Origins

My Father asked me something recently that I feel needs addressing, a digression for explanation. To me it is a self-evident, something that I've known so long just because of who I am and what I am; but this isn't universally true for anything. To be self-evident is to understand at a base level, we see it throughout our culture because between us and our peer, there is a basis that is consistent that we can connect and reflect upon as a whole under one idea. Something that universally connects us in this world view. But between writer and reader, there is a gap that is not traverse-able (Usually.) that we sometimes forget about. We are explaining a world view alien to anyone but ourselves.

The question my Father asked me was simple: "How do you come up with this stuff? Where does it come from?"

And to be honest, the answer is not so simple, but I'll try my best to articulate on a personal note. For me, everything originates from experiences, and every variation that they are capable of. Every sound and voice I hear, vision I see, texture I touch, taste and smell, each of these creates a facet of originality, and uniquely alters every experience before and after.

I'd like to use an analogy if you'd permit, but it requires a bit of explanation first. One of the key principals of a gun, is the concept of rifling. Riflings are grooves that spiral around the inside of the barrel of a gun used to stabilize a bullet by imparting a spin. When a bullet is passed through the barrel and over these grooves, albeit doing its job of stabilization, it also marks each bullet with a kind of gash along its sides. This is a very powerful tool when it comes to forensics as each gun has a unique type of marking that will be left, based on the slight variations between the spacing of each groove, the depth, and speed the bullets are rotated between the varying gun types and guns within the same type. Relating this to writing, the author's mind is "grooved" by every experience he or she has, and each of these things is unique from the next. And while the mind is the barrel, each idea or new thought is a bullet, locked into the chamber and ready to be fired. So as the new idea is ignited, every one of our experiences carves its way onto its face, creating a unique entity. And being that we experience things at such a rapid rate in our lives, the variations upon each new idea or type of "bullet", unlike a gun, will be vastly different than the last. Although, the core will remain the same, the key word is addition.

So to speak plainly, these original concepts are merely an interesting idea, dragged through my head, being marked away at by experiences, other dormant ideas, and extrapolated upon to craft something that could only be generated from within me. It is a reflection of everything that constitutes the inner workings of my mind.

Reaching back to the first paragraph, as a writer, one must take into consideration that their readers don't understand everything in the way we do. It is up to our explanation in its entirety to shed light upon an imaginary world that exists only within us. There's no aftermath, there's no encyclopedia ala your brain. Just what's written. Explain it.

Cathan