The Art Commune Reading Circle
Hello nice friends! If any lurkers are not sure what a reading circle is, here is the original thread: Reading Circles This particular one is centered around stories that may not be easily able ...
Forum Discussion
@AdamsEve1231
I'm curious about human-non-human pairings - how do they start? how do they benefit one another? how do they hinder? how do they overcome obstacles? what makes them work well vs. not so well?
I'm planning to have various human/Sim and alien or supernatural character-pairings in my stories, particularly in the future. For those of you who have already crossed that bridge, thoughts? advice?
I don't know if I have any advice, because I don't consciously plan anything.
I just wanted to write fun little things to go with my Midnight Hollow pics, and everyone was complaining about how dark Midnight Hollow was so I thought it'd be funny to personalize the darkness, and the narrator just appeared.
I don't know about hindering or benefits. My current idea of the story is that the narrator was the only conscious Sim in the game, and the darkness, a conscious bit of the creative ground of all things, and so also a conscious bit of the void that the game is formed out of, is the only other consciousness the narrator had ever encountered. Up until the latest chapter, anyway. ;) So they've only got each other, no matter what.
I'm trying to think of things to say, and I honestly can't. Like I wish I could come up with some grand theory of human and nothuman, but I really can't because my fingers just type words and things just happen.
I guess....hmm, the last chapter you read was Not Quite All There. So what I was about to say would be a spoiler.
Hmmm....
Well, okay, this wouldn't be a spoiler.
I like how the narrator and the darkness start out antagonistic, and then the friendship begins to grow. The darkness really has no idea how to relate to the narrator and at first they are separate and alien to each other, but as time goes on and they spend more time together, they become more comfortable with each other.
I think this bit from Even More Surreal is where the possibility of a friendship begins:
So it's like these two beings who really have no idea how each other works and how to communicate, but they're learning, and the narrator is beginning to care about the feelings of the darkness and to realize that maybe the darkness likes having the narrator around after all. But the narrator isn't sure what to do about that at this point. Thus the silence, and the watching the shadows instead of speaking.
Except, of course, the darkness can hear everything the narrator thinks. ;) But it can't make sense out of what it hears, because it doesn't feel and think the same way the narrator does and it doesn't experience the same reality that the narrator does.
Still though, over time it comes to care for the narrator. Quite a bit.
So I guess here is a bit of a thought:
I think that maybe it should be more than putting Vulcan ears and Klingon forehead ridges on a human actor. Since we're human ourselves, it's probably impossible for us to imagine a consciousness extremely different from ours. But still, I think we're capable of at least imagining a personality that doesn't quite perceive reality the same way we do. I know that plenty of other humans don't perceive reality the same way I do, lol.
I guess it's like the gaps that @CathyTea brought up in the art thread. What are the gaps in the perception and understanding and consciousness and emotions and experiences between the human and the non-human, and what happens in those gaps?
I'm curious about human-non-human pairings - how do they start? how do they benefit one another? how do they hinder? how do they overcome obstacles? what makes them work well vs. not so well?
I'm planning to have various human/Sim and alien or supernatural character-pairings in my stories, particularly in the future. For those of you who have already crossed that bridge, thoughts? advice?
I don't know if I have any advice, because I don't consciously plan anything.
I just wanted to write fun little things to go with my Midnight Hollow pics, and everyone was complaining about how dark Midnight Hollow was so I thought it'd be funny to personalize the darkness, and the narrator just appeared.
I don't know about hindering or benefits. My current idea of the story is that the narrator was the only conscious Sim in the game, and the darkness, a conscious bit of the creative ground of all things, and so also a conscious bit of the void that the game is formed out of, is the only other consciousness the narrator had ever encountered. Up until the latest chapter, anyway. ;) So they've only got each other, no matter what.
I'm trying to think of things to say, and I honestly can't. Like I wish I could come up with some grand theory of human and nothuman, but I really can't because my fingers just type words and things just happen.
I guess....hmm, the last chapter you read was Not Quite All There. So what I was about to say would be a spoiler.
Hmmm....
Well, okay, this wouldn't be a spoiler.
I like how the narrator and the darkness start out antagonistic, and then the friendship begins to grow. The darkness really has no idea how to relate to the narrator and at first they are separate and alien to each other, but as time goes on and they spend more time together, they become more comfortable with each other.
I think this bit from Even More Surreal is where the possibility of a friendship begins:
Then it says the winged kittens survived and made it into this iteration of the universe, and if I am good perhaps it will get me one, if I am so alone and if I do not find the darkness good company.
I suddenly realize that I hurt its feelings and that I should probably say something like “No, you are very good company, and I quite enjoy our little chats and our forays into the spongy greenish blueish space that comes after the universe ends”, but I don’t.
I sit on the bench, and I watch the shadows of the walls lengthen as the sun passes overhead.
So it's like these two beings who really have no idea how each other works and how to communicate, but they're learning, and the narrator is beginning to care about the feelings of the darkness and to realize that maybe the darkness likes having the narrator around after all. But the narrator isn't sure what to do about that at this point. Thus the silence, and the watching the shadows instead of speaking.
Except, of course, the darkness can hear everything the narrator thinks. ;) But it can't make sense out of what it hears, because it doesn't feel and think the same way the narrator does and it doesn't experience the same reality that the narrator does.
Still though, over time it comes to care for the narrator. Quite a bit.
So I guess here is a bit of a thought:
I think that maybe it should be more than putting Vulcan ears and Klingon forehead ridges on a human actor. Since we're human ourselves, it's probably impossible for us to imagine a consciousness extremely different from ours. But still, I think we're capable of at least imagining a personality that doesn't quite perceive reality the same way we do. I know that plenty of other humans don't perceive reality the same way I do, lol.
I guess it's like the gaps that @CathyTea brought up in the art thread. What are the gaps in the perception and understanding and consciousness and emotions and experiences between the human and the non-human, and what happens in those gaps?
