Castles in the air
I knew a writer who wanted to transition from the technical documents that he wrote to pay his bills to fiction. His vision inspired a whole universe; not one novel but a series. He spent what little free time he had as a single dad and technical writer working on his project.
I admired his dedication and became his sounding board. I listened as he described the story’s plot line. He kept track of the ever-growing number of dates, places, and other facts in his MySQL database.
The more I learned about his sci-fi series, however, the more uneasy I became. In my friend’s vision, the near-future earth was collapsing under the combined weight of climate change and greedy corporations. In the gentlest manner possible I tried to tell him that his scenario was a hackneyed cliché at this point, but my efforts fell on deaf ears. I guessed then that he had cynically calculated his story for a quick sale. My heart sank when I realized that, no, he actually believed his story was unique.
He was my friend and I continued listening to him as he planned his series. Afterall, he was a talented writer and there was a chance, however small, that he might make something.
One thing that bothered me was that despite his considerable work, he’d written little–less than fifty pages. That was worrisome but some writers won’t write a single sentence until the entire plot is outlined. I concluded that my friend is in that category. Besides, he’d only been working on this novel a short time.
That turned out to not be true. When I discovered he’d already worked on his project for several years, I started looking for the exits. I spent my life around writers, musicians, and other artists. There is no group more given to building castles in the air than creatives. Except for a short period when I was young, I’ve stayed clear of fabulists.
The final straw came when my friend decided to learn a programming language. Why? To program the video game that will be licensed from his best-selling novel–his intellectual property. When he asked me to help research the best language for game programming, I begged off and soon disentangled myself from the project.
A lot of people are lazy. My friend isn’t one of them. He’s super busy running down the track to nowhere. The last time I heard from him, he was still working on the video game based on his non-existent novel that he is too busy to write.
Related
3 comments
Leave a Reply
Archives
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
Categories
- aesthetics
- Amusement Park series
- anecdotes
- art boards
- Art history
- Art Museums
- Artists
- Bio
- Books
- cameras
- Cleveland
- computers
- Culture
- current affairs
- Drawings
- etching
- Fiction
- Galleries
- games
- Grumpy review
- How to
- Main Street
- materials
- Movies
- Paintings
- pen and ink
- Photography
- podcast
- Politics
- Reviews
- Shop Talk
- Studio Corner
- thomasparkerhudson.com
- Thumbs-Up-Down
- Tips and Studies
- Turpentine diaries
- Uncategorized
- Vermilion, OH
- video
- war
- writing
- YouTube
Ver nice, excellent!!
Very nice excellent
It surely is a wonderful piece!