Have online dictionary, will travel
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Is It Real?

1/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, this weekend I binge-watched The O A on Netflix.
I enjoyed the hell out of it. I'm going to try to tell you why without spoiling the story for you. (I don't believe in spoiling stories for people unless they've been around forever.)
I adore it when characters do shit that looks crazy from the outside but they've provided plausible, logical reasons for that behavior. The "Is it real or is it Memorex?" story schtick is one of my faves. (And if you've read my work, you'd know that already.) I enjoy stories where the characters' logic is very carefully laid out for the reader/viewer and once they're onboard...it's called into question. I know some people don't enjoy that because it feels like a betrayal. And if the story stops there, I'd agree with them. However, I'm definitely onboard when, in spite of being deeply unsure about the crazy action, characters make that last ditch effort anyway, and somehow it pays off. I adore the uncertainty of whether or not any of their belief it was real because ultimately, it doesn't matter. The crazy thing still worked for whatever reason.

That's life. It's messy. There are no pat answers. There is only what comforts you. That uncertainty comforts me.

Every time I think about stories like this one, I consider the big things I've accomplished in my life. For example: my writing career. Initially, like all beginners, I had faith that one day all the wacky shit I had to do to become a writer (attend workshops, talk to strangers, bare my soul on the page--things that wouldn't make sense in any other context because IT'S A FUCKING LONG SHOT--would pay off. Everyone around me with very few exceptions told me that I was crazy to invest my time and money this way. Everyone, including my family. (Dane excepted. Melissa Tyler excepted.) I continued to work toward my goal of becoming a professional writer even when I'd lost hope that such a thing would ever happen. (I believe that was around year five or six.) Guess what? It did work out. I did become a professional writer with a literary agent and a big five publisher. How did I do it? It's one of the favorite questions beginners always ask. It's a good one.

Because I don't know. The truth is, no one knows.

Was it due to perseverance? Faith in myself? Was it Fate? Can anyone know? Me, I like to think it was perseverance and talent. But there are a lot of people with the same level of dedication and talent that never make to where I am. That's the story of every single success in the world. If those who succeed are completely honest, they'll tell you the same. We want to think we're in total control of our Fates, but the truth is...we aren't. That knowledge is unsettling in the extreme. Some people can deal with that level of chaos. A lot can't. I like to think that's why we have religion. It answers the unanswerable. Is it truly the way reality works?

What if the way things work is merely by acting as if they do work a certain way? If I have a dream and I wish to make it come true, I believe that there will be opportunities available for me to make that happen. I start actively looking for them. When I find them, I act upon them. Over time, all these little actions build up and you arrive at your dream. Of course, this is life. We don't exist in a vacuum. There are always others in persuit of their dreams and goals and still others working against their own best interests because of short term thought. (Destruction is always easier than creation.) Your dream might conflict with theirs. Something or someone might get in your path for whatever reason. There is always that risk. There's no explaining why that happens. It simply does.

Let me ask you, if acting upon that dream costs you nothing and harms no one, does it really matter? To me, it doesn't. I understand why for some people it does. But for me, it simply doesn't.

And that's why I enjoyed The O A. A part of me wants to believe even though another part simply can't. But...I act as if I believe anyway. (And some would say that's what makes me a Burned Hufflepuff.)
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Stina Leicht

    is a Science Fiction and Fantasy author living in Texas.

    This blog is updated infrequently. (Sorry.) Follow me on Twitter for announcements of new posts over on Patreon. Thanks for reading!

    -----------
    Schedule
    Currently nothing is planned.

    ​
    Novels:
    ​Persephone Station 
    Cold Iron 
    Blackthorne 
    Of Blood and Honey 
    And Blue Skies from Pain

    Short Stories:
    Forgiveness is Warm Like a Tear on a Cheek (Evil in Technicolor)
    A Siren's Cry is a Song of Sorrow (September, Apex Magazine)
    Second Verse, Same as the First 
    Last Drink Bird Head
    Texas Died for Somebody's Sins But Not Mine
    -----------
    Like my content?

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact