The challenge is that rationalists should win, no matter what kind of environment they’re thrown in. One that’s out to screw them is only a middling challenge. Eventually, I’d like to tackle “how to be as rational/effective as possible in an actively irrational environmnent, such as the setting of The Sandman”.
The challenge is that rationalists should win, no matter what kind of environment they’re thrown in.
Challenge to whom? To the omnipotent author? Doesn’t look much like a challenge (see the “omnipotent” bit). To the rationalists? It seems pretty obvious to me that there are environments where no winning is possible.
Establishing that winning is impossible is already a win of sorts. And writers are hardly omnipotent; we are governed by the stringent rules of Good Writing. An author who abuses their power willy-nilly only creates an unpersuasive mess that immerses and captivates absolutely no-one, and can hardly be said to be fiction at all.
It’s not just choice; you have to learn them and interiorize them and they’re subjective. Grant Morrison and Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman can write incredibly confusing, irrational, impossible stories that nevertheless are plausible and gripping and immersive. This took them decades of experience. Your beginner fanfic writer, no matter how well-intentioned and studious, will fail on some fundamental level. Check out EY’s earliest fiction out there; it’s pretty damn terrible.
The challenge is that rationalists should win, no matter what kind of environment they’re thrown in. One that’s out to screw them is only a middling challenge. Eventually, I’d like to tackle “how to be as rational/effective as possible in an actively irrational environmnent, such as the setting of The Sandman”.
Challenge to whom? To the omnipotent author? Doesn’t look much like a challenge (see the “omnipotent” bit). To the rationalists? It seems pretty obvious to me that there are environments where no winning is possible.
Establishing that winning is impossible is already a win of sorts. And writers are hardly omnipotent; we are governed by the stringent rules of Good Writing. An author who abuses their power willy-nilly only creates an unpersuasive mess that immerses and captivates absolutely no-one, and can hardly be said to be fiction at all.
Only if you choose to be so :-)
It’s not just choice; you have to learn them and interiorize them and they’re subjective. Grant Morrison and Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman can write incredibly confusing, irrational, impossible stories that nevertheless are plausible and gripping and immersive. This took them decades of experience. Your beginner fanfic writer, no matter how well-intentioned and studious, will fail on some fundamental level. Check out EY’s earliest fiction out there; it’s pretty damn terrible.
Where does one find this terrible early fiction?