[Scraps of Est] In the Coulisse

[Estrellir Konrath]

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The Opposite of Loneliness

“We don't have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I'd say that's how I feel at Yale. How I feel right now. Here. With all of you. In love, impressed, humbled, scared. And we don't have to lose that. We're in this together, 2012. Let's make something happen to this world.”

Those words were written by Marina Keegan, a girl who studied English at Yale, published many promising short stories and essays, graduated at age 22… and died five days later in a car crash. Tragedy aside, I found something in her most famous essay “The Opposite of Loneliness” that resonated and that I wanted to share: the strong will to “make something happen”. The knowledge that we’re all the same, no matter where we went to school or what we do, and that we can do things in this world. Don’t give up on your dreams just because you’re told they won’t pay the bills. Maybe they will one day, you never know! Either way, you have the potential to do something meaningful in this world.

Use it.

(And take a look at her book if you get a chance.)
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[Karin]

Those are wise words indeed! What's the name of the book?

[Estrellir Konrath]

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Unsurprisingly, it's the same as the title essay: The Opposite of Loneliness. Probably should've mentioned that.

Let me know if you like it!
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[Estrellir Konrath]

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Something I found.

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[Estrellir Konrath]

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So I might’ve mentioned in a former scrapbook that yes, every now and then I dream about Miz and its residents. Last night was one of those nights… Given how much I enjoy writing with Thomas Cosa in our Auristics threads (currently We See All), it didn’t come as a surprise that the dream was all about him. In fact I’m not sure if it was really Thomas or possibly his player. Anyway, whoever it was looked a lot like PC Thomas. I won’t say too much, but… it was a nice romantic dream. Really nice and relaxing.

Well done, subconscious. Well done.
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[S'Essy]

Your divination works IRL too? Holy-moly!

[Estrellir Konrath]

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The Hero's Journey

Have you ever heard of the hero's journey theory? Joseph Campbell described it in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces back in 1949, but I only stumbled upon it a few minutes ago in a writing and reading blog I follow. There are many other summaries and graphics floating through the internet. As a fantasy writer and, more importantly, as a fantasy RPer I find this immensely interesting. If you're an ST, you might want to be aware of it (not necessarily follow it) too.

Well, I'm sure many if not most of you know about it, but for those who don't (like me), here's a link to the post which, in my opinion, does a good job explaining the structure in a short and concise way.
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[Gossamer]

Truthfully I find The Heroes Journey a huge troupe turnoff. As soon as I spot it in a new book I'm off to something else. It's so overdone it just makes me cringe.

[Estrellir Konrath]

True. That's why I said people don't have to follow it - but sometimes you have to know the rules before you can break them. I think it helps to be aware of structures you don't necessarily want to copy too.

[Azmere]

Fantastic link, Estrellir.

I always assumed some kind of formula existed for fantasy writers and now I know. It certainly holds value for creating a complete story and will be hard to steer one away from such a format. However, now that I'm aware of the outline, the challenge will be to figure out a way to not conform. thanks for sharing.