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Are Narrative Worlds Real? Reflections on Metaphysics

May 22, 2023

Literature, Philosophy

creativity, fiction, literature, metaphysics, philosophy, reality

As a child, whenever I got emotionally affected watching a film or reading a story, my folks would try to console me saying “It’s not real, don’t worry”. That didn’t help at all. To me, narrative worlds were real, more real than reality itself. After all, fiction and reality are not antonyms.

When we talk about the reality of imaginary worlds – narrative worlds, in our case – the discussion seems moot. “Of course narrative worlds are not real”, any random observer would likely utter with – not misplaced – confidence.

After all, when you follow the characters of a video game, you can always save your progress and restore if something goes wrong. Similarly, when you read about a lonely female programmer plagued by indecision, her life never leaves the confines of the novel. You can’t meet that woman, her actions don’t dictate yours and can’t change the world.

Or… can they?

narrative worlds real
Are photos real? Even if they are made “traditionally”, using light passing through a lens (rather than being e.g. a computer render), where do we draw the line between “too much post-production” blurring (no pun intended) the lines between being real and being imaginary? Establishing the reality of narrative worlds faces similar puzzles
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Cathartic Endings in Fiction: How (and When) You Need Them

May 1, 2023

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

creativity, ending, fiction, literature, writing

The ending is perhaps the most crucial part of a novel. The reason is of course its role in tying narratively loose threads and overall rendering the narrative sense-making. Moreover, the narrative ending is what the author leaves the reader with as a last impression. And one of the attributes of this last impression is whether it offers catharsis or not. Inevitably, cathartic endings are an important topic in fiction.

Very generally, catharsis in psychology refers to an experience that allows us to express, face, and understand strong emotions – particularly emotions that are repressed.

With this in mind, then, cathartic endings are endings that release the pent-up pressure the narrative has generated – for affective reasons, of course. For example, imagine a narrative where two people have feelings for each other which they keep a secret, because of social or other reasons, but which they reveal to each other in the finale.

So, ultimately, understanding cathartic endings – their dynamics, how you can structure them, how you can use them – allows you to have maximum control of your narrative endings and thus narrative at large.

cathartic endings
Cathartic endings in fiction work the same way as in life in general: Whenever you release emotional pent-up energy (because you acknowledge, express, or reveal it), the process creates a certain set of associated affective instances, mostly characterized by dynamic (often uncontrollable) emotions, deep reflection, and imaginative states
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Expectations vs Reality, Writer-Style

April 17, 2023

Writing

book, creativity, fiction, literature, social masses, society, writing

So, you too want to “become a writer”, right? You’re in good company! You and another 5 billion people apparently want the same. But this, too, is a club where expectations and reality don’t quite match.

Inspiration for this post came when Alicia, a friend of the blog, shared with me a map that shows what is the dream job of people by location. As you have perhaps guessed it, people from Finland to Algeria and from India to Trinidad & Tobago answered that their dream job is writer. Other popular choices were “pilot” and “influencer” or “youtuber”.

As someone who has experience of… one and a half of those professions, I feel it’s important to talk a bit about the “expectations vs reality” factor of our choices.

The key takeaway here is, we are very often attracted to certain activities and we’d like to make money out of them. That we enjoy doing them is precisely the reason why we should never attempt to bring money into the picture – or, in any case, not so before we fully realize the repercussions of such an action.

expectations vs reality
“You are special, just like everybody else”
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