All the stuff I love most in game storytelling is never the big-picture stuff; it's the stuff that feels like curlicues, stuff that's just there because it's a game and because you can do it.
Tom BissellRead
To create anything — whether a short story or a magazine profile or a film or a sitcom — is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic. These essays are about that magic — which is sometimes perilous, sometimes infectious, sometimes fragile, sometimes failed, sometimes infuriating, sometimes triumphant, and sometimes tragic. I went up there. I wrote. I tried to see.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating art involves a belief in one's own power to transform ideas into reality, embracing both the struggles and triumphs of the creative process.
This quote by Tom Bissell reflects on the enchanting and complex journey of creation, where the act of bringing something into existence invites a sense of wonder and belief in one's magical capabilities. It acknowledges the varying emotions and challenges artists face, from moments of brilliance to feelings of failure, while recognizing the intimate relationship between the creator and their craft.
Themes
CreationMagicArtCreativityChallenges
In practice
Example use cases
In an inspirational speech to aspiring writers at a workshop.
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If you just write the kinds of stories you think others will want to read, you'll be competing with cartoonists who are far more enthusiastic for that kind of comic than you are, and they'll kick your ass every time.
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I grew up like Athena — covered with playing cards instead of armor — and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
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The one happiness is to shut one's door upon a little room, with a table before one, and to create; to create life in that isolation from life.
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Stories helped me unite parts of my existence that might otherwise have seemed irrevocably split by geography and time. And stories helped me find a future in which I, such a mongrel, could be comfortable.
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