andrew s. thomas

If you’re reading this direct from the website, and not an RSS reader, you can see I’ve been doing a bit of a visual refresh here at ye olde a.s.t. website. I’ve been wanting to put a tagline on this site for a while, but could never settle on one that I enjoyed. Now, thanks to the magic of WordPress plugins, I don’t have to settle! Hooray for indecision!

With great power (such as the ability to rotate taglines) comes the great desire to use as much of it as humanly possible. That’s where you come in. I’m only one man, with a limited number of pithy sayings to add to a website header (I need to save some of it for lyrics, after all!). You, however, are an army of many. Your combined tagline-generating power could keep a small nation free from dependence on foreign energy sources for at least a week (assuming that we have now perfected “clean, renewable catchphrase power,” that is). I WANT, nay, NEED YOUR TAGLINES, PEOPLE!

What do you get for your brilliance? Your words will be randomly rotated in the little space below my gigantic name. With attribution, of course. So, what are you waiting for? Send me your best tagline ideas, either by commenting on this post, or through the form on the Contact page.

Good luck. We’re all counting on you.

If you’re having creative problems, I feel bad for you, son.
I’ve got 99 problems, but “a bitter ex-fan community” ain’t one.
- Jay-Z, lamely paraphrased

I’m not a huge fan of the fantasy genre, but these two things have come to my attention over the past day or so, both very applicable not only to fantasy writing, but any kind of creative endeavor.

1. After reading this New Yorker piece on fantasy author George R. R. Martin (not to be confused with Beatles producer George “No Middle Initials, Please” Martin), I’m confused.

Is it better to be a relative unknown in your chosen creative field, or to have a fan base that loves your work so much you become paralyzed in indecision trying to give them more?

I’ve always assumed that “more fans=better,” but if the weight of outside expectation keeps you waffling so long that some very vocal fans start to take the waiting personally, maybe there’s something to be said for obscurity. Writer’s block is hard enough without people who used to respect you obsessively mocking you for your unfinished work.

2. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s another fantasy author, Glen Cook, whose first few novels were written while he worked on an assembly line for GM. Not in his spare time after work, but during the 5 minute breaks he’d have throughout his shift.

The next time I complain about not having enough time to create while working all day in front of a keyboard and monitor, I want to remember that.