The last few days, I had this wild idea for an art piece that involved stenciling silhouettes, painted canvas, and melting crayons with a hairdryer. However, when I went to melt the crayons, the gust of heat from the hairdryer not only didn’t melt the wax, it detached the stencils from the canvas. Safe toContinue reading “not trying hard enough”
Author Archives: joshua chamberlain
finding the medium
I’m currently working on a novel high school kids in revolt and a play about comic book writers building a universe–two different stories with different characters, engaging with completely different worlds. A friend asked this week, “how do you determine which stories are books, which ones are plays, and which one would be movies?” GreatContinue reading “finding the medium”
rearrange yourself
When I was a kid, I’d rearrange the furniture in my bedroom every summer. Sometimes, it was a simple as switching the placement of the dresser and the bookshelf. Other times, I’d slide the bed across the room, reorient the posters on the walls, and move the light fixtures from one corner of the roomContinue reading “rearrange yourself”
do what you’re doing
While I was in college, I had the opportunity to meet Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He told a story about how he got the job at SNL: he’d been writing jokes on his own, collecting them and refining them at open mic nights throughout Manhattan. One night, aContinue reading “do what you’re doing”
hitchhiking
I absolutely loved Marc Maron’s recent interview with Neil Gaiman. While I’ve never been a huge Gaiman fan, I found myself enamored with his insights into comic fandom, TV production, and his writing process. My favorite bit though, is when Gaiman describes the process of beginning his Sandman comics, and how despite having the endContinue reading “hitchhiking”
thoughts from a detective
In a recent episode of The Moment with Brian Koppelman, writer-director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, I Love You, Man) touched on a few things that I’ve been turning over in my mind lately. Referencing advice from his therapist, Hamburg says of writing, “Be a detective, not a judge.” I’ve been watching a lot ofContinue reading “thoughts from a detective”
psychic scars
A friend of mine is studying to be a screenwriter. The other night, we had a conversation about her graduate program. She’s in her mid-thirties, while most of her classmates are in their early twenties, a disparity she claims is obvious in their writing. Much of the work her classmates produce is imaginative , butContinue reading “psychic scars”
unlimited freedom
In a recent interview on obscurity, Austin Kleon had this to say about unlimited freedom when creating: …obscurity can be this great gift. You can experiment. It’s a kind of freedom. Now, unlimited freedom can be very paralyzing, too. Freedom is not necessarily the best thing ever for art; there’s a tension between freedom andContinue reading “unlimited freedom”
a better future
Nicole Chung in The Atlantic: …write as though there is a future, a more just one—and if I do that, perhaps I’ll be one small step closer to believing in it. In dark days like these, crank some Bowie and get to work making those visions reality…
something to push against
My college roommate and I spent some time recently reflecting on our education and what we learned in college. While he studied Computer Engineering and has gone on to be successful in his field, my education in English, American Studies, and Film was a little less clear cut. As someone once told me, “You’re goingContinue reading “something to push against”
joshua chamberlain 