the nature of creativity

I worked in the Writing Center in college, and whenever a student came in with an essay, we were supposed to make sure it had two things: an argument (“thesis”) and a reason to make that argument (“motive”). Everybody understood what a “thesis” is, whether or not they actually had one. But nobody understood “motive”. If I asked a student why they... See more

Adam Mastroianni • 28 Slightly Rude Notes on Writing

In providing a precise experience, you are necessarily polarizing. There’s a certain tyranny of NPS or averages you have to decouple from – where averages blunt a nuanced understanding of a product or experience. There’s that funny truism that the most authentic Chinese restaurants have the most 1 star reviews.

Distinctive features are not... See more

Nix • the delight of specificity

I’ll leave you with a touching passage from Christopher Alexander on the nature of attention ⟣

One of the most moving moments in my life, was also one of the most ordinary. I was with a friend in Denmark. We were having strawberries for tea, and I noticed that she sliced the strawberries very very fine, almost like paper. Of course, it took longer

Nix • the delight of specificity

Cameron, you’ve said that when you’re not feeling particularly creative, you listen to a song, or watch a movie, or read a book, and before long you get “the urge to respond.” We typically hear the creative act described as, you know, there’s a void, and a flash of lighting cracks through it. But I really like that idea of response as intrinsic to... See more

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Yancey Strickler’s Nine Creative Meditations

To me or to the mean - Focus on what makes your work strange or unique rather than trying to fit in with what everyone else is doing.

You are your audience - Create work that satisfies your own desires and interests rather than trying to please an imagined mass audience.
Small is more rewarding than big -

When you learn something about a writer, say, that Rousseau abandoned all of his children, it inflects the way you understand their writing. But even that isn’t quite the right example—it’s not about filling in the biographical details, it’s about realizing that the thing you’re reading comes from somewhere. Good writing is thick with that... See more

Adam Mastroianni • 28 Slightly Rude Notes on Writing

I wonder if AI will lead to the rise of neologisms as a mark of the human touch—comingfromness, finchness