What a great personal story, Andrei. I love this, and the honesty.
First up, that passage you posted is pretty damn good, especially for story #1. It's really vivid, plus the ending feels perfect, even without knowledge of the rest of the story. (Personally, I am yet to get to grips with endings. I love the magic of beginnings -- I'm terrified of story endings.)
"I wrote with a fervor I hadn’t thought possible, and at the end was astonished by how a single mental picture could be the catalyst for almost two thousand words of pure fantasy. Two thousand words of stuff that hadn’t existed before I wrote it into being." <-- doesn't this just capture the true magic of writing? Of what it can do and what it's about.
Also, your point about feeling whole. I have been wracked by similar notions of being a scientist (and enjoying that) but not feeling content. There is nothing that gives me that sense of completeness like writing. Joining Substack this year has been a balm in that regard, because even with a single weekly post I get that feeling. I've crafted something, I've put it out there, I haven't *wasted* my time (whatever that means), but have instead done something I can sit and see and put out there. There's a lot of magic in that.
Nathan! Wasn't expecting anyone to rediscover this old post. Glad you enjoyed it. There's a lot to unpack here, and this first post was really difficult to put together. I reread it recently and I think I did a pretty good job of being honest and clear here. I think the key was that I wrote this mostly for my friends (I had about 10 subscribers at the time), and they knew most of the story already. I just wanted to piece it together for them.
One of my favourite hobbys is making puzzles, Lego and whatever kind of construction game I can find! I think it started when I was a little child and my mom bought to my sister and me a game called Exin Castles... As you say, when I'm doing this thing, the time runs very fast and I could keep doing it for hours! The world is apart, is only the puzzle and me, and maybe some good music too.
I love that. I think the immersion is the best part of it. Also, yeah, I used to do Lego a lot in the past, I always loved it. Had lots of sets from different franchises or series, and I also played a lot of the Lego video games, which are kind of the same thing, but not as complex. I don't know what Exin Castles is, but I'm going to Google it. Interesting comment, Sara, thank you!
Ahh, I think I've seen something similar in childhood somewhere, as well. And I can understand your love :) for me, it was mainly action figures when I grew up, and that translated into a love for comics and superhero-themed movies:)
What a great personal story, Andrei. I love this, and the honesty.
First up, that passage you posted is pretty damn good, especially for story #1. It's really vivid, plus the ending feels perfect, even without knowledge of the rest of the story. (Personally, I am yet to get to grips with endings. I love the magic of beginnings -- I'm terrified of story endings.)
"I wrote with a fervor I hadn’t thought possible, and at the end was astonished by how a single mental picture could be the catalyst for almost two thousand words of pure fantasy. Two thousand words of stuff that hadn’t existed before I wrote it into being." <-- doesn't this just capture the true magic of writing? Of what it can do and what it's about.
Also, your point about feeling whole. I have been wracked by similar notions of being a scientist (and enjoying that) but not feeling content. There is nothing that gives me that sense of completeness like writing. Joining Substack this year has been a balm in that regard, because even with a single weekly post I get that feeling. I've crafted something, I've put it out there, I haven't *wasted* my time (whatever that means), but have instead done something I can sit and see and put out there. There's a lot of magic in that.
Nathan! Wasn't expecting anyone to rediscover this old post. Glad you enjoyed it. There's a lot to unpack here, and this first post was really difficult to put together. I reread it recently and I think I did a pretty good job of being honest and clear here. I think the key was that I wrote this mostly for my friends (I had about 10 subscribers at the time), and they knew most of the story already. I just wanted to piece it together for them.
Well, as someone who came to it with zero knowledge, you did an awesome job 😁
One of my favourite hobbys is making puzzles, Lego and whatever kind of construction game I can find! I think it started when I was a little child and my mom bought to my sister and me a game called Exin Castles... As you say, when I'm doing this thing, the time runs very fast and I could keep doing it for hours! The world is apart, is only the puzzle and me, and maybe some good music too.
I love that. I think the immersion is the best part of it. Also, yeah, I used to do Lego a lot in the past, I always loved it. Had lots of sets from different franchises or series, and I also played a lot of the Lego video games, which are kind of the same thing, but not as complex. I don't know what Exin Castles is, but I'm going to Google it. Interesting comment, Sara, thank you!
Well it was a tiles game that was sale here in Spain in the eighties, I've found it in wikipedia https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exin_Castillos
The article is in Spanish, but you can make an idea of what it was.
Maybe that's the reason I love LOTHR now :D
Ahh, I think I've seen something similar in childhood somewhere, as well. And I can understand your love :) for me, it was mainly action figures when I grew up, and that translated into a love for comics and superhero-themed movies:)