The Maze

I've just realised I haven't been putting up enough recipes as I should. I think it's partly because I haven't been creating new recipes lately, but oh well, I still have my recipes on hard copy...

A few hours ago I completed the revised edition of The Maze, a short story that won second place in a short story competition back in my old school when I was in the Forth Form. The plot centres around the meaning of life, the sacrifice an individual made upon it's discovery in a famous mythical labyrinth (Percy Jackson fans would know what I'm talking about), and the arguments for and against its publication.

The revised edition includes a lot more detail in thoughts, less so in the material stuff in the story. I guess I've been doing that lately, ordering my train of thought, to keep it on track and that it connects one carriage to another. This is all in preparation for my next two writing projects - one, a series of short stories that hopefully will make it to the printing press someday; and the other, my long-awaited novel, which hopefully would follow the publication of the first project.

That's a lot of hope put into it there....

I have to be careful though, so as to not immerse myself too much in my personal world of fiction. I once confided in a friend that I often have trouble keeping my feet firmly on terra firma, metaphorically speaking. In a sense I think more like Plato than Aristotle. Plato's ideas generally deals with the metaphysical, while Aristotle emphasizes the search of knowledge through diligence and perseverance. The latter seems more reasonable in the world today, where in my opinion most people concern themselves with worldly matters, rather than spiritual...

Anyway, coming back to writing, Inkheart (2009) is a refreshing take on the theme of fiction in general, and on those who play a part in its creation. I have not read the book in ages (I think I will, as soon as I finish my current reading list); nevertheless, the character Fenoglio on screen described the loneliness writers may feel, that they sometimes wish to be in the world they had created to escape the harsh realities of life in the material world.

While Fenoglio's work Inkheart may not be the ideal fictional world (the villains described are just too darn scary), I find that I agree with him. You are often forced to isolate yourself in creating fiction, so much so that when you re-emerge into the real world, you often find it so cruel and merciless that you wish to just stay in that world in your mind and never have to leave it.

Of course, that's just one way at looking at life. I think some authors like to exaggerate the harshness of everyday life, so that when they venture out the real world, they would feel glad that it is not as dark and gloomy as the world they had created. George Orwell must certainly think so, although his works (I'm talking mainly about Animal Farm and 1984) are meant to be read as a warning against certain forms of government.

Well, that's me on fiction.

(I like this topic, I think I'll come back to it in the future.)