Writers are the creators of worlds. These worlds, constructed by creative minds for our entertainment, and shown to us in different forms, television, movies and books are often much loved by the people who read or watch them, the characters hold a special place in the hearts of many, but nobody ever really thinks, what happens to these characters, and these worlds when the tv show has ended, when the book has been finished. Do they continue with their lives, do the characters do things in between episodes, or, do these worlds remain stationary, do they not exist outside the minds of their creators and audience. In effect, are alternate realities formed each time a person picks up a pen, turns on a laptop, or dusts off the old typewriter in the corner?
Are we, by writing conflicts into the lives of characters, performing some great injustice against them simply for the entertainment of others?
If this is so, and we stop writing, if the television shows, movies and books, the fiction of the world ceases, are we thereby destroying worlds in the process? Are whole civilisations being wiped out every time some half-assed writer scraps his or her novel in search of other, better creative pursuits, or do these characters continue living out their lives, and doing things without an audience?
If worlds cease when we stop writing about them, is it in the newly formed reality's best interests to write the mundane, or is the new universe fuelled by readers and an audience? If this is the case, then, to keep this world safe and secure, and thriving, some sacrifices would have to be made, the happiness and wellbeing of some would have to be put at risk to keep an audience coming, to read, or watch the goings on of this fledgling universe, at least until it was imbedded in the minds of enough people that it could survive on its own without further stories being written. In a sense, every writer has some blood on their hands, but, as stated before, they are the creators of whole worlds, they have created these countless lives, and by killing or inconveniencing a few favorite characters from their worlds, are ensuring the saftey of millions, or perhaps billions of lives (and future generations), perhaps even billions apon billions of realities branching from their own worlds (after all, there would be creative types in the worlds they have created.
Who is to say that our own world is not one such reality? Who is to say that some writer in some alien, or perhaps not so alien reality is not writing out our lives as go about, who is to say that the god that we worship is not some struggling author with a pen and paper trying to make enough money to pay the bills?
And what of the characters whose lives writers manipulate, the 'main characters' of the stories? Except for a few very rare cases, the writer makes them unaware of the fact that they are characters, the fourth wall is very seldom broken in literature, movies or television, and it is even more rare that the characters are aware of this fourth wall breach.
This is not to say that it never happens, it does, but this poses the question, what do you do when it does happen, and what do your characters do? What happens when a character, or characters find a way to make contact with their creator, and breach that fourth wall themselves, without the prompting of the writer? Does a rift in reality form? Do characters break their way through to the reality from which their creator came? And how do you deal with the fallout when such a thing happens?
These are all questions the writer of one particular television series is now having to try to answer.
I suppose, if I am going to offer an explaination, I will have to start this particular story from the beginning.
Are we, by writing conflicts into the lives of characters, performing some great injustice against them simply for the entertainment of others?
If this is so, and we stop writing, if the television shows, movies and books, the fiction of the world ceases, are we thereby destroying worlds in the process? Are whole civilisations being wiped out every time some half-assed writer scraps his or her novel in search of other, better creative pursuits, or do these characters continue living out their lives, and doing things without an audience?
If worlds cease when we stop writing about them, is it in the newly formed reality's best interests to write the mundane, or is the new universe fuelled by readers and an audience? If this is the case, then, to keep this world safe and secure, and thriving, some sacrifices would have to be made, the happiness and wellbeing of some would have to be put at risk to keep an audience coming, to read, or watch the goings on of this fledgling universe, at least until it was imbedded in the minds of enough people that it could survive on its own without further stories being written. In a sense, every writer has some blood on their hands, but, as stated before, they are the creators of whole worlds, they have created these countless lives, and by killing or inconveniencing a few favorite characters from their worlds, are ensuring the saftey of millions, or perhaps billions of lives (and future generations), perhaps even billions apon billions of realities branching from their own worlds (after all, there would be creative types in the worlds they have created.
Who is to say that our own world is not one such reality? Who is to say that some writer in some alien, or perhaps not so alien reality is not writing out our lives as go about, who is to say that the god that we worship is not some struggling author with a pen and paper trying to make enough money to pay the bills?
And what of the characters whose lives writers manipulate, the 'main characters' of the stories? Except for a few very rare cases, the writer makes them unaware of the fact that they are characters, the fourth wall is very seldom broken in literature, movies or television, and it is even more rare that the characters are aware of this fourth wall breach.
This is not to say that it never happens, it does, but this poses the question, what do you do when it does happen, and what do your characters do? What happens when a character, or characters find a way to make contact with their creator, and breach that fourth wall themselves, without the prompting of the writer? Does a rift in reality form? Do characters break their way through to the reality from which their creator came? And how do you deal with the fallout when such a thing happens?
These are all questions the writer of one particular television series is now having to try to answer.
I suppose, if I am going to offer an explaination, I will have to start this particular story from the beginning.