If you are reading aroslav's Props Master series, chapter five of A Touch of Magic posted this morning. In it, Serepte shares a late-night dinner with The Great Paris. She says:
"Remembering stories is important," Serepte said. "My father, though he was gone before I was born, once said that all the things that ever existed had their being only because people remembered them. And there were incredible things that could bloom into existence if only they could be remembered."
In fact, that quote begins her father's musings in The Book of Wesley which I've posted the first chapter of today. It will post in five weekly installments of 100 philosophical bullet points each. I think that's all my mind could handle in a week. There is no voting, but you are welcome to comment on the points and discuss them.
Back in 1979, when I'd just completed the first draft of Behind the Ivory Veil, I met with a fellow author who read and critiqued the book. "Wow! This is really freeze-dried," he said. I waited for an explanation. "If you added a little hot water, it would be a whole book."
I walked home that night deep in thought about what I would ask this character. What was isolation like? How did his attitude toward religion change as a result of his experience on the mountain? What musical theory was he applying to the strange notations on the rostrum?
As I stopped at a curb for the traffic light, I heard a voice right next to me say, "If you'd shut up for a minute, I'd tell you all about it. Everything that exists and everything that has ever been exists only because someone has remembered it." I was so startled, I nearly fell off the curb into traffic. It was the first time a character had spoken in my head. (And by far not the last one.) I got a journal and began writing down everything he said, even though they came out like random thoughts. The result was the five hundred (and three) bullet point Book of Wesley.
So, if I published The Props Master Series under aroslav's name, why am I publishing The Book of Wesley under Wayzgoose's name? The Book of Wesley isn't a story. I hesitate to call it non-fiction because I'm sure a lot of this was made up on the fly, but philosophy is considered non-fiction no matter how far out it is. It just seemed more appropriate to separate it from the novels in the series.
I hope you'll comment on Wesley's sometimes bizarre thoughts. I hesitate to admit they actually came from my head. Enjoy!