I don't know if I can write this...
Jul. 14th, 2011 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsI started writing a story this morning, before work, that got me thinking: can you successfully write a story that completely defies the values you believe in, and mean it?
To give you the heads-up, my lead character, Michael Montreve, is an American who shares two of my strongest values. First, that a commitment to the Jeffersonian notions of sovereign freedom and democracy are tantamount, and that the concepts of noble versus commoner and sole citizenship based on blood or soil are decadent, corrupting, and inhumane. Secondly, that the universe does not and cannot act with either malice or charity. It does not care about us. There is no supernatural out there acting for or against our best interests, and that ultimately all of the universe is amenable to analysis and human understanding.
In order to be true to the story that popped into my head last night, Michael will have to be adamant about these two values-- and will ultimately have to reject them. He will have to accept that he is both tied to his grandmother's land in ways he cannot understand, and that there are forces in the universe greater than his reason.
Huh. 1000 words in and already having doubts. An interesting exercise, no matter what.
To give you the heads-up, my lead character, Michael Montreve, is an American who shares two of my strongest values. First, that a commitment to the Jeffersonian notions of sovereign freedom and democracy are tantamount, and that the concepts of noble versus commoner and sole citizenship based on blood or soil are decadent, corrupting, and inhumane. Secondly, that the universe does not and cannot act with either malice or charity. It does not care about us. There is no supernatural out there acting for or against our best interests, and that ultimately all of the universe is amenable to analysis and human understanding.
In order to be true to the story that popped into my head last night, Michael will have to be adamant about these two values-- and will ultimately have to reject them. He will have to accept that he is both tied to his grandmother's land in ways he cannot understand, and that there are forces in the universe greater than his reason.
Huh. 1000 words in and already having doubts. An interesting exercise, no matter what.
