Gozer from Ghostbusters
Curious idea, but I might be scheduling this on a rough day. One reason is because of the 35th year of me. The other is because it’s still Spring Break for the munchkin, so I might not be near the computer that often. Anyway, I really wanted to run with this and see what happens.
I’ve been watching ‘Once Upon a Time’ and the current plot involves looking for ‘The Author’ that can alter endings or something. This got me thinking about Windemere and if it really exists. Hear me out on the following question:
If the fantasy worlds we write about exist in another dimension, is the author the creator or a conduit?
I’ve written a few of my own ideas and erased them because I go in circles. The idea that I’m mentally jacked into another dimension is odd. Deciding if I’m the one controlling/altering it or simply the one reporting it is impossible to figure out. Difficult enough to wrap my mind around the overall concept. In fact, I’m sure many people are already rolling their eyes and the absurdity.
Yet, many authors talk about these fictional characters like they truly exist and think about them long after the story is done. Residual connection or subconsciously checking in on our creations? What about authors that write a series and seem to never let it go? Have they become trapped in the connection without realizing it? All of this is just whimsical wanderings of the mind, but it is something I think about a lot.
I mean, how much influence do I have over Windemere if it exists out there? Is this why I sometimes feel like the characters are more in charge than me? Would I ever be able to go there like mentally after I die? I can go on with these questions until my ears bleed. So I’ll end on one more:
What if there’s an author in another world that’s writing about us? Who in this world would be the main characters and how much influence would this powerful being have over the events? That’s actually kind of scary from the ‘ants’ point of view.
Legends of Windemere 
I love this. It could almost be a theme for one of your short stories. I went back to follow comments, but it seems that post disappeared. I’m interested in the advice you received. Also, I checked in with Lisa the robot and she thinks you’re onto something here.
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I had a trilogy planned where an author’s creations entered the real world after he received a head injury. Either that or he was tricked into unleashing them and a cult corrupted them. It was really an excuse for me to play around with an evil Nyx or evil Luke. Never got out of the idea stage there.
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Sounds pretty cool. Sell it right and the reader will wonder which perception is correct.
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True. Guess I’ll keep it on the back burner.
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My first thought was conduit because it sometimes feels like there’s somebody else taking over when my pen touches the page – like I’m merely a vessel for my characters. But I think we have to be a little of both to have a connection in the first time. In a lot of ways our characters do exist, just not on the physical plane – an alternative dimension – that I can get behind! It’s a subject I enjoy, hence writing The Fifth Watcher! Interesting questions you posed – got the old grey matter working. Happy Birthday. I hope you enjoy your day 🙂
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Thanks. I’m actually coming to the end of my energy and mental acuity. Good way of explaining the conduit sensation.
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This was the basis for an episode of Stargate Atlantis. Two characters thought they were playing an intricate game. It turns out they were controlling the actions of a small world. Very interesting concept.
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I think I’ve heard of that scenario in other shows and books. Seems fairly common.
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I believe that is also the tactic written in “Enders Game”, where the higher-ups tricked the kid to lead a real invasion by telling him the battles were just exercises. Cool concept, all the same!
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Yeah. It’s funny how reading that book in high school and again as an adult brought a new insight into it. I kind of changed sides on the whole thing.
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If it’s any consolation, this is a common feeling among writers, I’m sure 🙂
I’ve often joked in my head that I’m the real god of Pearseus, as I can shape everyone’s destiny at a whim. Then, one of my characters steers from the planned path and it’s back to the drawing board. So, it sounds like a pretty accurate analogy…
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It’s funny when I think that way about myself. Because I built free will into the destiny system of Windemere. I wonder if that stemmed from my characters going ‘off script’.
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As I delve into my created world, I think, “Now I know how God feels.” That causes me to take a step back and think about why I’m torturing my characters for the sake of plot. 🙂 It’s nice to know that you’re immersed in your world.
Happy birthday!
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Then you realize if God is the author of our world then he’s just as sadistic as we are. Built in his image? 😛
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Wow…interesting thought…Almost like Jumangee with Robin Williams where it pulls you right into the story 🙂
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Great example. Though I hope my world has fewer creepy, CGI monkeys. 🙂
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Very interesting questions. I suppose in our world we might consider God as the author and we are just characters in his novel/play, that is if one believes in a higher power.
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True. Though I’ve often wondered if we’re a Nexus world. So many other tales end up here while most other worlds we talk about don’t have that. What if each of us is a God to a world that we don’t even know about? Kind of scary question about our God being the oblivious member of another Nexus world.
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I suppose that anything is possible. Since we don’t know what lies beyond what our 5 senses can recognize, why couldn’t we be God to worlds we don’t know about. Interesting. 🙂
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Very well said. Though I have to admit that I’ve been raised not to think such lofty thoughts. 😛
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Very interesting question, but for me, I tend to cling to the “scary” part more. There is so many possibilities and possible thingies that it often frightens me to think about it in that way. I have seen the episode of Once Upon A Time and I am really curios to see how they will put the whole idea in motion.
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I’m curious about it too. As far as a fear of the possibilities, I just pick one and smile about it. 🙂
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I’ve thought about this a lot myself. It’s a very intriguing idea.
Happy Birthday :-D.
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Thanks. It does make me fear that my characters will visit me and voice their complaints. 😀
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I WISH my characters would visit… but complaints? Not so much…
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Happy birthday toooo youuuuuuu
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Thanks. 🙂
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OMG! I love this! Why not? I feel the same way with my Swamp Fairies. We create a reality in our own minds. These creations will always be part of us. Happy Birthday friend! ❤
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Thanks. Good point that they will always be a part of us. Like more advanced dreams, I guess.
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…Or our creative consciousness becomes the new reality. 😊
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Interesting. A dream turns into a reality.
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I can tell you what the characters in some of my stories believe about this general topic:
There is more than one universe. (In Kyre, the city one of my protagonists is from, they KNOW this to be true because a few of their own people have traveled to the ‘universe next door,’ and one time they were invaded by ‘bad neighbors.’) Some people can, from time to time, see things that happen in other universes. Most of them never realize that what they’re seeing is real, and most of them don’t share what they see by telling friends or writing it down or making pictures of it or whatever. There’s a folktale told in Kyre about a person who made pictures of the things he dreamed happening elsewhere. People hearing the folktale are meant to feel sorry for this individual, because although he saw many things, he was powerless to do anything but watch. Only those people IN a situation can affect its outcome, as the ‘moral of the story’ goes. Storytellers, they believe, are observers and reporters, NOT gods controlling the world and the people in it. (And I really need to work out enough of the language spoken in Kyre so I can come up with the ‘original’ version of the popular expression which refers to that folktale, and not just the English translation of it.)
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That sounds a lot like what Once Upon a Time is doing. The author is coming off as someone who is only allowed to watch and record. For some situations that could be a real curse.
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I’m not familiar with Once Upon a Time, but that sounds interesting.
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It’s a fun show. Though I might be biased since I’m an author and always wonder about my characters coming to life.
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This is a great theory. We are the story and we only believe this is real life because the author has written it that way (including us question our lives). Whoa–that’s deep!
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I know. Wonder how we break the 4th wall? Is that what Deja Vu or feeling like we’re being watched is?
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Actually, the Author plotline in Once Upon A Time is kind of irritating me. Especially when they casually mentioned “Walt,” as one of the authors. It just bugs me when any godlike being turns out to be… the author. Gag me.
What I am enjoying is the past history between Malevicent and the Charmings, and of course I want to see Rumple get his come-uppance.
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Yet the author isn’t really a godlike being. He’s only supposed to be an observer who records the events from how they described it. That tells me that there is something bigger than the author.
I’m actually in the opposite camp. Getting tired of nearly every hero and villain have a past with the Charmings. It’s been really bad this season. I can’t think of any character introduced this season that hasn’t had a connection to them. It’s kind of pushed a lot of other characters into the background or out entirely. Reminds me of Dragonball Z where the Saiyan group grew so large that anyone not in that family got retired.
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