Modus operandi

Over the years, I have developed these work habits and values.

• Artistic integrity
• Incrementalism
• Escapism
• Absurdism
• AI placeholders
• Free content
• Accessibility
• Minimalism
• Commercialism
• Target audience
• Acknowledgements

Artistic integrity

While audience considerations matter, maintaining a cohesive and genuine vision is more important. When I employ the services of an artist, I try to defer to their artistic instincts to maximize the output of their imagination without burdening them with doubt and perfectionism. In practice, freedom achieves better results than constraint.

Incrementalism

I develop and publish my work gradually over time, embracing change cautiously. I prefer to make small changes as opposed to large ones for several reasons:

1. Small changes are less likely to cause errors
2. Small changes can be undone easier
3. Small changes allow users to adapt easier
4. Small changes tend to go unnoticed and, therefore, without conflict
5. Small but steady change can still achieve comprehensive change over time

I have and will make large changes if necessary.

Escapism

I create my work to explore fictional worlds — detached from our own. While my work may take inspiration from the real world, I do not intend it to be a commentary on it. I aim to help others escape into the imagination as a respite from reality. I am not an activist or philosopher.

Absurdism

My work tends to explore existential themes, usually with mundane absurdity, collective apathy, or small concentrated doses of stylistic violence. Characters in my work often struggle to survive illogical circumstances — with the irrationality itself being their main threat. My imagination seems to function as a blender of my experiences, observations, and dreams under the anxiety of unreason and disorder.

The greatest terror in my nightmares is not the monster but the indifference the people in my dreams have to it. The monster is normal; if it eats you, that’s okay because that’s what monsters do. If you dare fight it, you are not just fighting the monster but the people who accept its existence as part of their reality.

Other themes in my work include order vs. chaos, science vs. superstition, and technology vs. nature. I usually depict these conflicts as self-perpetuating and inevitable. I also like exploring “alien” morality systems.

AI placeholders

In the absence of human-made content, I use artificial intelligence as a temporary substitute (i.e. a placeholder) with some caveats:

1. As much as law or licensing enables, I release unmodified AI-generated content to the public domain
2. Ideally, AI-generated content should be distinctive in style from human-made content, or at least from content produced for me by human artists, so as to not attempt to emulate or replace them or cause confusion
3. I do not pay for AI-generated content, but I am willing to pay to use AI tools, provided doing so does not prevent me from paying human artists
4. Once possible, I will replace the AI-generated placeholder material with human-made content
5. AI-generated content is only permanent if the use of AI-generated is part of my intent behind the art itself (e.g. some of my music videos)

While I use AI to help proofread my writings and offer creative consultation or brainstorming, I never use it to generate the written material itself.

Free content

I release some of my works for free and under permissive licensing, such as Absurd Realms (main literary series only) and my standalone music tracks (both under CC BY 4.0, respectively). I do this for three reasons:

1. I started my work under the pseudonym Schizoid Nightmares as a hobby and did not initially intend to profit
2. Releasing work for free and under permissive licensing helps with marketing, possibly bringing attention to my commercial ventures
3. I have benefited from free content and desire to “give back”

I may sell otherwise free works in different formats.

Accessibility

Making media accessible to those with visual or other sensory defects is important to me. While I cannot guarantee 100% accessibility for all conditions, I make an effort to improve the accessibility of my website and other projects to the best of my own abilities. As anyone’s sensory abilities can decline over the course of their life, I regard accessibility as a universal need and utilitarian feature that requires conscientious design. Accessibility also expands market reach and may help in unforeseen ways in the future.

If you encounter an accessibility issue with my site or other projects, please inform me and I will do my best to rectify the issue.

Minimalism

I take pride in keeping my website and other projects as minimalistic in design as possible. Minimalism serves three purposes: it helps keep computer resource usage low, creates fewer distractions to users, and is more efficient to produce. I do my best to keep it clean and simple. When a user visits my website, they do not experience irritants such as pop-ups or calls to action. Irritants such as these mimic the experience of being harassed by hoards of beggars and hustlers. I want users to experience relief with minimalism — like entering a soundproof booth after enduring hours of grating non-stop noise.

Commercialism

I intend to profit from my work to invest more time and resources in its production. It is not just a passion but also my attempt to secure a means of economic survival. When a project is proving too costly (in either time or money), I may terminate it to free up resources or just to survive. To avoid this, I seek to commercialize my projects to reduce the cost burden and make investing time more sensible.

I believe that by engaging with the free market, both users and I stand to benefit more than by keeping everything strictly non-commercial.

Target audience

My overall target audience is alienated and/or introverted males living in Northern America, the UK, Australia, Germany, or Scandinavia. I expect this demographic to grow steadily over time. However, reaching this niche can pose great difficulty.

I determine my target audience through experience, speculation, and reading into trends. I do not actively track or analyze demographic information on my users — my target audience is not data-driven. I mainly go by instincts and common sense.

Methods of targeting may include focusing on appealing elements (particularly in fiction), online advertising, and maintaining a presence on websites expected to harbour these demographics.

My target audience may vary per project. Having a target audience is for practical marketing purposes only. In no way do you have to fit it to enjoy my work.

Acknowledgements

I do not create my work in isolation. My work is the primary product of my efforts, but also from direct and indirect contributors and many inspirations. I like to acknowledge them all (within reason) and have listed hundreds of credits.