The Points of the Creative Artists’ Code: One - Constructive artistic ideas are valuable contributions to society.

We are continuing the series of expansions and explanations about the Code of a Creative Artist in order to provide people with more insight into the value of these points. Point One of this code states:

Constructive artistic ideas are valuable contributions to society. Protect, persist with and perfect them in order to attain their optimum communication.

In the 30 or 40 years of my life Read more

An idea whose time has come — Engender Truth

Since I was old enough to be aware of language and its meaning I have observed that human relationships are not always what they are made out to be. As I have watched the latter half of the 20th Century unfold, and observed the growth of marketing until it practically influences everything we do I have also watched the rise of the feminist movement and the turmoil this threw society into.

Raised in the country that was the first to give women the right to vote and which has subsequently lead almost every socially progressive movement, I have grown up without the generational baggage or ideas of women being oppressed, and to this day I deplore the continuing iniquities women are subjected to, while maintaining an awareness that women are not beyond the manipulation of facts to suit their own agendas, which do not always favor those of men.

There is an imbalance in society and one of the things the Free Articulator does is look at imbalance and consider ways to redress them. At Engender Truth, you’ll find a couple of articles that address the sort of imbalance that is going on, polarizing society in ways that are not constructive, intelligent or rational and which promote and perpetuate the Gender Wars. Our very own Emmah Williams is one of the smartest women of our times, and she is challenging with gusto and the kind of determination and insight that is so often rare, the issue of the Gender Wars and her most recent articles (Why I blog, and The sexual revolution is still revolting…er…evolving) at Engender Truth are masterful examples of Emmah’s mind at work. Not because I say so, go read for yourself and you’ll see what I mean. Emmah’s writing is insightful, written with a wicked sense of perspicacious humor and wit, that mark her as a writer to watch. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this develops and also to working with Emm on her novels.

Creative Tip: Vocabulary Building - One Word A Day

If you’re a songwriter, a poet, a storyteller, a journalist, or indeed anybody who works with words or wants to improve their literacy, there is no better way to consistently add to your intellectual toolkit than by subscribing to A.Word.A.Day.

This fantastic free educational service is one of the longest surviving email deliveries in the world. Every day it brings in a new word, with definitions and often a little history about word origins that fleshes out your understanding of context, which can be very useful for those engaged in historical novel writing, as but one example.

I’m committed to lifelong learning (well, who can avoid it?), and I find that learning just one new word every day, can help me:

• remove a creative block
• stimulate new ideas
• enrich my knowledge of our culture and civilization
• refresh my knowledge of meaning and definition (aiding memory)
• help me write and create the precise desirable effect I want to have with a reader

When I’m editing the work of others, having a veritable cornucopia of words, definitions and meanings in my intellect’s databank makes me an organic thesaurus, banishes the overuse of the same words in repetitive fashion and thus keeps my writing and that of those I edit lively and engaging, rather than repetitive, stultifying and boring.

If you’re not already a subscriber to A.Word.A.Day, but are working creatively with words, then get on over there and begin refreshing and expanding your existing vocabulary. You won’t regret it. Language competence is a highly sought after and extremely valuable skill and even if you’re not creatively inclined, knowing what words mean improves how you work and communicate. Words and their meaning enhance our ability to experience and enjoy life.

News Flash: New Report on Reading and Literacy in America

…I tell you this report on a recent survey explains a lot about the state of American culture and its role in the world. No wonder it is the way it is! I mean the insight into Republican reading habits…hah! No wonder they’re so hopeless at managing the Duperpower!

How many books did you read so far this year? I’ve finished 4 in the last two months. I still have a stack of 5 I’m getting through. I’m currently close to completing O: the Intimate History of Orgasm by Jonathan Margolis, a simply fasinating look at sexual attitudes that contains some of the initial ideas that promote the gender wars and male-female tensions, and patriarchal hegemony we see around us in society today, but which also looks at how the sexual revolution has been going on (it’s still revolting, but there’s an end in sight); I tell you it didn’t start in the Sixties! As a bonus reading this book is dovetailing very nicely into my university degree where I’m currently studying Gender as a part of a popular culture course, for my communications degree. I read nonfiction (news, information research, and textbooks) during the day and fiction at night (unless I have assignments due) to keep my input balanced and my intellectual perspectives and viewpoints broad. How do you read?

Traditional Model Music Industry Shows Increasing Signs of Collapse

The entire creative industry (not just the music industry) has been creaking at the seams for some time now, but it’s not really the seams that are creaking (rather they’re rotting), it’s the skeletal structure of the industry that is showing signs of fatigue. The structure has been disenfranching both the creative side of the industry and consumers for quite some time and those predatory policies are now coming home to roost. The industry (in denial) wants to blame this collapse on piracy, but piracy is not the only factor. It’s just another lever used to Read more

News Flash — Allforart Takes Immediate Action to Protect Creative Artist in Copyright Infringement Case

The generosity of Creative Artists is a rather marvelous thing to behold. What is not so marvelous is now others seek to exploit or take advantage of that generosity through various types of chicanery. One of our Creative Artists has recently been told by someone for who he created an original work of art, that he does not own that work and that he “may at some point” get it back.

This is a most serious matter and Allforart is taking immediate action to manage this situation and achieve a satisfactory outcome for all concerned. As things develop we will keep you informed, and while we wish we could say more at the moment, we would prefer a softer approach for a worthy cause. However, if this does not work, then we’ll publish the full story so that other Creative Artists are not burned by similar attempts and can learn from the experience.

US Corporate Censorship of Political Statements by Artists — Pearl Jam

If you monitor the art & entertainment industry closely you’ll see how careers are often destroyed simpy by denying access to broadcast channels and the opportunity to address the public in talk shows and current affairs programs. In America such censorship is emerging in a number of different ways, The Dixie Chicks’ statements about George Bush was but one example. The most recent example is to do with Pearl Jam and AT&T. Read more

Writing A Slice Of Life

When I was in high school, I remember an English teacher sternly warning the class: “A short story has a clear-cut beginning, middle and end. I will look for this in your story, and if I cannot find it, I will fail you.” What she didn’t realize is that a good short story seldom works this way. She was stuck in the rigid conformity to the linear that the educational system encourages, unable to think outside of its structure, or to venture into the fields of her own thoughts.

In my first year of university, one of my lecturers was a best-selling Australian author. And in the first class of Effective Writing, when we got into the topic of the short story, he reminded us of every high school teacher’s words. And then…

“Bollocks! Bullshit!” he shouted.

The short story is a concise medium, a style of writing that serves many purposes, but none of them long-winded: a quick bit of entertainment to pass idle time; a thoughtful piece of prose that takes five minutes to read and hours to get off one’s mind; a serial adventure that has the reader encapsulated in an unreal world and unwilling to leave until the series is complete. Concise it may be, but powerful it is.

So why should it be linear? Why would it fit into the confines of the linear? It wouldn’t! It shouldn’t! No: the best short story is not immensely structured, fitting into a prepared timeline of events that set plot and drama into stone. It is a slice of life, a snapshot, a piece of time that is taken from the imagination of the author and stamped with the speed of machinery into the mind of the reader.

Stamped so fast that it may never be forgotten.

Short stories are not the vehicles for a history of time, not a life story, not a fantasy epic. The short story is a slice of life, a few centimetres from a whole ball of string.

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The Points of the Creative Artists’ Code: Zero - There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to creativity

This is the beginning of a series of explanations of each of the points of the Creative Artists’ Code. This series is meant to help others to grok these principles, so they can use them effectively to create and manage their own careers. Any questions, comments or contributions anybody may have about any point of it, are welcome. Without further ado, or preamble… Read more

The Generosity of Artists has always astounded…

The generosity of artists has always astounded me, though there are exceptions in every art, just as there are in the world; we are, after all, human beings, and some are just a bit more human than others, which means, in my cognizance that they exemplify the best that humanity has to offer. Before I present an example of such generosity, I should make it very clear that I do not support the American war effort in Iraq. I have followed this war as closely as anybody can in the media and I am certain that America’s position is wrong now, and was wrong in the beginning.

The war is about the oil, and it is not a war about democracy, which can never be created at the point of a gun by another nation, but must arise from within. But there is a human cost, that this fine artist, Hancock, has elected to honor and remember with her work to honor those who have fallen. And it is good work, I hope it succors those who have lost their loved ones, and reminds generations to come of what is lost.