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Tag Archives: art
The Mark of a Good Writer
You’ll find plenty of opinions about what makes good writing, but there are as many opinions as there are readers, and they range from technical critiques to personal raves, with many being a mix of the two. You probably won’t … Continue reading
Posted in Theory and Discussion, Writing and Editing
Tagged art, fiction, objectivity
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Hopping the Fence: When an Editor Writes
I’m an editor. I get a manuscript, dissertation, or textbook and I dig into the words to root out fluff and transplant content from areas where its meaning is obscured in shadow to places where the light hits it more … Continue reading
Don’t Look Down
In many disciplines, if you follow a specific set of instructions, then you should get the intended outcome, whatever that may be. But following rules does not significantly improve art, except incidentally. Art is not art merely because it has technical merit. In fact, some of the best art busts all the rules and gets away with it. If Tom Thompson or Vincent van Gogh had decided to do what a good painter is “supposed” to do, we might never have known their names. Continue reading
Posted in Theory and Discussion, Writing and Editing
Tagged art, value theory, writing, writing advice
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The Art of Appreciation
I’ve been thinking a lot about why people make art and what they hope to achieve by doing so. That of course leads me to wonder how people judge art, how it affects them, and why it has the impact it does. I haven’t come up with any specific answers, but it boils down to one question: what makes good art? Continue reading
Quills and Queries Editing 