syllables in their name?”’ 

(Cron, 2012, pp. 24-5)

I love this book! So full of useful writing advice and great wisdom.
And in terms of, a story as a unified whole:

`A story is designed, from beginning to end, to answer a single overarching question.’ 

(Cron 2012, p. 25)

A great heuristic!

And on theme :

`Happily, theme actually boils down to something incredibly simple: 

• What does the story tell us about what it means to be human?
• What does it say about how humans react to circumstances beyond their control? 

Theme often reveals your take on how an element of human nature—loyalty, suspicion, grit, love—defines human behavior.' 

(Cron 2012, pp. 29-30)

 And Cron has yet more great advice:

`So why not take a second to ask yourself,
What is it I want my readers to walk away thinking about?What point does my story make?How do I want to change the way my reader sees the world?’  

(Cron 2012, p. 31)

Another myth, busted by Cron:

`Myth: The plot is what the story is about.
 Reality: A story is about how the plot affects the protagonist.’ (Cron 2012, p. 31)

I also (very) often think about Mood, Tone, Atmosphere, Emotion in stories. (...And, in movies!)
So here also, is another great call:

`Tone belongs to the author; mood to the reader.' 

(Cron 2012, p. 35)

And Cron also notes how  Theme comes last, behind character and plot , for the reader:

`...Besides, did you ever go into a bookstore saying to yourself, 

What I’d really like is a book about survival and how catastrophes bring out the gumption in some and not in others? 

Or I’m dying to curl up with a good book that traces the defects of society back to the defects of human nature? 

Or What I’m so in the mood for is a book that is a metaphor for Latin America? 

I don’t think so. 

Which isn’t to say that you might not leave with Gone with the Wind, Lord of the Flies, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, whose authors, when pressed, described their themes as such.’ 

(Cron 2012, p 36)

As for information-processing, Cron makes another brilliant point :

`In the second it takes you to read this sentence, your senses are showering you with over 11,000,000 pieces of information. Your conscious mind is capable of registering about forty of them. 

And when it comes to actually paying attention? 

On a good day, you can process seven bits of data at a time. 

On a bad day, five. 

On one of those days? More like minus three.’ 

(Cron, 2012, p. 7)

Brain science tells us, every single thought or experience is accompanied by emotion:

`According to Damasio, “No set of conscious images of any kind on any topic ever fails to be accompanied by an obedient choir of emotions and consequent feelings.” 

If we’re not feeling, we’re not breathing. A neutral protagonist is an automaton.’

(Cron 2012, pp 47-8)

Here is Lisa Cron's (great) TED Talk:

Lisa Cron: Wired For Story (TED, 2014)

A few more of my favourite quotes from Wired For Story (Cron 2012) are below:

(All aspiring writers should tattoo these behind their eyelids!)

Some are: great `general fiction writing Guidelines / Heuristics'; others are brain science, and how it applies to (or gives insights into) human nature, and `drama', and writing and reading...

All are solid gold, so you should read the book!

----------------------

`The bigger the word, the less emotion it conveys.' (Cron 2012, p. 63)

This is a great one. i.e., Never use a long word, when a short one will do the trick. (Well; unless for some reason, you really want to avoid conveying emotion! Which can be fine; in its place!)

One of my favourite thinkers is Steven Pinker... Cron notes:

`Steven Pinker defines intelligent life as “using knowledge of how things work to attain goals in the face of obstacles.”’ (Cron 2012, p. 66)

I'm always interested in definitions of intelligence, mainly due to: my fascination with intelligence (`g'), multiple intelligences (e.g. see Howard Gardner), and, Artificial Intelligence...! (JTV)

`As Pinker is quick to point out, without a goal, everything is meaningless.' (Cron 2012, p. 67) 

In other words, as Popper notes: Life creates Values, and Values create Goals.

Also Cron points out, all lifeforms are designed as survival machines:

`Remember, we’re hardwired to instantly evaluate everything in life on the basis of: is it safe or not?’ (Cron 2012, p. 105)

`In order to survive, we’re wired to draw conclusions about everything we see, whether or not we have all–or any–of the facts…’ (Cron 2012, p. 85)

The above is a serious cognitive bias, which causes a great many problems!

`Scenery without subtext is a travelogue.' (Cron 2012, p. 123)

The above is just a great reminder that scenery description (in fiction) can get boring fast, unless it serves a real story purpose!

`Story is about how we handle the conflict of: the battle between fear and desire.’ (Cron 2012, p. 126) 

Side Note: Stanley Kubrick's first feature film was called Fear and Desire ! (Another Side Note: It wasn't very good, but that's not the point. Or, maybe it is the point... Even creative geniuses take time to learn the storytelling craft! And, have to learn via Theory, Trial and Error, what works. In short, even in the Arts, all of life is doing science. ...For real!)

This next one ties into the fact that `g' intelligence (aka I.Q.) is pattern-recognition:

`...the brain is wired to hunt for meaningful patterns in everything, the better to predict what will happen next based on the repetition or the alteration of the pattern (which means, first and foremost, that there need to be meaningful patterns for the reader to find).’ (Cron 2012, p. 131)

`We’re hardwired to love problem solving; when we figure something out, the brain releases an intoxicating rush of neurotransmitters that say, “Good job!” The pleasure of story is trying to figure out what’s really going on (which means that stories that ignore the first two facts tend to offer the reader no pleasure at all).’ (Cron 2012, pp. 131-2)

In other words, Popper was always right: All Life Is Problem Solving (1999)...

`Those who are truly brave tend not to see themselves as brave at all.’ (Cron 2012, p 135) 

The above is just a great observation about Human Nature. Like, a proverb! Good to remember when depicting any brave character in your writing.

`...the three dreaded Cs: a convenience, a contrivance, or a coincidence.’ (Cron 2012, p. 137)

Yikes! The above is just a great point about 3 `pitfalls' for early-career writers to avoid. They can "break" your story for the reader. (In: a big, bad way.)

 `The good news is, when it comes to keeping your story on track, it boils down to the mantra if, then, therefore. 

If I put my hand in the fire (action), thenI’ll get burned (reaction). Therefore, I’d better not put my hand in the fire (decision). 

Action, reaction, decision—it’s what drives a story forward.’ (Cron 2012, p. 147)

I LOVE THIS...
The above point by Cron (2012) reminds me that, (a) we're Ev Psych systems (with IF/THEN rules built in over deep time;


Source: Models of Human Nature, and Ev Psych


Harari also notes in Sapiens (2015) and Homo Deus (2017), that  emotions are algorithms )... check out, from the 22 minutes, through to the 27 minutes mark of this great video:


Harari: "What we call emotions are actually: algorithms, calculating probabilities" (@ 26 mins)

So then... the real `trick' - as a fiction writer - is: How do you trigger the right algorithms (the right: emotions) in your reader...?

...And, moreover, the above quote by Cron (on: ` If, Then, Therefore' algorithms ), also reminds me that (b) we're all probably living in a Sim...
But anyway - moving right along:

`…the pleasure doesn’t come from the joy of reading a compelling story as much as from having solved a difficult problem, which is genuinely intoxicating. ’ (Cron 2012, p. 150)

The above makes more sense in context; so, read the book!
But again, a key point is that, solving problems, gives us a drug rush!
So - use that, for your reader's benefit! (And: pleasure!)
...This one (below) is a doozy: Cron has a truly great insight here...
She suggests that the old `rule of thumb', `Show, Don't Tell' is figurative , not literal...(!)

`MYTH: "Show, Don't Tell" is literal - Don't tell me John is sad, show him crying. 

 REALITY: "Show, Don't Tell" is figurative - Don't tell me John is sad, show me why he's sad.'
(Cron 2012, p. 152)

...Which, is a major insight, in my view!
Just: brilliant writing advice!!!

And, the quote below, I like, simply as: I see the world using the Systems View; and Systems (including us humanimals) are, energy, information, and matter. But - all 3 can be `reduced' to: information! (Which is also, why: we're probably, living in a Sim... but anyway!)

`As with life, new information causes us to re-evaluate the meaning and emotional weight of all that preceded it, and to see the future with fresh eyes. 

In a story, it influences how we interpret every single thing that happens—how we read every nuance—and in so doing raises specific expectations about what might occur in the future.’ (Cron 2012, p. 161)

The brain is designed as a prediction machine (to help us: survive and replicate). And, in a sense, all storytelling is just about managing information:
Namely, What information does the reader get, and, when (and how) do they get it?
And, what effect will it [each new packet or chunk or even bit/byte of information] have...?
(Which is also why, structure, and, setups & payoffs, and surprises, twists and reversals are: so important! In: masterful storytelling.)

The below is such an important heuristic for: self-editing! (i.e., Your own writing.)

`A digression is any piece of information that we don’t need and therefore don’t know what to do with.' (Cron 2012, p. 164)

And omg, I LOVE this one (below)...
As, this, is actually what my (2016) PhD, on highest vs lowest RoI movie storytelling was all `about'!

`There’s an old saying: 

`Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.’ 

The trouble is, bad judgment can be deadly.'
(Cron 2012, p. 167)

I also love the truth and simplicity (thus: beauty) of this:

`Information is currency.' (Cron 2012, p. 174) 

...Did I mention, how much I love this book? 
Buy it! Read it! (...I'm an Information Scientist, among other things.) 

Here is a great one, too:

`In the beginning, no-one ever spends more than the minimum effort required to solve a problem. 

But honestly, can you remember the last time the smallest amount of effort solved anything?’ (Cron 2012, p. 176)

Ahem... Did I mention, how much I love this book?
Buy it! Read it!
(I'm also a Problem-Solving Studyer, among other things.)

Now here comes a fun one:

`There’s no such thing as a free lunch–unless it’s poisoned.’ (Cron 2012, p. 178)

Check out the above... It's what Pinker (2015) and Thomas and Turner (2017) call `Classic' Style writing...
It's creative writing! (i.e., New, useful, and surprising is: the tripartite definition of creativity.)
e.g. Take an old cliche, and freshen it up!
...I love it. I love, this book.
I love the writing in it.
I heart Lisa Cron. But mainly: her book!
Read it! Buy it!

`The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: to break a pattern.' (Cron 2012, p. 187)

The above, from Cron's Chapter 10, is all about: Setups and Payoffs. Fantastic stuff!

I love this too:

`Memories aren’t just for reminiscing. They never were. Memories are for navigating the now.’ (Cron 2012, p 201)

The human brain is about: memory, computation, and learning.
That's really all you need, to build an Artificial Intelligence.
(Sounds easy, right? In practice, it's: complex!)

Below, I love how Cron defines Pacing; 
(it's not just about: alternating "action" scenes with "quiet" ones!)

`Pacing is the length of time between moments of conflict.’ (Cron 2012, p. 204)

And - I also really love this one:

`Ch 12 – The Writer’s Brain on Story

COGNITIVE SECRET: It takes long-term, conscious effort to hone a skill before the brain assigns it to the cognitive unconscious.
STORY SECRET: There’s no writing; there’s only rewriting. (Cron 2012, p. 220)

In other words, Creative Practice Theory -!

Source: Creative Practice Theory

As a writer, you have to learn - and internalize - all the `rules' of writing, through: practise, practise, practise. Until it becomes a reflex action, not a conscious task.
Like, say, doing `drills', in the army, or, when you learn mixed martial arts, or boxing!

In Creativity Science, this process is called `internalizing the domain'...

You have to embed all the rules / skills / moves / techniques in your mind and even body, so you can execute them all together, flawlessly.
Every single sentence is - sometimes - not just doing about ten things at once, sometimes, it's doing hundreds of things all at once!
Of course, if you've done it right, the average reader never even suspects... They just: enjoy the ride!


And Cron even cites `the ten-year rule' in creativity! (Yay!)

`...Nobel laureate Herbert Simon estimates that it takes about ten years to really master a subject. By then we've gathered upward of fifty thousand "chunks" of knowledge which the brain has deftly indexed so our cognitive unconscious can access each chunk on its own whenever necessary.' 

(Cron 2012, p. 221)  

(Side Note: When Cron mentions "chunks" above, she means: George Miller's 1956 work on information processing, memory and cognition. Anyway read the book for all the details! - JTV)



...In summation, 
I very highly recommend this terrific book, for any prose fiction writer...!



...And, here also, are a few others I would recommend...!



P.S. - I mean, a small caveat: Cron’s (2012) brilliant book is mainly about writing: Novels...…Short stories,may have, slightly-different criteria…!(But, loads of it, also definitely applies!)

...Write On!


And, thanks for reading!

~JTV
-----------------------------

Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)
& High-Movie-RoI Consultant (see: The StoryAlity PhD)

-------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, asJT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems TheoristSee: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia ResearcherAcademia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:
Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

-----------------------------------------
REFERENCES