Storytelling in Fiction

I love a good book. After cleaning and organizing my house, I actually realized I had somehow acquired so many books over the past year or so that I will need to buy another bookcase, as the one I have is already stuffed full. I love being able to open a book and mentally walk right into a different world. I like to read comedy more than watch it, and I am a sucker for a good who-dun-it, mainly because I like to see if I can spot the foreshadowing before the "who" is unmasked at the end.

I like being able to write stories too; worlds just spinning about in my brain, full of people and relationships and conversations. Being able to write it all out is freeing both mentally and emotionally to me, so most of my stories are for me. There are some worlds, some characters, which I wouldn't mind writing whole novels about and actually publish it, but for now I'm keeping those worlds to myself.

I also love video games. There has been some very well-crafted, fully realized, world building storytelling found in video games both currently and I would say in the past decade. I especially love the ones where you can play the game two different ways; either follow the main story/plot/conceit of the game and get see the world built around you one way, or you can take the time to talk to all the characters, do all the little side-quests, and uncover a completely different way to look at the world you are playing in.

I think the thing I love most about storytelling in fiction is the world building. What is so special about this particular world, this setting, that can draw people in? Of all the infinite possible worlds that one could build, what makes the particular world in that book/game/show the best setting for the characters and storylines? It fascinates me, like discovering a new world every time I open a book or boot up a new video game or watch a new show or movie, and it is in the discovery that we have joy.

So raise a glass for the storytellers; every book, every show, every movie, every video game you and I enjoy would not exist without them. 

A.M.W.

Organization & Order

Today, I feel on top of things. I worked off a lot of stress in my kitchen, between baking, cooking and cleaning. Some days I do wonder if maybe I should open a bakery, but knowing how fickle customers are when it comes to food and such, I don't think I could risk it. Plus, if my stress-reliever became my job, what would I do for stress relief when running a business inevitably becomes stressful?

Being organized is important when looking for work. Keeping a schedule, making sure all the paperwork you need is in order for interviews, checking your wardrobe to make certain that your interview clothes are nicely maintained; it all matters.

When it comes to my home life, I don't think that complete orderliness is the way to go; life is messy and complicated, and sometimes having a little corner of the house that isn't tidy is a good thing. My bookshelves in my personal three bookcase library is a mess. No Dewey Decimal System, no fiction vs. non-fiction...I don't even have things stacked/shelved by genre with any real consistency, and it's kind of a fluke if all the books by the same author are together! However, despite the supposed chaos, you better believe that I know where every single book I own is on those shelves. Order without order, in a sense.

Organization and order are good things; especially since the time is getting shorter and shorter to the time when I either have a job and stay in Fort Collins, or I will have to move back to Michigan. If I fail to get a job here, I'm sure packing up everything I own won't be too much of a bother; it might take me two days at most. Erasing the pencil art on my walls is going to be interesting; that might take a while.

Dad always told me to think of my life as playing chess, not checkers. Plan for the worst, but look for a way to acquire the best outcome.  I'm looking, and I'm going to keep looking, even up to the last day I possibly can. I was never one of those players who would let their king be toppled easily when they saw defeat laying ominous ahead of them, and I don't plan on ever being one of those players, either. I just have to get my foot in the door.

-AMW