Paths

In life or in story, you have to deal with paths. Sometimes, and if you are either lucky or headed in a popular direction, pathways are pretty plainly laid out. Sometimes it is just a map with no warning of what lies ahead. And sometimes you get to experience what it really menas to create.

I feel like a lot of us hope for luck and popular direction. That what we want is so possible, many have obtained it to the point where things are almost fool proof. That the hero’s journey, or the 3 act outline is there just waiting to be filled in by you. Because that would be the easy thing – to merely contribute presence to the path.

I think a lot of us get maps. We can see the routes and a few obstacles and the re-routing isn’t so bad if it comes up because again, enough have been there and done that to get the message out. It’s reboot energy. Fan fiction that sticks close to the original. No multiverses. Maybe a bend here and there or a new setting but the map is clear. Sherlock always goes up against Moriarty. Captain Kirk is always cool but defiant. Spock, Spocks as only he can.

The creation happens when you stand before the void of your own making because you chose the rare or weird occupation or the story you wanted to form refused to fit perfectly in and around the molds of story that exist. Sure, on some level, all stories are retelling of preexisting paths and maps. Humans are as consistent as we are unique. But even with in that sometimes you camel something. Pieces and elements from genres and paths from established worlds are ripped from the familiar and hodgepodged into something different. It’s a struggle but things take shape. Parts are reworked and redefined until something all yours comes to fruition. A new world of new paths made from old bits, perhaps. But there was no map. There were no paths to it. Just void and the thing that sprung from it.

I have never heard a creator of things and art and of life paths say it was easy. I have often heard them say it was worth it. And those that take established roads or plan best possible routes from the information they have, also tell a good story. Nothing wrong with that.

It is just a matter of which pros you want and which cons you want to deal with.

D. Ondria
04122023