Re: probably a bloody obvious question...

On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

>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.  :-)
Indeed. Heron's "Cultures of the World" is written that way. There
are actual facts that the ficticious author doesn't know are facts,
and thus portrays them as myth or at worst fabrication. Many things
that are false are portrayed as fact.

>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),
Now this is curious, as about 98% of my experience in gen. chem.
(took it 5 or 6 times at 2 different colleges before passing, on
account of all the math involved) _in the classroom_ has been
mathematics. The lab of course is a different matter, but still
has a goodly amount of maths involved.

>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...
A man of many talents! I never had the patience for beaded jewellery
(tried one of those little knot-n-bead kits from the grocery; and
gave up after a half-hour of mangling the first knot); though had
good luck with twisted wire. If I can get together enough silver (or
preferably gold) wire, I shall make a Kemrese torc.

>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!
Yep.

Padraic.

>YHL