Thursday, February 18, 2010

Writerly Things

So all of my research (read: blog reading) and my writing is meeting in the middle. I am starting short stories, which I will be seeking to publish after they go through the critique-group ringer. I lover my group, honest, they make me a better writer. But the aim of these short stories is going to be completely different than any I've attempted before. And yet--they could work really well for world building.

Idea: Trace my pseudo-SF world's history which begins with the death of Earth. In short story form, because I'm really a Fantasy writer, and I can only dwell on these depressing science based worlds for so long. But the future world is a bit of a parody of our own, and lets me play with pseudo-academic discourse. The whole thing is fashioned after an idea that the histories of my fantasy world are being translated (and there's an attempt at explaining them, too) by people from a scientific world. Ethnocentrism exudes from the Chontaulleans in their attempt to understand the Yinnians (my fantasy peoples). And at the heart of the debate is the fact that reality is as we see it. But that's big-picture. Small-picture is that as I piece it together and build up the Chontaullean society, there will be many situations for interesting dialogue.

And for the writer, it'll be fun to set up the ultra-rational and hierarchical Chontaull as a satire for the Western World. Take the "we know all" attitude and shove so many holes in it....

Not in a scientific sense, but in the relationships of the many societies I create to play with. I get my kicks watching the products of said societies interact. Yes. Dialogue. Plot. Cultural difference as a tension building device, where both people are right, and are only wrong because they try to force their reality on others and are ignorant of the fact that that is what they are doing. We are trapped in our own perspectives, and good and evil are constructs of these. No one is one or the other, but both. Good intentions lead down dangerous paths sometimes...and everything is about values, beliefs, experiences, etc.

That is why I write, I want to walk these edges and find the answer to human nature in fiction. Ambitious, I know, and improbable. But then, perhaps all I need is to uncover my own perspective to succeed.

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