Technique
Humour
https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/classicaltexting/entry/divine_humour_and/ Divine Humour and Disability: The Curious Case of Iliad Book One
https://matthewfarthing.medium.com/an-un-humourous-treatise-on-punching-up-vs-punching-down-d76fa60ba0b1 The article references something called ‘benign violation theory’ - the idea that a joke is a violation combined with a feeling of safety. I’ve been idly thinking that before being a social tool, laughter is probably a method we’ve evolved of signaling to others that a situation isn’t dangerous, so BVT sounds bang on to me.
Takes
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-sound-and-the-story-exploring-the-world-of-paradise-lost/ (related - https://mikedashhistory.com/2012/08/30/walking-to-utopia/)
https://www.tor.com/2015/09/01/strange-antecedents-a-personal-appreciation-of-margo-lanagans-novels/
https://www.tor.com/2016/11/02/the-poc-guide-to-writing-dialect-in-fiction/
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/632470/view/4740557883125832823
I want there to be fictional universes that talk about our own real life experiences. About the political problems we’re facing, the geopolitical structures around us, the problems of the modern world, etc. Universes which don’t leave us feeling numb, alone, and abandoned after we have finished exploring them. Universes which actually equip us with life tools and provide context for what’s happening to us. Which give us the strength to carry on with our lives, instead of making us feel empty to the point where we say, “Oh my god, I want to go back to the land of the Elves, but I can’t; I’ve already seen it all”.
https://www.tor.com/2021/02/24/not-all-worldbuilding-needs-to-be-meticulous-to-be-effective/
https://otherfutures.nl/uploads/documents/le-guin-the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction.pdf
http://www.en.utexas.edu/amlit/amlitprivate/scans/goodre.html Good Readers and Good Writers - Vladimir Nobokov