Home of random thoughts, misguided musings, wicked words and the men who make them.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The Eternal OceanLad

Well, I've been reading Infiniti's posts here and it has reminded me of a space that I rarely visit anymore. A space that I'm hoping a return to graduate school will help me with. Remembering the eve that began in Fell's alluded to in Infiniti's post reminds me of an intellectual thirst and quest of self discovery that I have largely abandoned.

Part of that is good. It did become a bit masturbatory and a lack of total understanding became an excuse to cease progress. Of course, that excuse was systematic of something else but I digress.

First off, let me say that I was skeptical of the re-launch of IRF especially as a blog. The kind of work and thought that I would put here is not necessarily something that I want for general consumption. Generally, if there's something I'm writing that I want people to read, I've been putting it on '’’Effin. I do now see where this site can be valuable for me and I'm guessing it's getting no traffic so I can be less concerned as to what I'm saying here.

Anyhoo, I've had a few conversations recently that have reminded me of Infinity's take on The Eternal Champion. For those of you not aware, the idea is a series of characters that are, in essence the same character and, at least as I read it, in Infiniti's work, that character is an extension or extrapolation of himself.

Quick aside, I just read the latest trade of Powers, one of my very favorite comics and, along with Daredevil Knights, the best work of an excellent comic writer, Brian Michael Bendis. There's a great interview at the end with Bendis and Oemming, the artist. (For those of you who've read the books but not the interview, it's a good read with some interesting takes on process and such. One of the cool fan-boy moments was learning that the early stories were all based on bands and VH-1. Obviously the Super Group thing was The Fugees and the groupie thing came from I'm With The Band but Retro girl was based loosely on Janis Joplin and the Sell Outs story was based on Journey and Styx. Now back to the action) Bendis quotes another writer and says you should always Wright what you are afraid/unwilling to say. I've always looked at that as a key plank under my Meteor concept which in it's current incarnation is really looking at science vs. religion but was originally conceived as a way to talk about race. Of course, neither has to exclude the other.

Before I get to the meat of this. I've been dicking around with Meteor for years. The last few months I've been doing a lot of notes and a lot of voice attempts. I really think it's a great idea and that's a big part of not touching it. I'm afraid that it's such a good idea that I don't want to muck it up. This is something I will overcome/am overcoming.

Now to the eternal champions of Oceanlandia. There are 3 characters that spring to mind. I recently reread a short story I wrote years ago "about" an ill fated dog sledding adventure. I've had several ideas of ways to use it over the years. The first was to go back and "finish" it. Reading it now, A, I don't think it's as good as I once did and B it is so very bleak.

Reading it, the main character's journey is definitely one I felt I was on. That horrid landscape of immense beauty flooded with hopeless despair is one that I feel I've emerged from. It's a bit frightening to read that and realize where my head was a decade ago. Not sure I want to go back to it. Another idea I've had for it is creating a new "character" again, me, but me now. The original journals that made up the sled story would be the journals of this main characters father. I could expand them, more "literal" stuff, more about survival more about landscape.

Anyway, I'm untracking. The point is, at the time, I never realized how much Paolo was me and looking back, it's an interesting mile post on just how much I have changed. It's tough. I often forget that I'm on a journey. I forget that I am progressing. Recently I've slipped a bit into that frigid arctic, rereading that has reminded me to press on, as Paolo did.

The 2 other characters are more obviously mirrors. Meteor and Prince Alfonz. Both are interesting windows into my self image. On one level, they are hideous. Alfonz is a midget. That's not exactly hideous, but it's not high on peoples hottie list. Meteor is a bit more extreme. He is an enormous monster who's horrible visage elicits terror in all who see him, his tremendous mass leaves a wake of destruction where 'err he treads. This is largely how I see myself and looking at these characters and working with them reminds me how ridiculous these self images are.

On the flip side, both characters, internally are paragons of honor, justice and moral fiber. There is a big part of me that believes that. A big part of me that believes that any one who took the time to get past this "wretched" exterior would be taken aback and socked in the jaw by the golden light of goodness that lies beneath the surface. This too is ridiculous, some of my recent behavior and emotional cowardess/cruelty is highlighting this.

As a writer, this presents a choice, an opportunity; the chance to either continue these characters as is, to construct them as an icon, a goal or to imbue them with flaws, to humanize them. Of course, I now also realize it's an opportunity to rectify my own real world behavior, a task far trickier than the fictional equivalent but one I am about to man-up for and take the first decent step on.

S.O.L.

2 Comments:

Blogger SuperOceanLad said...

Well, I'm not sure I righted my recent wrongs, but I made a stab at it, at least stopped hoping it would just disapear.

Yo Joe!

SOL

11:43 PM, February 21, 2006

 
Blogger Elias Infinity said...

I will say this. My constructs gain coherence in retrospect. When I have grown out of that Time I was in when I needed them. I use to be about controling, then discovering, now just living and telling. Just make sure the Fiction never gets in the way of the Truth.

Elias

10:13 AM, February 22, 2006

 

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