Connie Maheswaran (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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victory_road2020-09-06 01:43 am
conniemaheswaran) wrote in victory_road2020-09-06 01:43 am
video
Hey, everybody! [Connie sits in a hotel room, mildly disheveled-looking, surrounded by coffee cups, and with every surface nearby covered in paper scrawled on with pencil, pen, and glitter marker.
And yet, despite how much of an absolute mess she's made of herself and the hotel, Connie looks the happiest she's been since she woke up from her trip home. Controlling the shakes in her hand, she reaches for a cup of coffee and downs it in one gulp.] So, I know I've been... really absent ever since I woke up from my memory-nap.
The trip home gave me... a lot to think about. [Her eyes dart away from the camera momentarily as she recalls, expression briefly flickering to something more melancholy before naturally drifting towards happy once more.] A lot, a lot. It seriously messed me up, if I'm being honest.
So, like any other angsty teen, I started writing my feelings out.
I... kinda went overboard, though.
And made an entire novel.
It's pretty decent, if I do say so myself. I'm considering sending it to a publisher, even! But I need a few beta readers first, since I've been wrapped up in my own head the entire time I've been writing this and an outside perspective would really help.
Also I need a name. It's under the working title of "Libation" but I'm not too sure about it.
If you want to check it out, I've included a downloadable file! Be warned, it's hefty.
((OOC: Is it necessary to go into such detail about Connie's novel? No. Does it make my point about how long and high-concept it is? Yes. Read if you want, it's a lot.))
[If you're curious enough to check Connie's work, you'll find that hefty doesn't begin to cover it. Over the course of over a million words, the story follows a group of five teenagers with burgeoning psychic powers in the rural town of Red Rise, investigating local mysteries and cryptids while pulling at the strings of a greater conspiracy. The principle cast is Rin, a young trans woman with an odd set of abilities that's later found to be the manipulation of possibilities and bringing them forth into reality, Natali, an easy-going and acerbic aerokinetic somewhat distant from the rest of the group, Lara, a ghost poring over her absent father's arcane tomes in an attempt to find meaning in her own death, Alicia, a psychometric wannabe detective searching for her own deadbeat dad, and Aaron, whose only special power is exceptional emotional stability in comparison to the rest of the group.
The story takes a hard swerve a bit over a hundred thousand words in, from supernatural teen comedy with minor drama and mystery elements to a full portal fantasy when agents from an off-the-books government agency arrive to collect the items the gang has been collecting, revealed to be parts of an arcane computer loaded with a game that sends them into a different dimension. The worldbuliding for the rest of the novel is rich, with no less than three systems of magic (ritualistic, wild, and some odd mix of tarot and card-based battling with elemental combinations), three volatile planets with dozens of different cultures, four different classically elemental moons extending imperialistic and corporate designs over the rest while rotting from the inside and being corrupted by sinister alien forces, six different sapient species with unique histories... the list goes on. And on. And on and on and on and on.
As the kids venture across the planets pursuing their own quests while an ominous apocalypse headed by superpowered undead of players past and their horde of monstrous zombies reanimated by corrupt liquid fate (that looks suspiciously like ink), the story grows feverishly existential, contemplating the meaning, nature, and impact of plot, archetypes, and storytelling as a whole, deconstructing, reconstructing, and demolishing them as characters struggle for agency and narrative control, even stealing the spotlight away from the omniscient narrator to narrate their own stories as they prepare to fight against the final foe. A moment particularly emblematic of this phase of the story is when Rin utilizes the full extent of her natural powers and the Star arcana the game bestowed upon her to condense all possibilities of legendary swords she could've wielded as befitted her role and archetype in the constructed plot of the book into the very act of cutting embodied in the sword Excalibur, which she used to fully sublimate herself into the legend of King Arthur and use Excalibur to cut her way out of reality and into Avalon so she could cut the link of causality between her tortured love interest and her future self, the then-apparent mastermind of events, just as Lara performed a ritual to break the concept of time itself to deal the final blow.
These kinds of shenanigans are typical of the last third of the book.
The overarching plot concerns itself with the impact of August, Rin's love interest who was an original player of the game and attempted to defy the will of the narrative that Rin's previous incarnation and her first love should die to motivate her, until she looped time into such knots that her future self became a slave to the author to fulfill the role of the big bad and continually wipe away, morph, and recycle reality into new incarnations to create a stage and players suitable to the story proper while August fought for the cycle to end while knowing it was inevitable that the script would flip and she'd become that which she battled so desperately against. The very last portion of the book becomes a graphic novel as the gang fights against the author herself, who reveals that her ultimate victory will eventually have to come as the story ends and the characters languish in narrative oblivion... to which Rin replies by cutting off the end of the novel and leaving it open to possibility and interpretation, leaving them to live on in the readers' mind.
It's. A lot. And unfortunately, it is excellently written and executed despite, or perhaps because of, the feverish nature of the story.]
And yet, despite how much of an absolute mess she's made of herself and the hotel, Connie looks the happiest she's been since she woke up from her trip home. Controlling the shakes in her hand, she reaches for a cup of coffee and downs it in one gulp.] So, I know I've been... really absent ever since I woke up from my memory-nap.
The trip home gave me... a lot to think about. [Her eyes dart away from the camera momentarily as she recalls, expression briefly flickering to something more melancholy before naturally drifting towards happy once more.] A lot, a lot. It seriously messed me up, if I'm being honest.
So, like any other angsty teen, I started writing my feelings out.
I... kinda went overboard, though.
And made an entire novel.
It's pretty decent, if I do say so myself. I'm considering sending it to a publisher, even! But I need a few beta readers first, since I've been wrapped up in my own head the entire time I've been writing this and an outside perspective would really help.
Also I need a name. It's under the working title of "Libation" but I'm not too sure about it.
If you want to check it out, I've included a downloadable file! Be warned, it's hefty.
((OOC: Is it necessary to go into such detail about Connie's novel? No. Does it make my point about how long and high-concept it is? Yes. Read if you want, it's a lot.))
[If you're curious enough to check Connie's work, you'll find that hefty doesn't begin to cover it. Over the course of over a million words, the story follows a group of five teenagers with burgeoning psychic powers in the rural town of Red Rise, investigating local mysteries and cryptids while pulling at the strings of a greater conspiracy. The principle cast is Rin, a young trans woman with an odd set of abilities that's later found to be the manipulation of possibilities and bringing them forth into reality, Natali, an easy-going and acerbic aerokinetic somewhat distant from the rest of the group, Lara, a ghost poring over her absent father's arcane tomes in an attempt to find meaning in her own death, Alicia, a psychometric wannabe detective searching for her own deadbeat dad, and Aaron, whose only special power is exceptional emotional stability in comparison to the rest of the group.
The story takes a hard swerve a bit over a hundred thousand words in, from supernatural teen comedy with minor drama and mystery elements to a full portal fantasy when agents from an off-the-books government agency arrive to collect the items the gang has been collecting, revealed to be parts of an arcane computer loaded with a game that sends them into a different dimension. The worldbuliding for the rest of the novel is rich, with no less than three systems of magic (ritualistic, wild, and some odd mix of tarot and card-based battling with elemental combinations), three volatile planets with dozens of different cultures, four different classically elemental moons extending imperialistic and corporate designs over the rest while rotting from the inside and being corrupted by sinister alien forces, six different sapient species with unique histories... the list goes on. And on. And on and on and on and on.
As the kids venture across the planets pursuing their own quests while an ominous apocalypse headed by superpowered undead of players past and their horde of monstrous zombies reanimated by corrupt liquid fate (that looks suspiciously like ink), the story grows feverishly existential, contemplating the meaning, nature, and impact of plot, archetypes, and storytelling as a whole, deconstructing, reconstructing, and demolishing them as characters struggle for agency and narrative control, even stealing the spotlight away from the omniscient narrator to narrate their own stories as they prepare to fight against the final foe. A moment particularly emblematic of this phase of the story is when Rin utilizes the full extent of her natural powers and the Star arcana the game bestowed upon her to condense all possibilities of legendary swords she could've wielded as befitted her role and archetype in the constructed plot of the book into the very act of cutting embodied in the sword Excalibur, which she used to fully sublimate herself into the legend of King Arthur and use Excalibur to cut her way out of reality and into Avalon so she could cut the link of causality between her tortured love interest and her future self, the then-apparent mastermind of events, just as Lara performed a ritual to break the concept of time itself to deal the final blow.
These kinds of shenanigans are typical of the last third of the book.
The overarching plot concerns itself with the impact of August, Rin's love interest who was an original player of the game and attempted to defy the will of the narrative that Rin's previous incarnation and her first love should die to motivate her, until she looped time into such knots that her future self became a slave to the author to fulfill the role of the big bad and continually wipe away, morph, and recycle reality into new incarnations to create a stage and players suitable to the story proper while August fought for the cycle to end while knowing it was inevitable that the script would flip and she'd become that which she battled so desperately against. The very last portion of the book becomes a graphic novel as the gang fights against the author herself, who reveals that her ultimate victory will eventually have to come as the story ends and the characters languish in narrative oblivion... to which Rin replies by cutting off the end of the novel and leaving it open to possibility and interpretation, leaving them to live on in the readers' mind.
It's. A lot. And unfortunately, it is excellently written and executed despite, or perhaps because of, the feverish nature of the story.]
video
I'm still letting it download, but I can definitely take a look. I've got some experience in the writing field, so...
Re: video
[She may still be feeling the effects of all that caffeine.]
no subject
I guess you were feeling really inspired, huh?
no subject
The visit home got me thinking about... a lot of stuff.
I admit, one of my friends also had a huge influence on it. If you've talked to him for any length of time you probably know who I'm talking about.
» video
Where are the pictures?
[You see, someone is still on the Little Goldenrod Books level.]
Re: » video
[Maybe slow down a bit, Connie.]
» video
[Mainly because Sasha doesn't have a clue what a graphic novel is. She just knows that this is a heavy amount of words on her screen, a lot of them she hasn't learned the meaning of yet, and this girl is talking about narrative control and spoilers which just confuse her more.
Reading might be fundamental, but it's also exhausting.]
I have books, but they all have pictures next to the words. The ones that don't have them are... hard.
[Boring too, but Sasha is too polite to say that out loud lest Connie think hers is boring too.]
Re: » video
[There's a look of dawning comprehension on Connie's face.
Then horror.
Then embarrassment.]
I. Did not! Realize you didn't. Have the appropriate reading level!
I'm... not sure this book is something you can tackle just yet.
Um.
Would you... like me to recommend a few picture books to you?
I'm a pretty good tutor, so if you'd like some help...
video
That. Was. Incredible! Where did you get the ideas for all that worldbuilding? And the graphic novel at the end? I was like "oh snap!"
no subject
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You can art!
Can you send me a sample to look over super quick?
[Backdate to: Sep 13th]
Then I spent the night of the eleventh fully submerged in the text for no reason besides the deeply immersive and complex narrative and characters, and spent the morning of the twelfth working on an interpretive illustration of Rin and August hung from each other by rope in a manner compliant with gravity only when one flips the canvas upside-down.
I spend a lot of that time carefully separating each layer and placing it just a pixel off from the previous layer and shading separately with a brush I can replace with the hypercondensed text of the prose itself.
I make a passable attempt to depict a visually-recognisable Excalibur that resembled neither Caledfwlch or Caledscratch, which I accomplish by drawing upon my extensive mental library of anime interpretations, and place this blade in Rin's hands. Rather than severing their mutual noose, however, I cut the image in half along a vertical axis, bifurcating her and August and filling that gap with the text of the final two pages.
On the morning of the 13th, I send it as aposiopesis.png]
public
Two, aposiopesis is a wonderful word and I think I might have another candidate for a title.
Three, the feeling disassociation and disorientation with the trick with the layers is excellent and is really representative of the breakdown of reality in the last act, but I kind of have a criticism of how you use it here: while August and Rin are terrible for each other in a lot of ways, they still end up anchoring each other and are a key part of keeping the other motivated and grounded to keep fighting the narrative. This stylistic flair would be really well suited for a piece about, say, the Ascendancy or even some of the other heroes, but in this specific context I think it muddies the message.
private
about a week after she posts it
no subject
I should honestly take her out on a date or something after being a hermit for, like, a month straight. She deserves something nice.
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And speaking of, next time we're both in Goldenrod I am absolutely taking you on, old man.
no subject
[But he sounds pleased anyway.]