h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hullo mvp! Although I was enjoying the conversation, you and Peanut were impressing me.

I love that smiley, the canofworms.



Really??? The Overworld Overlords? heheh. That's amazing. Now I'm spooked by the Overworld, but it's a great story in the making.

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder why I saw it as a comfortable place? Where I could discuss yellow shoelaces with the angels. I wonder if I still do, or have the Overlords put me off. . Let's see....

(drifts into inner space)

back in a minute

mmm (still drifting through inner space)

The overworld. Well, I seem to still be in a positive space. . All I can see is a silken canopy ...

a silken canopy?? say the Overlords in unison ...

ssshh go away Overlords ...

Are these dudes real? I almost like them. . I like the banter. . mvp's characters, cor honestly, now they're as real as Brian. In France.

Anyway, where was I ....

Hmm, a silken canopy, like looking up into the high ceiling of a cathedral, but it's made of silk.

It's a silken canopy of the strangest greens and pale lemon, turquoise, red beyond description! all colours! I wish I could describe these colours. It's very fluid, wow! it's moving all the time, a silken canopy fluttering in a strange breeze, colours blending and shining so bright. This is my overworld? it's amazing....

I think it might be an energy field.

Not sure how this connects with discussing yellow shoelaces with the angels, but I'll let you know. .



Do the Overlords eat chocolate?

Thinking of Brian here. And the Overlords. And characters that writers create.

I'm always fascinated by the way that fictional characters can take hold, and become as real to me as real people, more real than real people sometimes, , but that's a bit philosophical for 6 am.

And if they become really famous, they have their entire bio on Wiki or someplace. . But even if they don't become famous, they exist anyway, once created.



Goes back to what mvp was saying once, about how writers create a backstory for a character.

This is interesting to me. I'm fascinated by the dedication of the writer, what it takes to create the backstory, which isn't easy at all, it's hard work, and has to be consistent.



I notice, for example, that mvp's Overworld already has characters and dramatic tension and possibilities for a story, whereas my Overworld is an abstract energy field, an eternal swirl.

hmm

I'm OK with this, provided I don't try to spin it out for several volumes. .

Considerations Of The Overworld Energy Field/Book 4, Chapter 493. The Eternal Swirl. .

All I have to punctuate the eternal swirl is an attention seeking guardian angel named Jay, a thin, haunted actor/poet in a trench coat who stands on bridges all the time watching rivers of light, and a few lizards.

That's so funny. I guess that's why I have to send my characters to cafes all the time, because they have no place else to go, and they've forgotten their backstory.



Right, that's that then.

What about the Underworld?

The Underworld is waaay famous, I bet it has its backstory in Wiki.

I wonder what my inner Underworld looks like?

I predict an abstract energy field. Enter lizard stage left. Looks around, nothing happening, heads for The Eternal Swirl Café.

Your 'thin, haunted actor/poet in a trench coat who stands on bridges all the time watching rivers of light' is definitely a character and we could tell his story.

Why is he haunted? We could suppose this was just after World War 1 and he is haunted by the horrors of the battlefield. He is struggling to make a living acting and selling his poems until he meets a young girl selling flowers outside a station. She is poor and vulnerable but their growing relationship changes his life.

As for the Overworld, I like the idea that the computers are maintained and programmed by serious young men. They are hard working and live on and but one of them has misgivings about his work. Why are the computers spying on the people? And who are these mysterious Overlords who are in charge? Are they, in fact ?

'They are hard working and live on coffee and choc but one of them has misgivings about his work. Why are the computers spying on the people? And who are these mysterious Overlords who are in charge? Are they, in fact ?'

oof, sorry, my first thoughts were grounded in the state of our current affairs no, not , our governments, thoughts of whistle blowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.

Not very daydreamy

I'm quite intrigued mvp, is there a reason why all the young are men? Or was just what came to mind?

The haunted poet is a he, I saw a she, an expression of cc (not cc),although it could have been Dave

eek, not sure how that last post reads

*insecurity*

*no I am over thinking*

*can I explain better my imagery, err, nope, eek*

*overthinks*

ok I am just go to make and provide

Am I guilty of sexual stereotyping?

You're quite right that the poet/actor in the trench coat could be female. In that case, we need to give her another reason for being haunted. She could have been a refugee,someone who has fled war and persecution in her own land. Or she could simply be seeking enlightenment.

As for the , they are male because the geeky people I know are male.

I must and do some cooking. I was going to do a bake of wild mushrooms, potato and cheese.

potato, wild mushrooms and cheese,

no, I wasn't asking you if you were guilty of gender stereotyping but after I posted, I wasn't sure if it read like that and was aware that the wording of my post didn't 'read' in the same way I had meant it to sound, what I had said in my head then typed, didn't translate to written words quite

um

mis-communication

I was interested in why you saw them all as young men, in where did that characterisation come from, how did that relate to your experience, was it part of a mvp plot line, that sort of thing

shall I pour you one as you are cooking?

I suppose I thought the poet was male because he (or she) was wearing a trench coat, and was described as an actor. (Though The Guardian uses the word 'actor' for both male and female theatrical people, on the grounds that 'actress' has come to be associated with less honourable occupations. )

But it's interesting how the story changes once you change the sex of the character. So the writer can come up with lots of possible variations by changing sex, age, race, occupation...

Good morning peoples of delicious cookery and thoughts.



In this case ....

(Cue the parcel delivery guy from Porlock) ....

Back in a minute ....

Cor honestly.

Not even a parcel for us. Signing for the neighbour. Now I want to open the parcel, I'm like a pup on Christmas Day.

I see parcel, I tear open parcel, I attempt to chew contents. . wruff wruff



Interesting, about the gender of characters, how the story can change.



I'm fascinated by the way that writers can create the drama on the page, through the use of characters.

And actors also. Like how they can play scary people, or people who are completely different to who they really are.

How a writer can create a character that's not them at all, for dramatic purposes, to represent aspects of the story.

Be good to be able to change skins like that, but I can't do it. it makes me homesick. .

Actually, I'd like to know more about that. Speak to me, writers, playwrights, dreamers!

What does it feel like to create a character who is completely, say, opposite, or at odds with, or akin, or threatening, to one's own temperament?

I think the poet on the bridge is a guy, although in some dreams/scenes/frames she could be a woman, but always and definitely androgynous, with third gender sensibilities.

As if that helps.

A lover though, deeply in love, with whom or what? Good question. Charismatic.

He/she is only an aspect of my own psychology. . Any guardian angel/imaginary friend of mine will incorporate the male and female in the one soul, emotionally at least.

All my songs are one song. I've accepted this. The fellow on the bridge is probably Jay.

The only separate characters are the lizards. . The lizard chorus. The lizards are making me laugh right now. I love the lizards.

Having said all that, does the soul on the bridge have a biography, a backstory? Surely yes! I'll try to dream it, let you know. This could surprise me.

A character who's completely at odds with my own temperament?

I suppose I tried to do that with Brian. He drinks too much , is unfaithful to long-suffering Alison and eventually becomes violent. He's a man who never really faces the truth about himself and the circumstances in which he's living. Only at the end, where he's lost everything, does he realise all this might be his fault. None of this is like me.

Or is it? Brian is a dreamer. He gambles everything on a dream of buying a house in France and living there, in a lovely place where the sun shines, the food is good and there's plenty of . I had a dream too. I dreamt of writing a novel. I even thought it might be decent...

whoah. Interesting. Of course you make that paragraph sound like a novel in itself. You are a poetlady at the peak of your powers.

What about that last sentence then?

'I had a dream too. I dreamt of writing a novel. I even thought it might be decent.'

Well, that's a bit of a cliffhanger isn't it? You can't leave me there! Come back ye writerlady. Is this the start of a story within a story, or the end, either way you got me hooked. An opening line I think.

I could recite that line. I just did.



I do love hootoo. There's all our crazy conversations here, which I love so much, .

I'm lost in GuideML?-land over on the other thread with Magwitch, who is trying to help me land my Create badge into my PS, but has to rescue me with rope and torch.

and I'm trying to bring through a biography of an imaginary androgynous guardian angel. .

I need slow gin and a cup of Peanut's Perculiar.

sloe gin

and pot of perculiar

Thankyouverymuch darlin'

Greetings to you on this fine evening! And cheers!!

I'm still lost in the hills of GuideML, in search of my Create badge.

I don't really know what GuideML is, but I'll risk it all for lerv.

I'm getting funny messages, trying to change from Plain to GuideML, it says Bad Closing element, GUIDE expecting BODY.

I said to Magwitch that I felt like I was on a shamanic vision quest, and my spirit guide sent me a message to wait while he/she finds a body.

GUIDE expecting BODY, go to village, wait for ten days, sleep deep, be good. GUIDE will return to you in human form, with a smile, some chocolate, , and a dogeared map of the London Underground.

I'm regularly reduced to a state of gibbering idiocy by Guide ML.

But I do know that when you start a tag, say , you need to close it .Check that you've closed all your tags.

I'm entranced by the idea of a spirit guide who 'returns in human form with a smile, some chocolate and a dogeared map of the London Underground.'