Writing The Unwritable

Lovecraft, Blackwood, and notes from the Tale Foundation

‘ That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die’

Analysing the literary techniques of H.P Lovecraft, Douglas Adams and others in order to understand the secret to writing the incomprehensible.

Notes taken from :

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Technique I: Admission
state plainly that the thing is ineffable

“The Thing cannot be described — there is no language. Eldritch contradictions of all matter, force and cosmic order.” - H.P Lovecraft

You can begin to understand the ineffable by the gap in your understanding. Don’t even attempt to describe it, instead giving the reader a sense of just how vast and incomprehensible the concept/being truly is by blatantly saying it. This is a difficult technique to master without making the prose sound lazy, but with the right affect, it can be a horrifying realisation. See: Call of Cthulhu.