I’ve been reading a lot of older novels lately. Books written between 1920 and 1940 and something dawned on me. As I was meandering my way through Thomas Wolfe once again, I am only understanding part of the picture. Getting some of the story.
Every writer is writing for their time. They are speaking to people who live with them and around them. Who understands them in some fashion. And in theory, that understanding should travel beyond that moment.
Wolfe wrote in English. I read English. 1929 wasn’t that long ago, right?
And yet, I know there are things just beyond my vision. Elements of his writing that just doesn’t carry the same weight for me as it would for his contemporaries. An understanding I will never have.
All the shorthand that makes communication both fast and intimate.
American English is filled with it. Every region has its own colloquialisms. Every generation its own malformation of the language. It is an evolving, writhing thing.
And yet, despite my lack of understanding of the shorthand, I connect. I suspect it is because ambitious writers don’t see shorthand as a shortcut. They see it as an additional point of connection. One to be used at the right time in the right way.
Using shorthand in the right way is hard as hell.
On the other hand, lazy writers see shorthand as a shortcut. They follow a well worn path. They use the sea of sameness to connect quickly and without effort. Intimacy and meaning is sacrificed for expediency.
That is why it feels like every genre novel has the same mouth feel. Why gamers forget the hundreds of video games that come out each year and return to old favorites. Why so many TTRPGs mentally merge together into a handful of buckets of slop.
On the other hand, ambitious writers get consumed by the chase. They hunt through a maze of ideas like the minotaur, looking for the perfect idea. They need to connect. To be intimate. A thankless, sleepless effort that happens so often it has become a part of the sea of sameness.
The Hemingway/Bukowski Archetype.
I look at the bookshelves in my art studio, and they are lined with examples of both. I see forgettable, but extremely successful games that left me with disappointment not long after playing them. I see brilliant novels from authors barely anyone has read.
We traded shorthand for shortcuts. Ambition for profitability.
It paints a bleak picture. Our culture likes convenience. Spectacle. Comfort food. Cozy whatever. It’s easy.
And I get it. I enjoyed some of those Marvel movies too. As a kid I pined for a new Star Wars movie. Who doesn’t want another version of their favorite thing?
But maybe this is how we got here?
Shortcuts are a hell of a drug. When you get what you want, you get comfortable. When you get comfortable, it gets hard to get up and do anything differently. Hard to accept being challenged.
It’s why the defense against criticism of what has become cultural institutions is so vehement. Like addicts, we will violently defend their moral right to love the Marvel movies. To argue up a blue streak why Grand Theft Auto is culturally important.
And like addicts we have missed what was important. We traded shortcuts for fascism. Maybe it is time we start rejecting easy things. It isn’t like there were all that good in the first place.
Weekly Roundup
Icons, supernatural cold and hot wars, chatbot lovers, and an ode to the most magnetic of actors.
My Work
One of my rules for the Mystery Box is that the graphical elements have to be painted. The goal is for even the manufactured components of the work to feel handmade, even if it came off a printing press. Here are the character class icons; Ghost Speaker, Redeemed, Asuc Dropout, Scoundrel, Soldier of Fortune, Ulfaree Scion, Warden, and the Grey Guardian and Bound Necromancer sharing the last icon.
Gaming
My copies of Cold City/Hot War Second Edition finally arrived and they are beautiful artifacts. I am a third of the way through Cold City and I am already interested in running the game. Link
Technology
This is a really compelling interview with Bridget Todd over at 404 Media.
Creativity
James Gandolfini is an actor I think about a lot. It is an odd thing to say, but he was a magnetic performer. This article at the Defector about him is really wonderful. Link
