Disjointed nonsense

[nendil]

Are all stories wish-fulfilling self-insertions? It's said in writing advice everywhere that an author should put himself in his character's shoes. Do, then, the characters automatically become some representation of the author?

Surely, out there, there are stories told for the sake of the story, or for the sake of the characters, only. Of course, the readers and the author can get enjoyment out of placing themselves in the characters' situation. But even if a story is told in such a way because the author likes it as such, it doesn't mean he (or the reader) necessarily wants it for himself.

I admit, I'll probably never turn out any "deep" works with "real" artistic merit in my life. Trite and sappy and pandering is all I do, and I guess it could be said that there is some element of fantasy-fulfilment in there, because I do put in my own emotions and desires there.

When I first started drawing, I was perturbed because my pictures didn't have "soul". They were like imitations of anime and manga style--they looked like it, but they didn't have an artist's presence. I don't have that problem now, I've put my soul in my art, but my soul is only so shallow. I'm not going to, and I don't want to, get any closer to the mind an art major, who creates in order to make a statement, whether about some internal message or about the value or boundaries of art itself. I draw to tell a story, or a scene. I write for that too. It's just that I'm too full of the sweet sick stuff.

Oh yeah, finals went well, it seemed. =)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of my main characters have a crappy time. I think they're probably like me in some ways, but what they go through is not what I wish for myself. Maybe something I could see happening to myself if I went to their extreme... does that count?

A couple of my stories I started for "coolness factor". Like Arisova, which is repository for all my spy-fiction related ideas. That's probably where I'm going to channel any Spiral inspiration, too.

There's also a story I have in its most putative stage -- no names yet, even -- that is pulling in all the fantasy coolness like from Slayers and Scrapped Princess.

So I don't know, I have things like that. But I admit that they feel kind of shallow to me. Not any less worth doing from my perspective, but I don't feel like they'll ever reach beyond the level of a well-written fanfic, so to speak. They aren't something I want to deeply explore like Telarin.

But hey, with me, if I finish /anything/ it's worth exalting. :P

When it comes to art, I probably have no feel at all for whether the artist put any emotion into it. I like things because they're pretty, and I want to draw so I can make things cool and pretty as well. Maybe because I come from web design, where you want something that's pleasing to look at, sometimes even visually stunning, but in the end you don't really want people to dwell on it that much -- it needs to be able to slip into the background as well. Then again, I do like to admire every last detail in pictures, ever since Five Star Stories was my first manga, and I knew I only had one chance to read it, so I had to drink it all in before sending it off to Erich.

Well, I'm just babbling now, so I'll stop.

~ Elwen