If a story was somewhat entertaining but it had no real plot or direction, would that bother you as a reader?
Would you like a character who didn’t want anything, had no goals, and essentially existed for the sake of avoiding conflicts of all kinds?
If some of the subjects a book covered were silence, solitude, and boredom, I mean, really analyzing the need to be entertained at all times, would that ever interest you as a reader?
I’m just curious. . .
I dunno. I like Russian writers, and I could do a damned complete summary of Brothers Karamazov on 1 page of 12 font paper. Heck, I can do it in a few sentences: There is a God! There is no God! Let’s drink some Vodka! There is a God! There is no God! Let’s drink some Vodka! There is no God! There is a God! There is no God!" For Crime and Punishment replace ‘God’ with ‘know’ and ‘is’ with ‘know’ and ‘is no’ with ‘don’t’. Oh, and end on, There is a God, with the translation.
Cancer ward and War and Peace are a little tougher, but they both still have a lot of empty space.
Heck, Daggerfall and Morrowind are two of my favourite games ever, and I’ve never completed their main quests. And I like Maxis games.
yeah, I was wondering because it seems like a lot of stories these days involve a murder and some dectective and the whole thing revolves around who-dunnit.
I agree that art should produce order out of chaos, but it seems like stories these days are built on white lies, and make our real lives empty in comparision.
If art imitates life, then why are only extraordinary stories condsidered for publication.
Why cant someone get bored during a scene? Or talk non-sense? Or just cough without foreshadowing a death to occur later?
beats me, why not.
IMO, if the “low level” goings-on are entertaining enough, then you can get away with missing out “high level” direction. However, I suspect that for most people a plot is essential to maintain their interest.
You should read Bukowski the laureate of ennui, general malaise, the everyday, the mundane, the sublime indifference of life and the human.
boy meets girl. boy rescues world with girl, boy and girl fight and hate each other, boy and girl discover they love each other.
This is the bread of stories. The filling/meat for the bread is the details.
Darn near everybook I own has a variation of the above, From Westerns to novels to SciFi to even biographies. All except text books but, no that too has variations of heros and evildoers.
No, no romance books in my library. They are evil, false and icky.
I can get into books that you describe Kev.
What I am waiting for is a book that has nothing to do with humanity, has only alien perspectives and alien characters with alien problems. This scenario could be a blockbuster for those of us that read way too much. I would write it but, then I would not be able to enjoy reading it if I wrote it. It really would not be to hard for someone who can think outside the box. Any takers? Come on folks simple guidline, Stay away from the normal bread of stories. And dear God in heaven, No damn heroes or evildoers.
It depends entirely on the sort of book I was expecting it to be.
Yes, I’d like the character, but it’d get boring if there was no deviation from this. There would have to be some realisation about this avoiding of conflicts, and therefore some development whereby the character has to vanquish the conflict within. Or something.
Briefly, yes. Not for the length of a whole novel.
I’m not a fan of character-led fiction in my own writing. My characters are mainly illustrated through action and implication. I have little time for long confessionals or other basic devices for just telling the reader what I want them to know. That’s for soap operas, airport novels, that sort of thing.
And believe me, the world is full of young writers writing about boredom because they lack the imagination to write about stuff that really interests them, so the chances of getting such material published are very slim.
If you want my advice, which you probably don’t, but I’ll give it to you anyway, is give up on any ambitions you might have to write a full length novel based around the irony of trying to entertain the writer despite the principle theme being boredom. Trim the idea down to a short story, really throw everything you’ve got at a smaller piece, and you’ll probably produce something that you’re proud of more quickly.
thank you for the advice. A lot of stories I write deal with inner conflict. But after reading your post, I’ve decided “trim those ideas” down. I’d be interested in reading the type of stories that you write. Have you posted any?
This is the opening of a short story set in Pamplona that I posted a little while back
ilovephilosophy.com/phpbb/vi … p?t=154099
These are three things that I put up on Symposia:
journal.ilovephilosophy.com/Arti … t-Three/22
journal.ilovephilosophy.com/Article/MWT/21
I’m interested in the overall theme and symbolism of the stories. Froyden psychoanalytical 100-piece puzzle type short stories.
Which stories?
the ones I read.
recently it was “Among The Dangs” by George P. Elliot and “A Mother’s Tale” by James Agee. They had the same themes, but I think “A Mother’s Tale” is the best short story I’ve read in a while.