In any event, I'm sort of paused on this project because I started another one about people living for generations in an infinite house (labyrinth of rooms in every direction), and searching for a way out, interspersed with some modern story lines. It allows for a lot more dialogue and humor, less "genre fiction," and so I figured it likely has the wider appeal. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Well, if we need inspiration…
She shuffled some books on her desk, found what she was looking for, a small rectangular package. The label on the front of the package was a gold on orange holographic image. From one angel it showed a muscular, bearded man in a toga, rolling a stone up a steep hill. Depending on how you tilted the package, you could make the stone roll up or down the hill, in endless repetition. But, if you tilted it far enough, a totally new image would appear, the face of a man, eyes comically red. Many customers didn’t know it, but this was the face of the French existentialist, Albert Camus. Above his face popped out the words:
“Absurdly Good Weed(™)”
Then, below the face:
“One must imagine Sisyphus stoned.”
She opened the package and pulled out a joint.
And what sort of story would a disinfo merchant fall for?
Hilde looked back down at the books cluttering her desk. Her eyes locked on Plato’s dialogue on the immortality of the soul, the Phaedo.
Still, Chris wasn’t naive about what most people would say about their work. Purveyors of misinformation.Disinfo merchants. Propagandists. Liars. Trolls.
Or, as one journalist for the Des Moines Register had put it, Nigel was “a rotund British cancer on the American body politic, not talented enough to metastasize, but hardly benign.”
“Fucking self indulgent purple prose — who does this asshole think he is writing for?” Nigel had fumed, showing the article to Chris. “Not talented enough? I turn down bigger jobs all the time. I keep a low profile because I’m not a moron like this absolute pleb.”
This had been during the phase when Nigel was using “pleb,” as his go-to insult. The insult held no classest connotations when wielded by Nigel. He frequently painted billionaires and officials in high office with the label.
“Pleb,” for Nigel, was short for “plebian of the soul,” a term he had adopted after being turned on to the works of the ultra-conservative, caste-system-advocating, esotericist, Julius Evola. He had come across the facism-adjacent, wizard, or sorcerer, or what-the-fuck-ever people who do “magic” call themselves, via some godforsaken VR community that Nigel had been frequenting back then.
Evola had convinced Nigel that he was an “aristocrat of the soul.” From that it followed that his enemies were “the plebs,” the low-class mob hoping to drag others down to their level of “spiritual mediocrity.” This was worse than Economic Marxism — worse than Cultural Marxism even — this was… Spiritual Marxism.
Nigel had been particularly insufferable during this period, frequently accusing Chris of “Spiritual Marxism” and its attendant ills, whenever Chris had pushed back on his increasingly unhinged ideas. For Chris, the turn had been evidence that even his boss, so astute in fathoming the psychology of the masses, was not immune to the lure of intrigue, controversy, and self-flattery.
It had also been a period of significant “biohacking,” Nigel’s preferred term. Biohacking was “the rational and intentional alteration of one’s own neurochemistry to help maximize productivity, achieve one’s goals, and fully realize one’s potential.” It was, “better living through science,” “the use of entheogens to achieve a fit-to-purpose physicochemistry conducive to the demands of the modern workplace.”
Biohacking, per Nigel, was a premier example of “the application of Logos to Psyche,” the “triumph of Gnosis over Eros.”
Chris had secretly thrown out the man’s cocaine stash, a key “biohacking reagent,” after he had, only half-jokingly, referred to it as “Aristocrat’s Powder.”
In retrospect, this inflation of the man’s eccentricities had foreshadowed his downfall, the end of the first company, and his fourteen month, all expenses paid “vacation” to the Yazoo City Federal Corrections Complex. He had been a bubble ready to pop, destined for the “Zoo.”
I agree. We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions.What it means for an individual's sense of wellbeing if their beliefs are overturned. Personal, psychological and political. [ ... ] The short stories and fiction can raise philosophical questions in a more creative, perhaps acceptable way ... — Amity
:cool: Yes, I'd prefer a picaresque novel to a strictly progressive, bildungsroman-like form. Besides, I still have no plan for exactly where or how the characters go on.I think it would work really well as an 'episode' in a novel of linked short stories.
:blush: Thanks. I inagine there are other versions or interpretations of "the mythology" which probably have implications for other events or folk beliefs elsewhere in the setting. I still haven't decided whether or not the Old Man is a reliable narrator.The mythology is interesting, though I don't quite follow all of it. There is some wonderful description and imagery. — Vera Mont
If it's an anthology instead of a novel, then "the adventures" (or "episodes") need not follow a linear plotline in sequential order. Maybe (a tighter) "Good Stew" is a flashback of the heroine years later during a lull in one of her "adventures" (as a frame). I'd have to write a few more, I think, before the shape of an overall tale – metaplot? – will suggest its structure.I can definitely see this in a larger context - I suppose the novel would have to be about the adventures of the heroine and her mercenary, so this would be at the beginning.
Sure, but that's okay. I prefer characters who are essentially passive (or absent) to be named but two conversing protagonists, especially ones who are also quite familiar with one another, to be unnamed unless one of them calls the other by name (e.g. for emphasis). A (Beckettian) quirk I'm guilty of in other stories of mine.Is that nit-picking?
:up: I'm also a Glen Cook fan. If you've read him, what do you think of Joe Ambercrombie? His hardboiled, gritty fantasy seems like a blend of Black Company & Game of Thrones.I've been rereading the Black Company because I think Cook does a good job at this, even though his story and setting are much less complex. — Count Timothy von Icarus
If it's an anthology instead of a novel, then "the adventures" (or "episodes") need not follow a linear plotline in sequential order. — 180 Proof
A Good Stew.We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions. — 180 Proof
I think it would work really well as an 'episode' in a novel of linked short stories.
:cool: Yes, I'd prefer a picaresque novel to a strictly progressive, bildungsroman-like form. Besides, I still have no plan for exactly where or how the characters go on — 180 Proof
The Lounge - 'Hang out, blether, talk about kittens'?! I don't think so! — Amity
We (TPF) benefit from both discussions and creative expressions. — 180 Proof
Online forums provide a wealth of publicly accessible data and have proven particularly useful for critical psychologists wishing to examine naturalistic data on a wide range of social phenomena. This article begins by considering the use of online discussion forums for critical discursive psychological research and outlines ethical debates regarding their use (particularly in light of past and current British Psychological Society guidelines). To demonstrate how such data can be used in critical psychology I provide an illustrative example of a discursive analysis of a single online discussion thread taken from a diabetes newsgroup that examines anti-social online behaviours in the form of “trolling,” “flaming,” and heterosexism.
I have sometimes wondered where a thread went when it was moved to the Lounge, but now, I automatically look in every day. For one thing, there is more likely to be humour. — Vera Mont
This topic stems from the recently concluded literary activity.
I'm curious what people's writing process is. Mine may be unusual. — hypericin
How do you write? — hypericin
How do you write? — hypericin
To start with, I suspect it comes down to each writer's practiced instincts for exploring ambiguity and for clarifying in spite of ambiguity, respectively.This question works for both literary and philosophical 'pieces'. The way we think. [ ... ] Is it down to personality? Or what? — Amity
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m47A0AmqxQEIris Murdoch's differentiation of philosophical texts and literary texts, and the different implications for reading them ... — 180 Proof
To start with, I suspect it comes down to each writer's practiced instincts for exploring ambiguity and for clarifying in spite of ambiguity, respectively. — 180 Proof
My writing process is based on perseverance. — javi2541997
Yes, I think that's vital. Sometimes it doesn't flow - or even trickle; sometimes you have to wring out every word as from a heavy wet towel. — Vera Mont
Perseverance is not about success for me. It's a life-vest: I have to get something written every day, good, bad or lackluster - and it may well end up deleted on the next good day - simply in order to keep doing it. — Vera Mont
I can give one tiny piece of general advice: It you want to improve your description, read Bradbury. When I was 19, my first chief tech gave me an old paperback copy of Dandelion Wine. It was a revelation worthy of a fanfare by the celestial brass. I still consider him the grand master of evocative description. — Vera Mont
Iris Murdoch's differentiation of philosophical texts and literary texts, and the different implications for reading them ...
— 180 Proof
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m47A0AmqxQE — 180 Proof
[...] exploring ambiguity and for clarifying in spite of ambiguity, respectively. — 180 Proof
The flow seems to come and go. But it is more likely to arise if you already have the practice and experience of regular writing. No matter whether it's perfect - it's vital. A physical and mental necessity. — Amity
Yet, I love to write. Whenever I finish a paragraph, although it can be mediocre, I feel good with myself. — javi2541997
The true test is in the doing. Be pragmatic, then. If you're not happy with the way your writing has gone, you might give my method a try.
If you do, I think you might easily find a new definition for Work.
And the word is LOVE.
Your mind is a good one and you share your thoughts generously. Thank you. — Amity
I like to see that you are still flowing around TPF - although the literary contest finished a month ago - because you often leave TPF for months.. — javi2541997
Yes – the late poet and critic (and friend in my bohemian 20s) Hayden Carruth had once described jazz that way. My daily habit of four-plus decades has also been, as @Vera Mont says, "my life-vest" despite drowning once or thrice.Discipline and letting go. — Amity
Did you listen to all five parts (video clips) of the interview? I've always admired her thinking and her essays but not so much her fiction even though Iris Murdoch was a fine novelist.The interview is fascinating. — Amity
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.