Featured Interview
Chris Baty
How does National Novel Writing Month define a novel?
We define a novel as a minimum of fifty thousand words of fiction. Which is just kind of a ridiculous definition, but it creates a sense of structure, and the boundaries of the game are set. That's about as close as we want to get to coming up with a definition for it. Leaving it malleable and open fits in well with the idea that, really, what we want to do is be sort of a creative kick in the pants for everybody.
We get a lot of emails saying, "I'm doing X. Am I allowed to do that in your contest?" And the answer's usually, "Well, as the official keeper of the Great Rule Book of Month-Long Creativity Escapades, the answer is no, but as somebody who understands the joys of making stuff, we're gonna pretend we didn't get this email, and you just go about your business." [laughs]
-
Van Dyke Parks
Musician and author Van Dyke Parks talks about smoking, collaboration, and commitment, plus: Brian Wilson, William Saroyan, and why "the arts are much more expensive than people think."
-
Keri Smith
Artist and author Keri Smith talks about why she writes creativity books, the importance of play, imperfection, and impermanence in her work, and why we need to aim for "the all-consuming place."
-
Tobie Giddio
Visual artist and fashion illustrator Tobie Giddio talks about music and meditation, and finding inspiration in the New York club scene.
-
Ianthe Brautigan
Writer Ianthe Brautigan talks about applying fiction-writing techniques to memoir, the power of cookies, and rising up to contribute your best.
-
Daniel Handler, Part 1
Writer Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, talks about making the switch from poetry to prose and why he loves it when things are going badly.
-
Chris Metzen, Part 1
World of Warcraft's Chris Metzen talks about the power of spinning ideas, and how he got his big break on a bar napkin.
Blog
Moving Day and a Tour of the New Digs
-
Hi,
If you've visited this site before, you may have noticed a few changes of late. Here's a quick tour of the digs:- You can browse interviews by category, using the menu across the top of the page. You can also use the drop-down menu in the right column to see a complete list of interviews.
- We've added a Community Project Log over in that right column as well, where we're hoping you'll share what you're working on. Below that you'll find a Tip (And Technique) Jar, where we're hoping you'll let us know what works for (or thwarts) you in your own creative adventures. Just below that's a Twitter feed with the latest posts from @aboutcreativity, where I'll be keeping track of new developments in the ever-morphing create-o-sphere.
- We've deployed sophisticated "ShareThis" technology with each article to help you take that urge you may occasionally feel to share an article with a pal, and turn it into action.
- Click on the Bios links to learn more about each artist. Right next to "Bios," you'll find a spot to add article comments.
Big thanks to Chad Capellman, who did fantastic work bringing the new site to life (and whose web-work I enthusiastically recommend). We've got more tweaks and a few more features in the works so if you have any feedback on changes you'd like to see (or any questions about what's where), I'd love to hear from you at: dbrodnitz at gmail dot com.
Thanks for dropping by and diving in,
-Dan
Twitter Updates
Please wait while my tweets load 