Same Face Syndrome
Howdy! This is a little early, but I expect the rest of my November to be busy.
This newsletter will have: a quick note on Locus Magazine and a random art piece, an essay on art and writing (there is a connection, I promise!), a FAQ (Foxily Asked Questions), and a catten pic.
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As some of you already have heard, Locus Magazine, which is a trade magazine for sf/f/h, is running a fundraiser.
I'm offering a digital art commission (one or two figures) for $75 (see example below) but you can find other cool offers like signed books or a chat with Connie Willis! Please consider checking out the fundraiser at the link above.
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Same Face Syndrome
I want to talk about Same Face Syndrome, which is something that came up recently for me with art. I promise it will come around to writing (if you care about writing, which you might not!). Basically, I was recently listening to some writing lectures by Maggie Stiefvater (available on Etsy - recommended!). Stiefvater used to be a professional portrait artist, and one thing she mentions in passing is that artists commonly fall into the trap of painting out of their heads and the characters they paint all have their face. I heard this as well from an artist friend who does book covers.
Book Cover Artist Friend pointed out recently that I keep doing a variation of this. I don't draw my face over and over again. However. When I draw ~male characters, I draw my husband's face over and over again. Probably exacerbated because I also use him as a model (he is very good-humored about this). Sure, I might change the coloration and so on, but basically...same nose, same chin, same hairstyle...
Now, part of this is because I am inclined to draw characters that I find aesthetically appealing/attractive. In some sense it's good that I find my husband attractive and want to draw him over and over! XD But from a character design perspective, it would be kind of good to learn how to draw other faces. In fact, Book Cover Artist Friend has assigned me Remedial Drawing Dudes Who Are Not My Husband homework consisting of head studies.
I can see how this happened - I mean, my husband is the dude I look at all the time, and that's become even more the case during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, I'd go out regularly and sketch people at the game store or the bookstore or the restaurant or whatever.
I often think of writing advice that I see everywhere, which is "read, especially in your genre." I almost never give this advice because, well, it's already out there! People hear it a lot! Or anyway, I hear it being given a lot.
It's not bad advice! If you're writing (say) space opera, you probably want to be familiar with some of the authors who've come before you and common tropes and what "FTL" stands for and what the trends are, whether because you're writing to market or you're writing the genre because those tropes make your heart sing or you're in dialogue with other works.
And to be sure, if you don't read the genre you're trying to write, you may end up with incomplete information about what makes it tick, what's genuinely innovative and what's become cliché. This isn't a case of writing, but I'm reminded of when someone I knew read a particular manhwa (Korean comic) and found its tropes subversive and fresh - because it was their first manhwa. I was fascinated when my mom read the exact same manhwa and commented, "It's just like all the ones I read when I was a teen."
But if you do nothing but read in your genre, you run a risk of same face syndrome. God knows I've read enough laments about writers who only read Tolkien and Tolkien-alikes and only produced Tolkien-alikes. I've definitely been guilty of only wanting to read in my lane.
Which leads me to the advice I like to give sometimes, which is to read outside your genre as well as within it. Maybe that means cozy mysteries, or magical realism, or Oulipo, or a YA "issue" novel written in free verse (this exists, by the way), or a video game vision statement (the Planescape: Torment vision statement is a fun example), or medieval epic poetry, or picture books, or Mafia romance. Whatever works for you! I'm trying to take my own advice and read more broadly, so that I have a better vantage point on what literature is capable of, and so that I don't end up figuratively drawing my husband over and over again.
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FAQ (Foxily Asked Questions)
- What are you currently working on?
I have line edits for Lancers #1, which are due in a few weeks. I'm making good progress - wish me luck!
- How's your health?
Thanks for asking foxily! Alas, I've been sick for a month now and while it's more annoying than anything else, it's kind of a drag.
- What's one thing that you're reading right now?
I've been dipping on and off into Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book, trans. Meredith McKinney. A friend who's knowledgeable about Japanese literature recommended this particular translation to me. I don't know why I waited so long to read this! It's absolutely delightful and good to read in small sips when one is sick.
- What are you listening to lately?
Darren Korb's soundtracks for Hades and Pyre and Bastion.
- I have a foxy question you haven’t answered here!
Sure, please email deuceofgearsart@gmail.com and I will get back to you!
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Obligatory Catten Pic
