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Below are the 19 most recent journal entries recorded in
Ferwe's LiveJournal:
| Saturday, September 5th, 2009 | | 4:01 pm |
Hero & Magic Princess Stories
As part of a story I'm writing I had an opportunity to consider hero and magic princess stories recently. Like all archetypal stories they come in many varieties, but can be summarized as follows:
- Hero (always male so far as I can tell) travels to another realm.
- Hero is put in danger and must pass certain trials.
- Hero is aided by skillful and powerful young woman, often with the help of magic and usually against her own family.
- Hero leaves the other realm with the woman.
Then the story can go several ways. The hero can betray the princess. The princess can give up her magic and become a mundane woman. The hero can gain some token from the princess to allow him to hold her by force until she manages to escape. However, in no story that I'm aware of does a mundane hero somehow manage to keep both the woman and the magic. Even in the modern TV show Bewitched the husband insists on his wife living as much like a mortal as she can. Consider the wish fulfillment aspect of these stories, isn't that remarkable? Now there are cases, particularly in modern fiction, where the "hero" and the "princess" are both magical and manage to make a life together. There are other cases (like the Chinese dragon princess tales) where the mundane hero is given a part of the magical realm as a gift. These, however, really just show the universality of what happens to the magic princess when she leaves with the mundane hero. Even stories like the Chinese kitsune tales and the Greek story of Medea, where the woman keeps her power to some extent, do not end happily.
Now I'm not deying there are valuable lessons from these stories in these stories as they are. In most lives the "magical princess" will turn out to an ordinary woman once a man has married her, and young women must be prepared to set aside a part of their "magic" when they marry. Must we be limited to that though? Surely, in fiction at least, there is some way for a mundane hero to rescue the magic princess and keep both her and the magic in a way that doesn't seem artificial or forced. Trying to decide how to do that put me on a rather tortuous course through literature.
Now for a frustration warning. If you're looking for me to reveal my solution to this question (and I do have at least part of a solution), you're going to be out of luck. I'm not going to hand it out on a public forum. I will offer some clues and share how I reached the point I did though. Don't ready further if you aren't willing to be somewhat frustrated at the end.
( The Tortuous Course ) Current Mood:  pleased | | Friday, August 28th, 2009 | | 6:17 pm |
A Story About Science
Once upon a time there was great storyteller. This storyteller lived in a place and time where that thing called science had just begun to show what it could do. In his admiration for science, the storyteller created a great and grand story about science and how it worked. Now, before the storyteller told his story people thought that science was about figuring out how the world worked. To that end they developed special ways of classifying and sharing their experiences. In his admiration for science the story told by the storyteller said that science wasn't just about how things worked, instead, what science did was look at reality. That was a story no one had told before. His story gathered together a lot things. It worked logically, it was practical, it described how people thought, and it was based on the way the world worked. Above all this story about how science determined reality instead of being a part of it was very attractive and pretty.
Because the storyteller's story was so pretty, it became very popular. Of course some other storytellers looked at it and pointed out that the the way it was logically put together didn't actually work, but that hardly mattered when it was so practical, described how people thought, and was based on how the world worked.
As the story gained in popularity, certain people tried to apply its practical aspects. While most scientists continued in the old way of sharing personal experiences and figuring out why they were different, great things were expected from those who put the practical aspects of the great storyteller's story to use. Unfortunately, the results were disappointing. While the scientists working on the basis of the story did produce some things, the scientists who worked in the old way of sharing experiences instead of delving into reality were far more productive. At the same time those who tried to use the principles of science to look at things beyond how the world worked didn't produce anything. "No matter," the followers of the great storyteller thought, "since science is the search for what is real, then what scientists actually do must follow the great story, and if there are things science can't look into, that must mean those things aren't real." Now, by this time the story had become popular enough that it was overlooked that in order for those claims to make sense you had to accept the story first. Anyway, it worked logically, described how people thought, and was based on the way the world worked.
Later, some scientists discovered how to apply the principles of science to study how people thought. What they discovered was that the way the great storyteller had described things simply didn't work. People didn't think that way. By this time the story had grown in popularity to the point that few people noticed these contradictions. Besides, the story worked logically, was so practical, and was based on the way the world worked, so what did it matter.
Then, not long after the research into the way people thought was done, it was discovered that the way the world worked was incompatible with the great storyteller's story. By that time no one noticed. The great storyteller's followers had created such marvelous sequels and built such fascinating stories on his foundation that the original story itself had been covered up and hidden. Even if anyone had noticed, though, the story still worked logically, was of practical use, and described how people thought.
**
The "great storyteller" is Immanuel Kant, and I completely and utterly reject his philosophy and anything based on it. Still, I have to admit it's a marvelous and attractive fantasy. | | Sunday, July 26th, 2009 | | 6:47 pm |
N'Ferra Wiki
Well, the N'Ferra Wiki is off and running. I don't know how well the idea combining different worlds and roleplaying on a wiki will work out, but it should be interesting. | | Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | | 9:28 am |
Subtlety
I've always believed that doing a job well means not being obvious about it. Ideally, if you're doing your job well people should not even think that you're doing a job at all. Of course, I thought this was simply an ideal that you could approach but not really reach. If things get done, I thought, then people will realize that you're doing them. Recently I've discovered how wrong I was. The problem with being subtle in what you do is two-fold. First, how do you get feedback on a job people aren't aware you're doing? This is the easier problem. Just make sure that how you define your job includes getting feedback on it. The second problem is much harder to resolved. Apparently all too many people will assume that you aren't doing anything if you aren't obvious about it. Their reaction to things getting done is, "Yeah, but he isn't doing anything." What to do? | | Saturday, October 18th, 2008 | | 9:45 pm |
| | Thursday, October 16th, 2008 | | 11:34 pm |
| | Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | | 2:45 pm |
| | Sunday, October 12th, 2008 | | 1:20 pm |
| | Friday, October 10th, 2008 | | 4:31 pm |
| | Friday, October 3rd, 2008 | | 9:53 am |
| | Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 | | 12:25 pm |
| | Sunday, September 7th, 2008 | | 6:40 pm |
Writer's Block: Google Founded
Google is my "first responder" when I have a question. Back when the yellow pages used to be, but now I hardly look at them. | | Saturday, September 6th, 2008 | | 12:44 am |
Writer's Block: Sharing Haikus
 
Home alone. Still home?
Another holds the mirror.
Showing back ourselves.
I'm not sure that the second and third lines are original, though I have no idea where I might have read them before. | | Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 | | 11:46 am |
Writer's Block: Sarah Palin?
Well, as a person who is continually realizing that he doesn't think like other people, I don't know that I'm one to judge. However, it strikes me as a very shrewd political move. Sarah Palin certainly isn't qualified to be president, but that's not why vice-presidents are chosen. Other than that she doesn't seem to me to bring any liabilities to the table that aren't already inherent to the Republican party. | | Monday, September 1st, 2008 | | 10:27 pm |
Writer's Block: The Expendable Sense(s)
I could live best without my sense of smell. Pollution and allergies have almost destroyed it already. The little bit that remains wouldn't be much of a loss. I sometimes regret that I don't have much of a sense of smell, but losing it would be far better than losing my sight or hearing. | | Sunday, August 31st, 2008 | | 12:41 am |
| | Sunday, August 17th, 2008 | | 1:19 pm |
Dragon Terrain
I like the idea of having some sort of background to display my dragons from Dragon's Cave on. My first idea was a view of the overall weyr where I could place the dragon sprites. Well, that won't work. The scales of the appropriate terrain and the dragons are just too different. However, while trying to come up with some good pictures I ran across Devil's Crater. Now if ever there was terrain made for dragons instead of humans this is it. From now on this is the place where I'm going to think my dragons live. Ferwe Sunrise:  == Ferwe Guerisseur:  == Ferwe Nyquin:  ==  ==  | | Saturday, August 16th, 2008 | | 3:31 pm |
| | Friday, August 15th, 2008 | | 10:33 am |
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ferwe's journal
Oh, yes. Peter Pan was a wonderful read when I was 11. When I was 22 it was really horrifying. 
Books. I suppose they aren't absolutely necessary, but I would find it very difficult to live life without them. 
I don't mind doom & gloom or bouncy & bubbly talk, but Tigger would be literally bouncing off the walls, while Eeyore would just stand there. I'd rather be trapped in an elevator with Eeyore. 
My ideal transport is a dimensional portal. Dial a number; step through; and there you are. 
I prefer concerts in the open air. Bandstands or open-air amphitheaters like Red Rocks. Somehow live music and the open sky just go together perfectly for me. Day or night, the setting is right.
No. For all the current problems, the possibility that Mutual Assured Destruction might destroy everything was far worse. 
The distinction in either/or questions is seldom as clear as the question makes it. Keeping that in mind I'd say that, generally, health care is more a right than a privilege. In addition to the ethical factors of denying medical care to a portion of the population there are sound economic reasons for universal health care. Not only have numerous nations show how to provide medical and dental care without harming their economy, a healthier population is better able to work and means a more diverse structure for growth. However, there are limits to all things, and I have no problems with limiting certain aspects of medical care. "Where do you draw the line on universal medical care?" is a much harder question to answer.