One of the most powerful tools that graphic designers and visual artists use is the deployment of negative space. Sometimes called "white space", it's the use of empty space in the layout of, say, a magazine page or a painting--an area with no graphic elements at all. Negative space is incredibly good at building emphasis. …
Flatness and Feeling: Three Recent Works
Note: The following post contains minor spoilers for the plots of All Systems Red, Ancillary Justice, and Blade Runner 2049. Probably the major theme of recent science fiction has been the way technology distances us from our own emotions. One of the devices authors and directors use to explore this distancing effect is intentionally flattening …
The Lessons of Creepypasta
First there were campfire stories--which probably date back to the invention of language. These begat "urban legends": the Hook, the call coming from inside the house. The Russian scientists who accidentally drilled into hell. Stories without authors, folk tales for a more scientific age. Creepypasta is the direct descendant of that canon. It has its …
Dream Logic: Using Surrealism in Fiction
I heard a podcast recently where the guest talked about the Magical Realist novel he was working on. The host asked, "is that just a fantasy novel but you don't want to admit you like geek stuff?" The guest laughed and admitted that was pretty much accurate. Similarly, you hear a lot of people go …
The Shocking: Notes Toward a Theory
We're often told that comedy appeals to our intellectual side--our appreciation of wit and timing--while drama appeals to our emotions. Appealing to one or the other is the way to reach an audience, to create a significant effect in the reader's/viewer's brain that will cause them to be entertained. Either we need to laugh at …
DAVID WELLINGTON 
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