Between the Lines

I’ve been having a wayward, yet enjoyable argument with my brother, of late, concerning the viewpoint of Don Quixote. I have read (most) of the book, while he looked up someone’s opinion on Wikipedia and regurgitated it as some kind of informed discussion. You obviously know where I put my jelly beans. Yes. In my own opinion.

That being said, he believes the Don is all about running away from his problems, making something larger than what it is to make it seem much more important, and being incredibly depressed to his lot in life when he’s in some of his more lucid states.

I believe the Don never runs away from his problems (albeit, he runs from what society wants him to be: heavy-handed, rich, proper, with his head out of the clouds), slowly and steadily gains a following of people who begin to understand his dream, and sees an overall boring, backward society (and world) as an incredible, powerful place to live.

I’m bringing this to light because I believe both sides are justifiable, arguable ones. Has anyone else read Don Quixote? I’m inclined to believe those who see society as a helpful, nurturing thing will tend to believe Don Quixote as delusional and in denial, while those who see society as a status quo and statistics will tend to believe Quixote is recreating the world in a much more meaningful way.

Now, my brother says that everything the Don sees is fantastical and delusional, and this frustrates me because he clearly didn’t read the book; the Don rarely turned something into a fantastical thing, and tended to refer more to the person’s personality more than the person’s ability. People who are there to run him out of his unpaid-for bed tend to be brigands, and women of impeccable look tend to be princesses.

To the contrary, he fought for his lady for a long while, even though he had never met her, and had no idea what she looked like. When they finally met, he found her the most beautiful thing in the world, even though she was worn by years of working in the field, wore rags, and was overall a negative thing to look at. He saw the inner beauty–not the fantastical, let’s-be-royalty-for-the-day beauty.

He would often do things like attack the captors of abused criminals in chains, usually being beaten to within an inch of his life. His actions would usually come back to haunt him, with the criminals returning to rob him blind at a later date. Did he run from his problems? No. Did he create many problems? Yes.

Quixote was a revolutionary without a revolution. He fought for a more organized society that disregarded caste and wealth, and he saw all people through the same lens. Furthermore, he slowly gained followers not because he turned everything into a fantasy, but because he began convincing them he saw a better life–and that Dulcinea would reward them. He had become the purveyor of fine romance, of masculine strength and humilty, a bard and a storyteller, all the while walking a road only he could see.

I do not believe he ever was in denial, in spite of what many of the characters–and the writer of that Wiki–said. I believe he cut through the outer shell, the physical. He was rarely safe, spoke out of turn often, and was confused quite often as well. He was usually enraged by his society’s lack of understanding, and their disbelief, and sometimes grew depressed and saddened by how simple everyone around him lived.

But this is my argument. I can’t speak on Brian’s behalf because I’m certain he’d pick my word choice apart, and create an anthill out of a mountain (read: I might put words in his mouth), so I won’t write of it.

I’m fairly certain most of you have never even picked up the complicated, convoluted book, much less read more than two chapters. And I understand that. Regardless, I’d like your opinions. ~x

Always serves to inspire me.

The fantasy bug is, I think, once more making a comeback to the mainstream. With the serialization of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, the marketing of the Harry Potter series, and even the (unwarranted) success of Paolini’s Eragon, American culture is beginning to embrace the power of the fantastic.

The latest fantastic explosion is of course Avatar, and its 3D syrup-covered pancake success. Most everyone that has seen it said the reason for seeing it was the 3D of it, and even the most avid fantasy reader has understood the storyline was crap. It’s not for movies to make good storylines, though. Movies are for visuals. Just like food is primarily for taste–you can make it look as nice as ever, but one bite sells or fails it. Books are primarily for characterization and plot. Movies are for scenery and extravagance, external characterization if warranted. I’m not talking about works of literary merit, or movies of literary merit, or foods of… literary merit. I’m talking about the pop culture need-as-it-may sensationalism.

Nuances are too nuanced. Anyway. I digress.

I’m incredibly inspired by the use of the universe as a staging ground for a resurgence of interest. As ever, fantasy is growing into a beautiful and incredibly developed niche – much as Noir and romance had its place, its turn, now so does fantasy.

I’m loving what I’m seeing.

Wrote around fifteen pages in P1 today. I’ll probably write around five more before I find my way to sleep. Finally, this story has the second layer being added: the real. Although it isn’t finished with its first layer, the second layer is coming along quite nicely. The two “cults,” one religious and one corporate (not at all different from each other) are finally in place, with champions from both. Okembe is finally doing something behind the scenes. I don’t know why it was impossible for me to write these aspects in the first place. I believe it’s because I was too anchored in the ethereal and metaphysical to be able to write of the real. The moment I began writing of it, it turned into something meta.

I have my lack of internet connection to thank for my recent writing splurge (currently running on “wireless broadband USB plugin power”). Landlord promises a phone jack by Monday noon. Which is cool. He also took a bit off my rent as recompense.

If Cygnus gets the job she has an interview for, we will finally both have weekends off. And an opportunity to go to Six Flags. And see family in StL. And perhaps even go camping.

My client for P2 hasn’t been in communication with me much; it’s been about a month since we talked about the project. I’ve been working on it, off and on, in the meantime, constantly laying out the groundwork for everything. But I do need direction. I hope he gets back with me soon. He had been hospitalized with a viral sickness of some kind, and was given military leave to the US for a few weeks.

Went to Taste of Champaign last weekend with coworker Whitney and her son Malcolm. He’s an incredibly intelligent boy. The Taste was pretty much a drag, given the humidity and the fact I didn’t bring any actual cash to the event. Vendors can’t make change with a credit card. Heh. It went well, although Whitney seemed awkward. She likes Bethany, and I hope she doesn’t get fired. It seems she’s got some serious challenges going on in her life. Eh. It’s nice to have friends around here; LIKE PAUL! hahaha Hopefully he still reads this.

Well. I’m back to writing. I might dedicate this book to Don Quixote. It seems fitting. “To Don Quixote, for his dream was a possible one.” hahaha

Oi.

Not really.

SO!

While everyone else is posting their New Year’s Resolutions (I never got that tradition/fad, by the way. It’s like a diet of the mind? Why does the new year mean changing something you don’t change normally? If I find something I want to change, I do it. I don’t wait until January… Heh. But to each their own!), I will be posting every writing project I was dedicated to right here. I will give a brief description of what it is, and how far I got before I stopped working on it.

2000: Mindgames. Young adult. A harrowing story about five high school strangers who have to work together to survive the terrors of their worst nightmares. Literally. This was my Eragon-era book. Status: Finished, rough draft. 158 pages.

2001: The Reverberant. High Fantasy. A seven book series of a cast of nearly 80 characters leading up to the fall of a meteor to the planet Lorcalon. Develops the legend of the seven-stoned Reverberant, a mysterious symbol that not even the oldest scholars remember where it came from. Consists of an entire world and fourteen sentient races. Breakdown of individual books:

One the Thistle - Standard format Old Wizard picks up an Apprentice and goes on a Relic Quest. The wizard has alzheimer’s, they pick up some more wanderers on the way due to the destruction of the apprentice’s town, and they are in charge of a five year old child who can read ley lines. They are tracked (and hounded) by an assassin versed in the arts of necromancy. Status: 2/3 finished.
Two the Whistle – Surrounds the exodus of six Slethe, a magical race that undergo a physical change around when they turn sixteen years of age. Armies lay waste to the countryside behind them, and they trek from town to town trying to make it to their Mecca, The Gathering, an island far to the south. Of course, all of them are near sixteen years of age, and one-by-one they change into incredible creatures. Status: Halfway finished.
Three the Candle – Chronicles the sixth voyage of The Blue Life, a nautical ship that converts into a lighthouse when the winter hits the far south. They find ruins in the deep sea that has never been accounted for. Of course, several on board have nefarious plans, and several on board weren’t supposed to come at all… Status: Four chapters finished.
Four the Cradle – Focuses on the warrior caste of Noben, a nomadic dragon-esque race that migrates across the unforgiving wastelands in search of food and shelter. A message was intercepted to find their way to their ancestral homeland; great forces are at work, and the queen is summoned to power. Status: Two chapters finished.
Five the nightsurge – The book on hunting demons. When a badly beaten and abused Slethe slave falls into her sixteen year old change a month ahead of time, the castle she lives in becomes a castle of nightmare. When all of the castle falls into her projected and continual nightmare, its inhabitants begin to die. It’s up to a Troglin demon hunter to enter and end the nightmare, one way or another. Status: Layout only finished.
Six the Sunscourge – The book on a town reviving a dead language. While debating the implifications of speaking/learning a dead language, the Reverberant prophecy is found. A boy dies and the town becomes under seige. The city falls, and the survivors must find a way to take it back. With the help of the dead language as communication, they build an archaic weapon from its words. Status: Layout only finished.
Seven Setter – Bringing the previous six books together, chronicles the crash of the meteor, the great wars, and the appearance of a strange boy with a flying machine strapped to his back who finds out he’s the god of the Reverberant prophecy. Status: First two chapters only.

2003: Inhabitability: Of the Human and Humanity. Science Fiction. Book one of two focuses on a boy on Earth who finds out his planet is about to be destroyed by a civilization of aliens. On the positive side, he is given the opportunity to join the alien race. He’s stuck with a dilemma: die with honor beside all those he has grown to love and cherish, or watch it all burn beside a race of great creatures. He chooses to join the aliens’ side. The more he knows about them, though, the less he feels his decision was the better one. Status: Ten chapters from finished.

2005: Infallibility: Of the Human and the Humane. Science Fiction. Book two delves into the boy’s punishment for returning to Earth to try and save his family. His mind is wiped clean, and he is given a second chance; only he doesn’t know it. Walking around stunned on a commerce ship, he slowly begins to realize the truth. After meeting another human, they mistakenly decide they must find a way to get back to Earth, a planet they don’t know was destroyed. A space chase ensues only for the boy to find his father and learn the truth. They must try and escape the civilization in a seed ship–capable of cultivating life on a new planet–and a prototype space fighter through a black hole. Status: First four chapters, excerpts finished only.

2007: The Acorn King. Fantasy? A novel that surrounds the death of a mother, and the two sons’ reaction to it. One son is a child of war, while the other pursues academia; both are pulled inextricably into a complex web of myth, legend, politics, and intrigue, only to find secrets they couldn’t dream possible. Status: Rough draft and first rewrite/edit finished. 83k.

2008: i, pawn dreamer, stare. Horror. A book that envelopes the underlying connection between seven seemingly unrelated people. Haley thinks she was once a pile of organs, James is running from a past that never leaves, Darion is kidnapped and thrown into sleep deprivation, Melody must leave her bubble of comfort and friends behind, Soren is a drifter with a laptop and incredible insight, Catherine must depend on a seemingly godly person, and Okembe must hold his company and himself together in spite of his obsessive-compulsive needs. And beneath the characters, a dramatic comedy unfolds between chess pieces and two cults that have remained unnamed for a very long time. Status: twenty pages from rough draft finished.

2009: Worldtree. Modern Fantasy. A boy is accepted into one of the seven legendary schools of magic. This book follows his footsteps into the hallowed halls and all the great creations man has made due to the Library of Alexandria not burning. Oh, and the planet is host to eight trees that spread two miles into the sky that have been there since before man existed. Status: Layout, first chapter finished only.

2009: Philosophy of Unlife (working title). Fantasy play. Two brothers find themselves on a deserted island. After spending much time trying to find out how to get back to the mainland, they are given a chance to escape, only to find the mainland has been irreparably changed into a thing of horror. They must change their survival tact in order to escape the seemingly random infestation of undead, and survivors are just as apt to kill them as those who did not. Status: Two chapters and layout finished.

Of course, include with this a staggering list of poetry.

I’m loving the thought of re-igniting my old writing flame; the Chosen story that is. I believe they’d fit in perfectly with the Worldtree scenario, and it’d be a great introduction to the world at large. How better to pull the reader in than through the eyes of high school kids looking to make a difference in the world? I mean, we were all there at some point or another. Right? Or was it just me?

So… John, Marcus, Delphi, Renie, and Tym will all be joining the cast of Worldtree, and although it’ll take some serious retconning (even if it’s not canon… I have to redo the Mindgames book), I’ll be removing the seemingly omniscient Orbs of the fourth dimension and placing aspects of the school in their place. Ajax will still be present. And the machines will still be present.

I’m kinda excited. At the same time, I really, really don’t have time to be writing on this. Right now or in the near future. I have to get my job off the ground, continue working at Dick’s, take school classes, and pray to God I can get something published. You know. Like a book.

Acorn King OR i, pawn dreamer, stare.

Whatev. Anyway. Off to find family and turkey.

As far as I can see… More of the same? Hahaha

I believe I understand what my brother is saying, now. In using so many symbols, they become useless in their meanings. It isn’t such a difficult thing for me to wrap my head around, considering I’ve been trying to figure out how to make the most meaning with the fewest words. In writing a poem, for instance, it works beautifully. In writing a novel, on the other hand, such high intensity for such a long time desensitizes the reader, and the thousands of meanings simply disappear into some dull grey sludge that end up, once more, without a solid meaning.

The intent for Project One was to have a novel where the reader connected the dots of meaning instead of the writer telling the story. In this I believe I succeeded; the book is full of stories explaining a story. Stories explaining stories explaining stories until it becomes a tree with many branches. It is not just one branch, as my brother has stated, and it is frustrating for him, a logical and technical reader, because he does not know where to attribute value. It makes a whole lot of sense.

So in stating this, after I finish with Project One, I will be working back toward removing the branches of a story until it is simply a trunk. Most likely it will be something involving a deserted island, a Worldtree, or a boy with anthropomorphic intent.