I’ve just quite a bit of material to write about, all of it stacking up in the queue. Most of it right now has to do with theology and philosophy and the like, some of it has to do with writing, and some to do with gaming. All of it requires a clear head to mull over and think through coherently enough to formulate something worthwhile from the rabble, and so I’ve pushed it off for a few days now. My heart may be into writing, but my mind simply can’t keep up right now.
To give you a little idea of what I have on the table right now, here’s a list of entries I’m hoping to draft in the somewhat near future:
- A response to statements that the Bible may not actually be inerrant
- A response to the charge that C.S. Lewis himself may not have considered the Bible to be inerrant
- Musings on the use (or lack thereof) of classical logic in today’s culture
- The disappearance of antithetical logic
- The social nuances of avid bloggers
- An objection to bookstores that are beginning to place science fiction and fantasy novels in separate categories
- A little blurb on eschatology
- Video games in politics – again
- Storytelling in video games – just how important is it?
- The relationship and similarities of statistics and psychology
I’ll even give you folks a choice – which of the above topics sounds most interesting to you? What would you like me to write about first?
Tags: c.s.-lewis, eschatology, fantasy, philosophy, politics, psychology, science-fiction, Speculative Fiction, Statistics, storytelling, theology, video-games, Writing
I was finally able to complete Advent Rising over the weekend. While the gameplay mechanics were a bit clunky and frustrating at times, the story was one of the best I’ve seen in a video game. The developers did an excellent job of writing a story that flowed well and of creating dialogue that sounded natural.
And if you are planning at any point to play the game and don’t want to have the story spoiled, this would be a good place to stop reading.
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Tags: advent-rising, storytelling, video-games, xbox, xbox-360
The art of storytelling is as important to the story as are the actual details of the story itself. Perhaps that is why I loved Advent Rising (which I finally finished over the weekend, I might add) and The Village so much. The story, in both cases, might not have been as complex or as detailed as some of the best-loved classics, but the way in which the story was told, the artistry and skill with which the particular details were revealed, certainly places both stories in a place of great prominence for me. Sure, The Village seemed a lot less mysterious and creepy once the particulars were made known, and Advent Rising raised many more questions than it answered, but the mysteries were laid out one at a time and with careful precision, forcing you, the viewer, to sit on the edge of your seat and wonder just what the heck was going on.
I think people tend to overlook the artistry of storytelling. Part of why I think so many people disliked The Village was because it was finally revealed that the monsters in the woods were not real after all. In a world where gore and murder are so popular, where horror receives such interest and acclaim, where people like to be titillated, complex and interesting plots are often rejected because people don’t always like to have to work by thinking through a story in order to understand it. They don’t like having the story laid out for them only a bit at a time.
It’s interesting to me to note the disappointment and the criticism when a mysterious story promises a hugely climactic ending that resolves without the splash of blood they were hoping for. All that tension builds up in anticipation of that momentous peak, and then the great mystery proves to be less mystery and more mundane. This is not unique to just stories like The Village, either. Many stories I’ve read or seen in a movie are wrapped in great mystery, and then, when the mystery is solved, you look back at the story in hindsight and wonder why you ever got so wound up about it. Anticlimactic. Sometimes. That is the very thing that I think causes people to criticize so harshly stories like The Village where the resolution is closer to ordinary than anyone expected (or even than anyone might have liked). Yet, when you look at the skills used to tell the story and the way in which it was told, it is possible to appreciate the story in a different light and proclaim it good – and maybe even excellent.
Tags: advent-rising, m.-night-shyamalan, movies, orson-scott-card, storytelling, the-village, video-games
