We
are sometimes inordinately affected by a statement we read by D.H.
Lawrence, Mark Twain, Aldous Huxley, J.R. Tolken et al, and a single
sentence or phrase can set us into ideas that may remain stamped in us
even if they never lead to a definitive work. Decades ago, I read a
single 12-word sentence by Friedrich Nietzsche in a printed work that
was so devastating, I never repeated to anyone and was gratified when I
Googled and didn’t find a digital version of it; I implore it to remain
obscure.
These
are among the parts that sum us up, and in some cases define our
direction. If we are an idealist, we may ask ourselves, was Mother
Teresa correct when she said we should see every person we meet as Jesus
Christ, or was Lord Shiva correct when he said that when we see someone
we should be so emphatic we become that person? Although they seem to
present two different concepts, could they both be correct? In other
words, can we see every person as Jesus Christ and also become that
Jesus Christ? Or does what Michael Stipe said, that “all these fantasies
come flailing around” apply to these Teresa and Shiva statements,
draining them of their real-world veridical legitimacy? Do we need to
resolve such questions to push forward into idealistic writing?
A
scrupulous use of quotes from famous writers can spice up our writing
because they seem more credible than the same statement from an unknown
person, but we have to be scrupulous and not just assume a source and
credibility. Recently while lunching with my honey she quoted Gandhi
about “blind and toothless” and I quoted Oscar Wilde about declaring his
genius at customs, but later I Googled both quotes and we may have both
been misinformed. The citing of “blind and toothless” was first uttered
as early as 1914 before Gandhi before he returned to India and became a
philosophical giant, and there’s no proof that Wilde said this at New
York customs as is reported.
None
of this does a writer any good who hasn’t read widely and found out
what these personalities have to offer, nor is it necessary to know
about them in all cases. William Faulkner was well versed in the great
writers of times past but ultimately produced his own signature prose
that was compelling without references to works by Monstesquieu, Whitman
or Plath or idealism of any sort. He chose instead of focus on
characters that he invented who were based on life around him in a
Southern state.
This young adult series of sci-fi fantasy novels begins with The Reality Master and continues through four other exciting and amazing stories about time travel and mysterious alien devices. Joey and the reader will face dangerous shadowy criminal organizations, agents of the NSA, bizarre travelers from other times and even renegade California bikers and scar-faced walking dead.
- Vol 2 Threat To The World
- Vol 3 Travel Beyond
- Vol 4 Missions Through Time
- Vol 5 The Return Home
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