creative style

creative style title card for brianbeholds.com features a line drawing of a butterfly in purpleCreative style is a distinct, particular way of doing something. The point of view is instantly clear. Style is consistency above all. The elements of a style are collected from other sources, contemporary and historical.

Creative style big ideas

  • Style is consistency.
  • To find out something’s creative style, remove everything unnecessary. The focus will be clear.
  • Look at and listen to everything; the best inspiration comes from having the widest view possible.
  • Style should come from what is naturally, authentically present. At the very least, it needs some tie-in.
  • Archetypes help us make connections among things, but each individual is unique.
  • Style is a conscious choice, not a required rule.

Style theme family

loyalty theme icon showing a line drawing of a dog patterns theme icon shoiwing a line drawing of two illustrated patterned designs poetry theme icon showing a line drawing of a stemmed rose presence theme icon with a line drawing of a male peacock sense of place theme icon uniqueness theme icon with a line drawing of a unicorn

A few places to study creative style

  archetypes quotes style families
what Representative example of a common group or type. Copied transcription of something someone said or wrote. Groups of things that share a common style.
where to find people, places, animals, mythology, situations, objects books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, websites, tv shows, movies, interviews genres: books, fashion, music, painting, sculpture, etc.

historical periods

Book Mania: LibraryThing

OBSESSED currently with LibraryThing. It is an online book cataloging service with social media applications that combines a love of books with a mania for organizing. It allows all of us to indulge in our librarian fantasies without actually having to get a Library Science degree. I found out about Library Thing last May and

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Do you eat food?

Pollan, Michael. (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin.  ISBN: 978-1-59420-145-5 How much actual food do you eat? That is the somewhat disconcerting premise that underlies this book. Michael Pollan suggests that, because of the great many processed food products with many additives and the policies of seeking to make more

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Day the Falls Stood Still: Test of Female Faith, Strength

Buchanan, Cathy Marie. (2009). The Day the Falls Stood Still. New York: Voice/Hyperion. ISBN: 978-1-4103-4097-1 320 pages. Fiction: Novel: Historical Fiction         Gist A young woman grows to maturity in Niagara Falls during and after World War I. She endures loss in many forms, testing her faith and her strength. Based loosely

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The Road: novel is realistic rendition of a nightmare

McCarthy, Cormac.(2006). The Road. New York: Knopf.  2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction Everything in The Road is reduced to the minimum; the language and writing style are stripped along with the lives of the characters. No linguistic decoration or extraneous description, luxury or sense of comfort. No neat tidy chapters or markers to tell

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2009 Pulitzer: Olive Kitteridge a study in loneliness and humanity

Strout, Elizabeth (2008).  Olive Kitteridge: Fiction.  New York: Random House.  ISBN: 9781400062089  2009 Pulitzer Prize, Fiction The most striking this about this novel is its structure: it is a landscape novel with the title character as a running theme or motif as a constant among thirteen stories. This landscape is lonely; each character essentially lives

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Rifling Paradise, Jem Poster

Poster, Jem (2009). Rifling Paradise. New York: Overlook Press This novel takes Victorian themes of repression and stifling structure and applies contemporary psychological interpretations to them. It also offers a post-colonial interpretation of exploration and British cultural influence. Still, the Victorian setting heightens the exotic feel and the social constraints of the era add drama to

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