Random Thoughts Ep. 1

Why yes, I did in fact pilfer these thoughts from external sources. If I pee far it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants. Or something. And yes, I also stole that saying from... look, what do you care? It's not like I'm getting some kind of grand recognition for this post, so lay off.

                                

I was watching a video where a theoretical physicist was analyzing physics-related scenes from movies recently. One of the scenes discussed was the wormhole bit from Contact, and the physicist in question had a few comments on Contact and Carl Sagan in general. He mentioned that because Carl Sagan was in fact a physicist himself, he went looking for an actual theoretical mechanism that would allow faster than light travel across the galaxy. The wormhole he presented existed purely for narrative purposes, but simply by putting that in his book (and later movie) Carl Sagan basically nerd sniped an entire generation of physicists, who have since spent far more time than they probably otherwise would have trying to prove/disprove the whole concept as he presented it. I'm not totally sure why, but the thought of a work of fiction inadvertently nerd-sniping a generation of physicists really makes me chuckle.

                                

I listen to a podcast about writing called Writing Excuses hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and a few other authors I've never read anything from (Dan Wells and Mary Robinette Kowal). During their most recent episode they were talking about the journey they have taken themselves, as authors, to get to where they are now where writing characters is concerned. As backstory for the scene I'm about to transcribe for you, I'll point out that Howard Tayler is known for writing a webcomic called Schlock Mercenary, which is hardly ever deep, meaningful, or philosophical in any way. It's mostly just funny, but it's been running daily strips for 18 years, which makes it pretty successful, and his insights on humor and marketing are primarily why he's on the podcast.

Well, that and this little exchange that happened after Howard told his sorta depressing journey writing characters over the years.

DAN: That story was sadder than I was expecting.

BRANDON: You’re supposed to be the funny one!

HOWARD: Any story you tell about your journey, if it does not reflect back and have some regret in it, you’ve lied! There are regrets, we’ve done things wrong, we get things wrong all the time. Recently I wrote an argument... (between two characters in which one of them apologized, and fan feedback was really positive)

Cont: ...When I wrote it I was crying the whole time because I had learned how to feel what that character was feeling and talk my way out of it in ways that explored all of the mistakes that he now recognized he was making, and that was really difficult writing to do! And it was fun to get emails that said “hey yeah, you’re awesome,” but it hurts to recognize that I could not have reached that point without having made some of that character’s exact mistakes and failed to appropriately apologize for them.

BRANDON: You know, every once in a while you remind us why we have you on the podcast.

HOWARD: And those moments fill me with regret!

The idea that any honest story you tell about getting to where you are will have some regret in it rings particularly true for me lately, as I look back on several regrets I have. The reassurance that this is a part of the journey and not a destination struck me. As did the fact that that particularly deep and unique insight was coming from Howard Tayler of all people.