From The Author
Hi there.
Welcome to this experiment, where I will be endeavoring to post a narrative every Friday at 20:00 UTC-5. If you have ever visited Tokyo, you could compare this to how prompt their train systems are.
These narratives will be creative writings ranging from rough drafts of my current work to explicitly experimental explorations. Additionally, I will on occasion post about my thought experiments. As a fair warning, these can sometimes be quite controversial or disturbing. With that being said, proceed with caution.
Had to get that formality taken cared of. Now, where was I?
Ah dear, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am a digital artist and novelist currently studying digital art & media design. I am involved in topics such as digital illustration, motion graphics, and graphic design, to name a few. And of course, I pursue creative writing in between the cycles of the merry-go-round we know as ‘life.’
To be honest, I wish I had started doing this years ago. The fallacy of trying to fit myself into the mold has made me forget what’s most important. Keeping my thoughts behind closed doors has given me the luxury of developing ideas with little interference from the outside world. However, like pre-war Japan, closing myself from the world meant closing myself from criticism, stifling the potential for new development. Plus, having an environment like this where I can ramble (almost) freely and whimsically without having to structure myself in a cohesive and ‘professional’ manner can be quite cathartic.
So to my fellow writers out there, if you are someone like me, get to it.
I will let you in on a tactic I use to keep myself motivated to produce and share work. I tell myself this:
If I don’t share my ideas, they’ll die with me.
Don’t tell me that you don’t have any ideas worth sharing. That would be selfish to say. What’s trash to you will be treasure to another. Saying your idea is worthless would be assuming everyone else thinks the same way you do. As pathetic as that may sound, and even if it isn’t absolutely true, it’s the mindset that counts.
Anyways, I’ve digressed far enough for the purposes of a page like this. Probably lost a few people too. Don’t worry, I’ll just italicize the important parts people should read, and they can ignore the rest. Thank you for reading this far. At least you’re still reading. And reading about me writing about you reading. Since you’re still here, I’ll let you know there’s a typo somewhere on this page as well, if you needed to procrastinate a bit longer. If you’ve already found it without this hint, congrats; you should consider becoming a copy editor.
— taikode
Formal Inquiries:
eighteenthstation@gmail.com
Other Works:
www.kevliang.com
Context Levels
On each of the weekly narratives, there will be an indication of the post’s context level. In short, this is how it works:
high context narratives will assume the reader knows a good deal about what’s going on and jump right into the story without checking if the reader is following along; generally used for posts that are a continuation of a previous or excerpts of work-in-progress writings
low context narratives will assume the reader knows nothing and fill them in on what’s going on, sometimes bombarding the reader with information; generally used for posts with brand new writings
medium context narratives have the best of both worlds, making sure the reader is following along but not treating them like a clueless fool