Hey guys, I know I've been pretty silent the past two months. Life got really crazy. Of such life-crazy making things is that I've been writing fiction for a website called Enigma Life, a website that caters to those who enjoy art, culture and mystery. So far one story, based on David and Goliath, has been published on their site and another is in the works! So yeah, I'm getting published. I've found writing works better when someone offers to pay you for it. Maybe if people start throwing cash my way, I can finish that goddamned novel I've been working on!
This week marks the 2014 release of the Wyrdcon Companion, an annual academic journal dedicated to role play in its various forms. Last year I got to meet the large core of the editors behind Wyrdcon's yearly journal at the Living Games Conference, namely Aaron Vanek and Sarah Lynne Bowman, both of whom are amazing human beings. During the conference, I got to have a really indepth sit down with Sarah, which included everything from discussions on Carl Jung, academia on the whole, and a shared love/hate relationship with certain theater larp games. In short, if I ever have a spirit journey, the form my guide will take will probably be Sarah...or she'll just show up herself.
During these conversations, I got into the discussion of one of my favorite topics: Mythology. I've loved myths ever since I was a kid. We had talked about larping and how we as regular (well, nominally regular) people are creating myths on a regular basis. I had written about it previously...almost two years ago...jesus. So one thought lead to another and with some heavy prompting by both Sarah and Shoshana Kessock, I started writing Playing In Myth for the Companion.
I had used my previous article as the inspiration, but other than that the paper was it's own creature. A lot of the writing was based on Mythic Imagination, a book written by Joseph Campbell's student, Steven Larsen. Larsen, during his studies of humans creating personal myths for themselves in contemporary times, actually visited and talked to an early 90's larp group about their experiences and what goes in to making their world and the experiences their characters and players go through. I read through the entire book and said "this makes perfect sense and...holy crap, he outright sees larping as a tool of mythmaking, and mythmaking as a tool of developing human psyches".
Now, for those of you who don't know me, allow me to confess something: I hate, with a violent passion, academic papers. I hate them on such a deepseated level that there is a chance my children will have a hatred of them instilled, and so will their children and so on and so forth. Research papers are so effing dry and inanely put together that the only people who can read them are the people who wrote them. It doesn't help that my style of writing, which is so much built on narrative, is anathema to research papers. I have been told, at three different schools, by three different professors for three different projects, that I have a wonderful narrative voice...which is why my paper assignments failed.
So, with that in mind, working on this article for Wyrdcon represented a challenge. My work wasn't going to be peer-reviewed (ie; viciously circled by academics and picked apart to make sure it was accurate in it's measurments) which is a major relief because Sarah and Whitney Beltran are the leading voices for mythology/Jungian aspects in role play and I did not wish to be under the microscope on my first time out. Sarah helped me out along the way, up to and including walking me through places where my biggest weakness: passive voice, kept cropping up. My friend, Sara (yes, this did get confusing) helped be my sounding board and editor for this when I needed it.
Now, it's published, and I'm looking at the document right now and it's surreal seeing words I wrote in a journal I've been reading for two years now. The hell do I do with this?
Celebrate, that's what I'm going to do.
Reading through the document itself, I gravitated straight away to Kevin Burns article on Larp and Psychotherapy. He touched a lot of points that I've experienced myself and also hit some of my favorite theories and practices I picked up in internship. Also, Pete Woodworth's discussion on the subculture of misogyny that has become inflamed in gaming. He speaks to his fellow male gamers eloquently and with experience...which I am grateful for, because every time I try to write something on the subject, I keep devolving into this.
In the end, I don't know where this will take me. I have another idea for next year's journal. Right now, this is tremendous moment for me personally, and I'm just going to celebrate it.
Later,
C
The Wyrdcon Companion Page, including all released copies in .pdf format.
No comments:
Post a Comment