Generally we play by the rules of grammar in creative writing because readers will be put-off or confused by our failure to abide. Grammar is the fabric of the language. There is no English without English grammar. Even a nonsense … Read the rest
Alchemy and Mud: Arguments in Fiction
I’m regularly surprised when my readers spy ideology lurking in my writing, as if the presence of an argument or even a sensitive topic in a work of fiction is proof that the author is trying to seduce the reader … Read the rest
God As Executive (To Whom We Can Say Nothing)
We construe transcendent God through analogies: God as a loving father, a just or cold-eyed judge, a suffering savior, as Jesus of the Gospel, as victor over Death, as jealous tribal god of the Hebrews, as (war)lord of hosts… Read the rest
Trial in Majority
My story “Trial in Majority” was originally podcasted by Simultaneous Times (starting at 12:01) last month. First time anyone has been so kind as to compose music based on my work!
Posting it here for anyone that wants to read … Read the rest
The Nonsense End of the Heart Sutra?
Some commentators and translators of the Heart Sutra, leave the mantra at the end untranslated. So sometimes we find:
“The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is stated thus: gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā.”
and sometimes we … Read the rest
Freedom is Slavery to One’s Good Sense
The formula “Freedom is Slavery” seems Orwellian but a version of it is true. Freedom is not slavery to a regime, government bureaucrats, a master race, one’s work, or another person, but to good sense, to rationality. Why is this? … Read the rest
Passive Voice in Fiction
The only advice I’ve heard about passive voice in fiction is: Don’t Use It. This is me offering more nuanced advice.
What is the Passive Voice?
Readers with a passion for grammar, second languages, or scientific writing will likely know … Read the rest
“Very” Is Not So Very Wrong
Mark Twain famously quipped that a writer who cannot think of a word to substitute for the word “very” should substitute “damn,” so as to form phrases like “damn beautiful” and “damn important.” The writer’s editor will delete “damn” and … Read the rest
I Am Beginning to Believe That Morality is Bunk
Before I discuss why the Argument from Moral Knowledge has pushed me in the direction of moral non-realism—the view that there are no objective more facts but only preferences, folkways, and the like—I want to discuss one of a family … Read the rest
Gettier Cases and Moral Knowledge
I’ve said that probabilistic arguments for God don’t do much to convince a committed atheist. But the Argument from Moral Knowledge can be reformulated so that it is not merely probabilistic. In other words, the standard atheist picture (humans … Read the rest