A creative exercise

One common practice in creative writing involves adopting the style of one text to craft something new. It's an intriguing exercise that not only sparks originality (paradoxically, as it begins with the act of plagiarizing a style) but also sharpens the focus of what you want to say.

I undertook this exercise as the initial step for this project, aiming to distill the essence of the website, clarifying what it was truly going to be about. Here's what I came up with:

In the beginning, there was calm, and order.

And that was predictable, without interests, inert, nothing entailed surprise. A beautiful but useless blank page.

And someone said, “Let there be conflict”: and there was narrative.

And humans heard narratives, and they were good.

You can easily guess that the exercise also inspired the name of the site.

Disclaimer: Even as an agnostic, I hold respect for religions. It's essential to clarify that this exercise is not meant to mock sacred texts, but to honor them through style.

There is something about conflict

As an abstract concept, conflict doesn't neatly correspond to a single entity in our mental storage. Its meaning evolves based on the word's usage, the sentence it inhabits, and the context in which it is narrated. The particular nuance we associate with “conflict” is determined case by case. We might use the term as a synonym for other concepts—consider the media's euphemism, referring to “armored conflict” instead of explicitly stating “war.”

The remarkable ability of language to evolve and adapt across various contexts is fascinating. However, when discussing specific disciplines, precision in language becomes crucial. In the realms of stories, narratives, novels, scripts, and similar entities, conflict isn't a mere synonym for a solvable problem, such as how to open a door. Nor is it a synonym for tension or a fight. What, then, is it?

My quest to understand conflict in narrative began in the very first creative writing workshop I attended. I was told that conflict is indispensable to narratives, yet nobody provided a clear understanding of what conflict truly entails or a satisfactory characterization of what narratives are about. Since then, I've attended diverse workshops, explored different frameworks, and believe I'm now prepared to share what I've pulled together along the way. 

My personal conflict has revolved around comprehending what narratives are truly about, how to craft them, and, ultimately, how to convey that understanding to others. After all, genuine understanding is achieved when one can satisfactorily explain a concept to others.

How to use this site

As of January 2024, this site is meticulously crafted without the assistance of a content management system like WordPress or similar engines. It relies on the traditional method of manual page creation and publication. This choice stems from my current uncertainty about the depth I'll delve into each subject I plan to cover.

For now, the focal point of your exploration should be the Articles section, where you'll discover a curated index of the articles I've already written.

In the near future, with a target horizon of Summer 2024, I aim to transition the site to a platform powered by a content manager. However, as part of this plan, URLs will remain intact—unless unforeseen circumstances arise.

If you wish to learn more about a page's history, including its creation date, updates, or potential obsolescence, consult the metadata. Presently, this information is accessible through your browser's Developers Tools by examining the underlying html code.