Indra's Theory of Existence
(a.k.a. Mat's Web)
Another enlightening and engrossing writing conference with Martin. If you've ever played a really good series of games of pickup basketball, or played a tough match in volleyball, or any of its equivalents in one hundred different sports, you know the rewarding feeling of physical exertion. A good workout cleanses the body, makes it work, and ultimately makes it stronger. The mind needs just as much exertion. It needs a workout too, particularly in today's day and age, where TV thinks for you. No imagination is required with TV, no thought or analysis in most shows; the brain has about as much activity to do as when it is asleep, or in a coma.
But a good writing conference - or philosophical conversation, or private mediation, or any other excellent exercise for the mind - is as rewarding as its physical equivalent. It really is great to get to expand your mind for a few hours and imagine, create, weigh, analyze, discuss, collaborate, interrogate, reject, and create again. I find myself looking forward to them, and wish I had more completed writing to bring to them on a regular basis - a wish that may well come to pass if Caissa can keep up the pressure she's built up over the last couple of months.
The quote from above is from the conference, in which Martin explained that a Buddhist/Eastern idea of reality - via Indra - consisted of a number of glass nodes on points where lines of reality crossed. Martin argued that this was exactly like my idea of the story web, my idea of how a story is created/held together/succeeds. Good to know that I was actually coming up with a theory of reality. That's especially cool when you think about it, as fantasy writing really is all about creating a reality - one the reader can visit and leave his or her own behind, if only the reality is real, believable, and engrossing.
That's some good mental exercise.
Friday night I am leaving for my Hershey-AC trip with Dave, Tom, Jeff, and Nate, and I am wildly pumped for it. It's our summer trip and we are going to rock. I also will have quite a bit on the line at AC, and need to determine a set limit before arriving - rule #1 of gambling being setting a limit and not deviating from said limit no matter what - but I imagine that it will be a ton of fun. This is going to be an absolute blast!
I have volleyball tonight and dodgeball on Monday, which I will be coming back specifically for. Good thing we have an 8:30 PM game.
I'll definitely write another blog entry before I go. Can't slow down the momentum now that I'm freed of the dreaded project of doom.
Another enlightening and engrossing writing conference with Martin. If you've ever played a really good series of games of pickup basketball, or played a tough match in volleyball, or any of its equivalents in one hundred different sports, you know the rewarding feeling of physical exertion. A good workout cleanses the body, makes it work, and ultimately makes it stronger. The mind needs just as much exertion. It needs a workout too, particularly in today's day and age, where TV thinks for you. No imagination is required with TV, no thought or analysis in most shows; the brain has about as much activity to do as when it is asleep, or in a coma.
But a good writing conference - or philosophical conversation, or private mediation, or any other excellent exercise for the mind - is as rewarding as its physical equivalent. It really is great to get to expand your mind for a few hours and imagine, create, weigh, analyze, discuss, collaborate, interrogate, reject, and create again. I find myself looking forward to them, and wish I had more completed writing to bring to them on a regular basis - a wish that may well come to pass if Caissa can keep up the pressure she's built up over the last couple of months.
The quote from above is from the conference, in which Martin explained that a Buddhist/Eastern idea of reality - via Indra - consisted of a number of glass nodes on points where lines of reality crossed. Martin argued that this was exactly like my idea of the story web, my idea of how a story is created/held together/succeeds. Good to know that I was actually coming up with a theory of reality. That's especially cool when you think about it, as fantasy writing really is all about creating a reality - one the reader can visit and leave his or her own behind, if only the reality is real, believable, and engrossing.
That's some good mental exercise.
Friday night I am leaving for my Hershey-AC trip with Dave, Tom, Jeff, and Nate, and I am wildly pumped for it. It's our summer trip and we are going to rock. I also will have quite a bit on the line at AC, and need to determine a set limit before arriving - rule #1 of gambling being setting a limit and not deviating from said limit no matter what - but I imagine that it will be a ton of fun. This is going to be an absolute blast!
I have volleyball tonight and dodgeball on Monday, which I will be coming back specifically for. Good thing we have an 8:30 PM game.
I'll definitely write another blog entry before I go. Can't slow down the momentum now that I'm freed of the dreaded project of doom.
Labels: Caissa, Friendship
posted by Mat | 5:05 PM
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