#The Power of Stories

[inthemaelstrom]

So we're about six weeks out from another "most important election of my lifetime" and it's predictably making me literally sick to my stomach. When Trumpacabra got elected in 2016, I threw myself into politics in a way I never had in my lifetime and it almost wrecked me. I was one of those people who never voted for religious reasons (long, separate story) and I felt I had to make up for lost time. By the time 2020 rolled around, I was an unhealthy mess. I had stopped reading. Everything. When I wasn't watching MSNBC and political commentators obsessively, I started consuming absolute junk TV: home improvement shows, crack paranormal ghost hunter crap, etc. Things with no plot, no emotional investment, no danger. No fear.

Right before the 2020 election, old fanfic friends from my days in the Master and Apprentice Star Wars listserv found me and saved me.

They dragged me back into fandom, introduced me to Discord, and got me writing again. I updated a story I hadn't touched in 5 years. I made new friends online and in RL. I got some great fiction and fic recs from those friends and discovered a subgenre called Hopepunk—low stakes fiction with very little if any violence and fear and with happy endings. (Becky Chambers writes a lot of what I read, and Amy Crook has also become a favorite.)

One morning, I had one of those really vivid, realistic, linear plot dreams that literally dragged me out of bed to the keyboard. It was a meet-cute modern au of The Phantom Menace's characters, set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I cranked out about 2000 words the first day. Then another 2000. Then another 2000. Then another 2000. And so on every damn day for the next four years until I had four novels, about 668k words, several timestamps written by three other collaborators who've come on board, some beautiful art I've been allowed to use, and now a fifth book in the works.

This is the Yooperverse.

It's not just The Fic That Saved Me, it's the place where I'm writing a vision of what the world could be like into being. A place where people with fucking obscene amounts of money don't spend it on themselves, or hoard it, or exploit other people to get more, but use it to help other people. It's a place where people who are bigoted dicks either get their comeuppance and crawl back under their rocks, or learn better and do better. It's a place where abused kids get rescued, everybody gets therapy and healthcare and is paid a living wage, people learn to value themselves and each other, and protect each other and defend each other. It's kinky and queer (although I'm neither) and above all, if not entirely safe to be both, I'm trying to write both things as just being another setting on the dryer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's not a utopia, by any means, because there are still assholes and the government is still ... the government, and capitalism is still a thing. There's some danger, especially in the first book, and there are accidents and illnesses and the vagaries of life. In the middle of the series, I had spinal surgery and was out of commission for a few months and that made me start thinking more about my main character dealing with aging and the limitations thereof. There's a LOT of mental health issues and the working through thereof, and a lot of ongoing process. Nobody's perfect. The world outside is still pretty much what it is. But in the little corners where my characters dwell, life is pretty dang good, sometimes great.

It's a vision of a life we all deserve. It's the thing I loved about Star Trek's universe, where people's basic needs are cared for and the obstacles to them developing their best selves removed. It's what I've loved about science fiction in general, especially Ursula LeGuin's: that opportunity to explore possibilities that are better than the present. It's modeled on the MacArthur Genius grants, but you don't have to prove your worthiness first. My main character invests in people's potential, young or old, with scholarships and grants and a steadying hand. His partner builds low or no-cost housing for people in need. There's an informal network of queer and straight kid rescuing going on under the noses of unfriendly governments and failed social service safety nets. The main characters build refuges, literal and emotional. They love each other fiercely and respectfully.

Right now, we're living in a country that is almost the antithesis of these ideas, for far too many of us. People are being manipulated by their fears, which are stoked by unscrupulous, lying shitbag politicians whose all too real evil would never make it past the pitch if you were going to try to sell it as a TV show or movie. They're consciously turning us on each other with lies about our common humanity, about the state of our country, about who and what's responsible for many of its faults, sewing suspicion and hate. And though the Yooperverse started as my personal comfort fic, I'm trying in my very small way to counteract what's happening in the world right now.

I've always believed in the power of story to change people's minds and lives, and I've experienced it myself. When I talk about story, I don't just mean fiction, though. I mean the narratives we tell ourselves and others about our own lives as a whole and day by day or moment by moment. I mean the stories we tell about each other when we're together, at the bar, at wakes, at a party. I mean the stories we invest in as fans in whatever kind of media we consume. I mean the stories we spin for ourselves and others to explain what the everloving fuck is wrong with the world.

Stories aren't separate from the world, they are the world. They tell it into being. They give it shape and purpose and meaning and a sense of possibility. Whatever stories we tell ourselves or each other about how things should be or how we should act as human beings (also called our "beliefs" or "morals" or "ethics"), they shape us, and we shape society. We are society, both together and as individuals. One person with a big voice and a story can tip a mass of people into either violence or solidarity.

I have no illusions that the Yooperverse will ever have that kind of power. It has a tiny audience on AO3 and Discord and it's mostly written for me to explore the things I feel deeply about, and wish I could do, and to teach myself to be a better person and live up to my own ideals. It's a world I'd like to manifest, to call into being, even in a small way. Even if it's just a story.

[mareastrorum]

Relating so hard to Brennan reminiscing about crying on the sidewalk and worrying about rent, then thinking, but FRODO AND THE RING...

[alpaca-clouds]

Telling Stories to better the World

*looks on the calender* You know what time it is? Yeah, it is time for the alpaca to rave on about the power of stories once again. Because I kinda feel that we cannot talk about that enough.

Say it loud and say it clear: Stories have power over us.

The baddies kinda understand that. Which is why they use stories as propaganda tools. I mean, there is a reason why the US Military funds the Marvel movies and stuff like Top Gun. Because it is propaganda that exists to serve their goal.

And humans also have always kinda understood it. Because guess what: Fairytales existed as teaching tools. Be it to teach kids to not run into the forest at night... Or do a Beauty and the Beast and exist to teach young girls that: "Hey, your political husband might be abusive, but you can try and tame him, girl!"

A lot of oral stories have once existed for such reasons. To both teach people about the world and reaffirm a society's values. And this is still true to this day.

I have been harping on anarchist ideas vs capitalist ideas for the last few days and the entire story thing plays into this a lot.

And yeah, I gotta crap on the MCU here once more, because it kinda is the most influencial offender here. Because those people know the power of stories. Which is why in most of the MCU movies the bad guys wanna change the system - while the good guys heroically defend the status quo without ever questioning whether or not the bad guys might actually have a point in some cases. (Worst offender is obviously Falcon and the Winter Soldier.)

Given that mass media right now very much is held obviously by the capitalist class, for the most part media only rarely gets to sneak in messages that are too anti-capitalist. (Which is also, why modern Cyberpunk, especially western Cyberpunk, does not have a ton of bite going on.) And in many cases it has to be sneaky and rely on the lack of media literacy in the folks financing the movies. Like the Matrix, for example. But in that case they obviously run the risk of the viewer also not quite getting that message, if they are not primed for it.

But we do need those stories.

We need stories in which people rebel against a system and win. In which those rebels are allowed to be heroic, instead of the narrative going: "Well, sure, their goal was admirable, but we just cannot condone violence!"

We also need stories in which people live in a less hierarchical society. In which people are aiding one another. In which it is not rugged individuals saving the world, but close-knit friend groups and communities working together.

And we need stories, in which climate change is stopped in time. In which people live actually on renewables and micro grids. In which people then also live without capitalism. Because we need to learn to view that world as possible,

So, if you are a creator... You know what to do!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Illus. by Elenore Abbott for "The Two Brothers," Watercolor and ink on illustration board, 1917, sold at auction

* * * *

"Folktales, fables and myths show humans talking and working with animals, with trees, with rivers and stones, as if recalling or envisioning a time of easy commerce among all beings ... The trickster - Coyote or Raven or Hare - changes form as rapidly as clouds, reminding us how fluid nature is, and how arbitrary are the divisions between human and beast, between self and other. It is as if through language, the very power that estranges us from other animals, we are slowly working our way back into communion with the rest of nature."

- Scott Russell Sanders, "The Power of Stories" (Georgia Review, 1997).

[Guillaume Gris]

[beautifulbookishdisaster]

Whereas I, even now, persist in believing that these black marks on white paper bear the greatest significance, that if I keep writing I might be able to catch the rainbow of consciousness in a jar. The only trust fund I have is this story, and unlike a prudent Wasp, I'm dipping into principal, spending it all...

Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex

[acourtofquestions]

"I want to hear the entire story," Aelin said. "Every word of it.

[novelmonger]

Stories About Stories

There's this certain genre (or subgenre? or category?) that I love, which I like to call "stories about stories." (At first I was going to say "books about books," but obviously it can also be a movie/game/etc.) You know - a story that revolves around the very power of stories, of reading, of the deep love of books and fiction in general, where books and stories and reading are central to the plot. Stories about stories are less common than you might think, considering...well, presumably most people telling a story have a deep love and appreciation for stories, or why would they bother writing their own? But every now and then, I come across one and add it to a little mental bookshelf in my head. Here's what's on my bookshelf so far:

The Fall (2006) - A man with a spinal injury starts telling stories to a girl with a broken arm he meets in the hospital. The epic tale that unfolds not only helps pass the time, but also hints at characters' motivations and backgrounds. I'm not exaggerating when I say the story they weave together saves lives.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - People known as Silvertongues are able to read characters and objects out of books when they read aloud - and something from the real world goes into the book at the same time. The main character, Meggie, has a father who is a Silvertongue, who accidentally read characters out of a book called Inkheart, and Meggie's mother went into the book. Ever since then, he's been trying to read her back out. This book is all about the power, danger, and beauty of the written word.

Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager - A group of children find an untitled book in the library and open it to find that it's telling the story of them going to the library and finding this book. They use the book to make wishes and go into some of their favorite stories. It's basically every child's dream come true, if that child is a bookworm like me ^_^ I love every single one of Eager's magic books, but this was one of my particular favorites growing up.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - In an alternate version of our world, there are organizations that regulate time travel as well as literary crimes (such as gang wars over Shakespearian authorship, which is a big deal in this alternate history). The main character, Thursday, is a detective looking into one such complicated crime, and ends up going into the book of Jane Eyre. In this world, any changes made to an original manuscript will change all copies of the book, so you can imagine the kind of chaos that ensues. I actually didn't care for this book very much, but it was more because I disliked the characters, not because it wasn't fun to explore an alternate world where literature is so vitally important and you can meet literary characters for real.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - There is a huge, seemingly endless library that is its own dimension, connected to an infinite number of alternate worlds. The main character, Irene, is a librarian who is tasked with collecting new works of fiction for the library. This time, she goes to an alternate London to pick up a version of Grimm's fairy tales, meets an alternate version of a certain literary character, and has to contend with a chaotic but really fun steampunk world. Ultimately, I decided not to continue this series after the first book, but...I can't deny that risking one's life for the sake of a book made Irene very relatable XD

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry - The main character's brother, Charley, has the ability to read characters and important objects out of books. Which is all well and good until someone else ends up reading a very literal version of the Hound of the Baskervilles from the scene where it seems to actually be a spectral horror, and sends it to Charley's house to kill him.... An excellent book, which deals a lot with how different people will read the same character differently, colored by their own perceptions and understanding of the literature in question.

Alan Wake - A horror writer goes to a small town in the hopes of breaking through writer's block. Instead, he discovers that there is some kind of magic in the place that makes everything he writes come true. And...he's a horror writer, so.... This is an excellent horror game, with a really engaging story and one of the best (probably) unintentional allegories I've encountered in a video game. It feels almost like a cautionary tale about not letting writer's block get the best of you :P

Myst (series) - Okay, this one's maybe a little more metaphorical than the others. But the series is all about the D'ni, a hidden race of people who have the ability to create worlds by writing a book about them. It's like...sub-creation writ large. The point of the games is to explore these worlds, which are mostly abandoned after the fall of D'ni civilization, and to help the last few surviving D'ni find some measure of peace. The D'ni books aren't so much stories as just worldbuilding descriptions, but there's something so metaphorically resonant about touching the page of a book and then finding yourself in the world you just read about. And the people inhabiting these worlds being real people with free will and everything even though they were written by someone else...is that not how every writer's characters are?

Please add on to this! I always want more stories about stories. And I'm probably forgetting something super obvious anyway.

[ananke-xiii]

On Supernatural, getting what you want and the power of stories

I'm writing this post on the spur of the moment and I'm not exactly sure what my real point is, but I felt the urge to share my thougths with... well, I would say with someone, if by someone we mean any possible tumblr users that might stumble on my ramble.

It's all started after I've finished watching Supernatural and, among the many things that this show has made me think about more deeply, there is one that has just stuck with me and I can't seem to shake it off.

This thing is the idea that you can't get what you want. It's my own personal feeling, it might be the case that the show left you with something else, hopefully more positive. In my case, though, I was left dumbfounded after my discovery that the story I was passionately following for the past few months reached no catharsis.

Let's take Mary Winchester.

Mary: since life is about getting what you want? (from s12x12)

I'm sorry but when I heard this line my heart sunk a little. Her character starts off as a trope (the fridged woman that sets the action into motion), then gets back into the play in a fascinating way just to be literally erased from the face of earth. The show can tell us that she's happy in Heaven but this is not reassuring at all and doesn't change the tragedy inherent in her character.

The we have Dean Winchester, of course.

Pamela: How come you only want what you can't have? (from s14x10)

In this scene we are in Dean's "dream life" and yet, even there it doesn't seem possible for him to get what he wants. Why is that so?

Finally, we have Cas.

Cas: The one thing I want, it's something I know I can't have. (s15x19)

This was so hard to watch. I mean, not only does he want just ONE thing, but he also knows (or think of knowing which is the same for the audience as we don't know exactly what he wants), that by default he cannot have it. On top of that, because of the deal with the Empty, Cas had to actively choose between happiness and LIFE: it's just atrocious.

These characters, like many others on this show, were killed off without reaching the end of their becoming. Or, worse, the completion of their becoming was death.

So this got me thinking.

First of all, as far as storytelling is concerned, we as a collective have taken death too literally. Writing this in a silly post about frigging SUPERNATURAL where characters have died and come back countless of times seems CRAZY but hear me out.

There are two immensely powerful things that are intrinsically connected to the image of thread: stories and Destiny. They both inevitably lead to an ending. But death is not a fucking ending!

And it's precisely because of that, among all shows, Supernatural was THE perfect show that could have finally showed&told us this truth.

Think about it: we do not need to end stories with death. In the stories we have the incredible power to show death figuratively. So, for instance, a character that goes through their becoming can come out the other side both very much alive AND very much dead, because their past SELF has died. It's called metamorphosis, look it up!

In a story (and I would argue in life but I don't want to get too philosphical here) death is just a step in the process, it doesn't have to equate with the literal ending.

So why are we scary of this? Because it's frigging frightening!!! And exicting!!! And revolutionary!!! And I think we should start telling stories where people get what they want, become what they want and yes, a "self of them" dies in the process but this is good!!! It should be celebrated!!! And this death doesn't need to be literal/physical, more specifically this is a kind of death that doesn't cut off the becoming but enables it.

Stories are power. If we can't get what we want in our stories where does this leave us? No, I won't accept that. I think people are starting to realize this, too. We don't want silly stupid stories with silly stupid happy endings (and I would argue that, symbolically speaking, marriage is a form of death, too, but I digress). We want powerful stories vouching for the possibility of transformation, of catharsis, of getting what we want.

(so unfridge Cas, Mary and Dean, please)

[thatboreddrake]

So y’all know the classic edge trope of “my blade cannot be sheathed until it has tasted blood”? What if a magic sword that has that requirement, except it’s sort of inverted. A sword that, instead of being inhabited by an evil spirit which once awakened cannot be lulled back to sleep except by blood sacrifice, was inhabited by a benevolent spirit who would not allow the sword to be drawn unless bloodshed were the only possible solution. A sword whose power could never be misused because it would only allow itself to be used in situations where it was justified. What about a Paladin who spends their entire journey fighting with a sheathed sword, incapacitating but never killing or maiming. The party believes that the Paladin has taken an oath of no killing, until they face the big villain. And it is in that moment, and that moment alone, that the sword will allow itself to be drawn.

Idk, this image set my mindwheels a-turning.

But do y’all see the vision?

[euphonious-night]

the "power of stories" doesn't derive from being story-shaped, it derives from aboutness

[shaggydogstail]

This tweet lives rent-free in my head now. Hands-down the best comment about the relationship between art and artist.

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

The stewards of the old world are always keen to give you a glimpse of their might... According to legend, the ancients built specialized chambers to seal away false prophets.

The Arcane is waking up.

[transassdemon]

[My art, don't steal, tag if reposting]

[camilleflyingrotten]

Part 1/?

[azulhood]

DPxDC crossover but, instead of Danny being his ghostly-horror self, the justice league believe that he's just some guy.

Danny: *glowing eyes, sharp teeth, aura of eldritch being*

Villain: You're seeing this right?

Justice league: *turns around to find all the ghostly stuff gone* oh that's Danny *waves* hi Danny!

Villain: ...are you being serious right now?

It's not even that he's doing it on purpose, it's just anytime he does ghost things none of the heros are looking, and when they do have him in their sights he's just a normal person.

It probably wouldn't work for batman and his thousand cameras, but let's just say that it never got his attention cause no one in the league thought to mention it and the one time he did check it was just regular dude hours.

To the Justice league Danny is the humanist human to ever human.

Which is why they are so confused as to why this small branch of the government (mad scientist parents optional) is so sure he isn't.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

News spreads fast.

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