ScarletSabre he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Hi all! So I was curious if anyone could give me any feedback or ideas/critisim on an idea that's been rattling around in my head for a while; Bascially the concept is that a people, or more likely a religion encompassing many peoples, in a book would believe that they're in a book. Not that they know that they're in a book, but that they believe that every man's existence is being written by a god, the Author of Fates, and that they exist as both the protagonist of their own lives, and of books being read of their lives as they happen. Being an author would be either very holy, or a profae calling, I can't decide whether they would find the concept of being a god to whatever world someone writes about an honour or a sin... I think this could make for an interesting viewpoint character, as the narrative would have him musing on how he hoped that the reader was enjoying the story of his life, and thanking the author and reader for anything good that happened, as without the author writing it it couldn't happen, and without the reader, nothing could progress. And the inspiration for this idea was the idea of a character, possibly a priest of this religion, in some kind of disaster, a building collapsing on him or someone about to kill him. He would either be pleading aloud or in his mind, screaming to the heavens for the reader to stop turning the page, to stop reading so the world would pause, for the author to not write such a tragic end to him.... and then his story would end. (That last bit was inspired by the cobbler interlude in the Stormlight Archive, where "Experience... ended." ^_^) What do you think? I'm curious about a third person narritive that could slightly interact with the reader in the way a first or second person one could, and about the effect a chapter like the disaster one would have, if the reader would feel guilty for reading onwards and ending the character's life, since if they didn't turn the page and advance the story by reading it he couldn't die, at least in their minds. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkness Ascendant he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Idea wise- quite good. It'd be really trippy, considering you the person who is writing the story, is God, so you wrote the whole thing. Even wrote when the man pleaded to you, so you knew what would happen. What would be more interesting is if they were a group of role-players, which would enhance the whole thing story-wise, and create quite an effective book. Or you could do it as the reader, just reading a book and bringing it to life 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScarletSabre he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 3 minutes ago, Darkness Ascendant said: Idea wise- quite good. It'd be really trippy, considering you the person who is writing the story, is God, so you wrote the whole thing. Even wrote when the man pleaded to you, so you knew what would happen. What would be more interesting is if they were a group of role-players, which would enhance the whole thing story-wise, and create quite an effective book. Or you could do it as the reader, just reading a book and bringing it to life Yeah, it's an idea that kind of messes with your head when you think of it like that, especially if you're the one writing it.... but that's why I like it. ^-^ And yeah, I do a lot of roleplaying, generally DMing and just playing the whole world for whoever I'm playing with, so that tends to be second person writing more than third, which might be why I think I could maybe make it work in this case, and part of my influence on it... The idea of the character pleading to the person reading of his death/despair/torture, and the reader being (hopefully) so hooked they just continue reading, and therefore making more happen, is one that sticks in my mind though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 Would bring up some interesting philosophical points such as the nature of free will or guilt. Can you punish someone for their actions if them performing those actions was in the control of the author rather than the person themselves? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScarletSabre he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Voidus said: Would bring up some interesting philosophical points such as the nature of free will or guilt. Can you punish someone for their actions if them performing those actions was in the control of the author rather than the person themselves? And would the Reader be culpable themselves, either through the bystander effect, or by not intervening to stop the action, by putting the book down and not reading futher? And the importance of the Reader themselves, as without them to read it the story doesn't exist, alá a tree falling in a forest. Oooooooh, that does give me an idea for a conflict... The viewpoint character is put on trial by a corrupt, or zealous member of the religion, on some trumped up charge/conspiracy, and brought before a council/jury. The argument the antagonist would be that there were witnesses to the so called crime, the Readers of our protagonist's life. If the protagonist protests that they don't count, he could be called a heretic and non-beliver, a blasphemer and hypocrite and punished/banished etc for not believing in the tenant that the Readers are real/matter to the story. Edited August 23, 2016 by Rawrbert 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theuntaintedchild he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 You should also have a character in there somewhere who is Stanley Parable-esque in the fact that he is always in first person and doing things you can't stop as the god of writing. Someone who doesn't follow the directions he is given and instead does whatever he pleases. He could be the only character in your novel (I do hope it's big) with absolute free will. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScarletSabre he/him Posted August 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 27 minutes ago, theuntaintedchild said: You should also have a character in there somewhere who is Stanley Parable-esque in the fact that he is always in first person and doing things you can't stop as the god of writing. Someone who doesn't follow the directions he is given and instead does whatever he pleases. He could be the only character in your novel (I do hope it's big) with absolute free will. That's a very interesting concept that I just might play with, though I'm not entirely sure off the top of my head how a character not doing as the narrator in a book says, unless I have a narrator voice rather than a viewpoint... Hmmm.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathoth Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 It would be interesting if one of characters were actually seeing through the forth wall. Jorin went to get a ham sandwhich "But I want cheese." Jorin grumbled at the author. Do you have to argue with everything I write about you? "Do I need to remind you of all the sick crem that you have written so far?" He said to the author in a cold, sarcastic tone. "You are not exactly trustworthy." Look Jorin all fiction is based on conflict, some horrible things need to happen. "You killed Ilma, with hornets!" Look just eat your ham sandwhich and stop arguing! Jorin made a cheese sandwhich. Do you want a T-Rex? Because this is how you get a T-rex. I had way too much fun with that... Anyway the idea that reality is a fictional story is an idea I had since I was a child. Sometimes I wonder if I bore the viewer... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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