I've Made the Art I Wanted

One of the most important pieces of advice I ever received was, "Make art like nobody's watching. Make art like you don't care whether or not it sells. Make art for no one else but yourself."

Okay. Sounds good.

So that's what I did.

I couldn't begin to tell you where I heard that maxim for the first time, or whom I heard it from. It certainly made its mark me however, and it was advice that I took to heart. It's the reason why the Foundations Anthology is structured the way it is, and why The Huntsman's War has a certain flaw.

There have been a few criticisms leveled at The Huntsman's War, my debut novella and so far the only book I've released. Many of these criticisms I agree with and can learn from. The few criticisms I disagree with seem to originate from the fact that this was simply not the right book for that particular reader. That's fine. No harm, no fowl, best of luck in your future reads.

One critique I anticipated, and that I've only seen in a few places, is that The Huntsman's War feels like only part of a story. Like it's the first chapter or two of a real book, and the climax of my novella would only be the inciting incident of a longer novel.

And yes. You're correct. What you're seeing is both intentional and deliberate, and it is a carefully considered choice on my part. And I did this because The Foundations Anthology is an experiment, a gamble to see if I can accomplish a specific vision I have for storytelling. But to explain it, I first need to briefly touch on the subject of Discworld.

I've talked before about how Discworld is my all-time favorite fantasy series. You can see the video I did a while ago about my Top 10 fantasy series down below

One of the aspects of Discworld I admire most is its serialized story telling and world building. Many of the Discworld books are somewhat limited in scope, focusing on smaller stories with only a few characters and somewhat limited stakes (though there are certainly exceptions to this, Thief of Time being one of them). This is something that I, as a burgeoning artist, wanted to emulate. This is why the Foundations Anthology is structured the way it is. The Foundations Anthology is a series of five books, all telling one large story. However, that story will not become fully realized until all five books are released, and the entire series can be taken in as a whole.

This is, from a business perspective, a really stupid idea. I am a new name in the writing community. There is no reason why anyone should give me the benefit of the doubt with such a project. Any number of criticisms about my ambition being larger than my ability could be leveled against me and my work. They would likely be correct.

But the thing is, I don't care. I mean, I suppose I care enough to make some sort of explanation in this blog post, providing answers for those who care enough to go searching for them. But ultimately, I'm writing and publishing these books just to see if I can, to challenge myself as a writer, and a person, to push myself to fulfill something I truly want to do, regardless of whether or not it's viewed favorably by those looking on around me.

In short, I'm making art like nobody's watching. And I'm okay with that.