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Clarity

Julian Gough

Berlin Area, Germany

Storyteller, in various media. Wrote the narrative at the end of Minecraft. Author of three novels (translated into 6 languages), two radio plays, and various short stories. Winner of the BBC International Short Story Award. And a Pushcart Prize. Shortlisted for the Everyman Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. (Twice.)

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Games Economics Art Public Speaking Broadcast Creative Writing Entertainment Digital Storytelling Stories Human Computer Interaction

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Telling Stories.

I spent my youth as an underground popstar; crafting words, and singing them directly to people. (The primal roots of storytelling.) Since then, I’ve written award-winning short stories, stage plays, radio plays and novels. My work has appeared everywhere from tiny literary magazines to the New York Times; from Radio Free Burning Man to the BBC. Basically, I like to create extraordinary fictional experiences inside people's heads.

Sometimes I work with others. In 2011, Markus Persson (better known as legendary game developer Notch), invited me to craft a narrative ending for his game Minecraft. (Minecraft went on to be Time Magazine's computer game of the year. Its sales to date are 9 million.)

Everything is a story; a computer game, a TV program, putting up a shelf; a meal, a love affair, a cup of coffee; a website, a walk in the forest, a game of football; we can't help ourselves, we structure them as stories. There are patterns that we recognise, that resonate with us. They help us make sense of the world, and ourselves, they help keep us alive, and sane.

Stories can help us to kill dragons, topple governments, and change the world. They can also help us to win elections, navigate websites, and buy shoes that go with our outfit. It's all good.

If I can, I’ll help you tell a better story.

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/09/ending-an-endless-game-an-int.html

Economics

I wrote the first short story ever published by the Financial Times (in 2003). I predicted the global financial crash of 2008, in some detail, in February of 2007 (see link). When the BBC wanted a writer to dramatise the Eurozone crisis, they commissioned me to write them a radio play (The Great Squanderland Roof, 2012). And so on.

Why me? Well, novelists are, pretty much by definition, generalists. To create a believable fictional universe, you need to know a little bit about everything. But I've specialised in a couple of areas which are poorly understood by the culture at large. One of these is economics.

Many economists and financial experts have a clear view of part of the picture. Few people have a clear view of the bigger, global picture; approaching the subject not just through economics but through history, culture, and human psychology...

But (coughs modestly) I do.

http://www.juliangough.com/journal/2007/2/27/debt-derivatives-a-prediction.html

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Julian is a bit of a genius. Read his stuff. It's great. Speaks for itself, really.

Tom Chatfield Source: LinkedIn

Julian is one of the sharpest minds alive at the moment. Before I knew him I was fan of Toasted Heretic who had a mind-altering take on pop music. They inspired me in so many ways. Julian was the lyricist, lead-singer and front-man. What a front man. He knew how to thrill and antagonize at the exact same time. I then recall Julian's pieces for @lasttv which I also worked on at the time. In a package for that show directed by Mike Casey he made the unforgettable proposition that anyone who eats meat should slaughter one cow themselves each year. When I was co-editing a collection of modern Irish short stories with Sarah Champion, Julian's incredible story arrived as one of the chapters of what to was become his debut novel, Juno & Juliet. His stories literally bound off the page with the immediacy of the emotion. Julian gets it. He truly gets it all. There's very little he hasn't thought of already and if he's winding you up he's doing it on purpose to see how you'll react. Have I said genius already, as that it what Julian is. There's not an imagination driven mission possible that he would not do in his sleep.

Donal Scannell Source: LinkedIn

Julian has a deep and powerful intellect that can cut to the nub of the matter. He sets high standards for himself and likes to work in teams that do the same. He adds great value to any project he attaches himself to.

Mike Casey Source: LinkedIn

Member since March 2013