Re: probably a bloody obvious question...

On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, H. S. Teoh wrote:

> Cool... nice to know somebody else thought of the same thing too :-) In
> fact, this isn't the first time I've wanted to do something like this. I
> came up with this idea when I wanted to write about a fantasy world where
> the distinction between fact and fiction is blurred. So, instead of giving
> a straight narrative that would fix the exact facts and storyline(s), I
> planned to write a bunch of stories written from the point of view of each
> of the main characters in the world. Each story would give insight into a
> particular aspect of the world; however, they would sometimes also
> contradict each other. I myself would not decide, in those cases, which
> story was "true" or which had the "facts" -- either story can be true, and
> each would lead to a different storyline when put together with the
> others. It was up to the reader to decide for him/herself which storyline
> he/she thinks represents the "real" story.
I've done this.  :-)  I remain completely neutral on whether or not the
gods exist in my current fantasy-novel-in-progress (I did decide that
magic existed, though conservation of energy and mass bother me).  I've
also seen writers do something like this, telling things from different
POVs and giving contradictory interpretations, not to mention the
unreliable narrator technique.  Roy Phillips' "The Yellow Pill" is the
best screw-with-your head example I can think of (sf).

> > YHL, unfortunately a math major
>
> Hmm, interesting... I myself am a computer science major. I seem to have
> quite divergent interests -- computers, chemistry (esp. organic chem),
> creative writing, music composition, and now, conlanging... I guess it
> doesn't *have* to be reconciled with each other... :-)
<shudder>  I can't do chemistry.  Math, computers (to a limited extent),
military history, history of science, music composition (still working on
those MIDI files, alas), conlanging/linguistics, silk painting, musical
instruments, beaded jewellery, sf/f writing/reading, role-playing games...

When you get right down to it, for a writer (and any other
world/culture/language builder), *every* field is useful.  Something like
40-60% of my leisure reading is in varied nonfiction fields (see
http://yhl.freeservers.com/booklist/nonfiction.html for a sample).  It's
all good.  :-)  Writing is one of the most interdisciplinary disciplines
I know!

YHL