to: everyone;

[stations]

Hi, everyone. My name's Jack.

Some of you know this already, but I'm a writer. I kept a blog back home, and I was working on adapting it into a book series, but that didn't really pan out, considering the whole... temporal kidnapping thing. Several months ago I started writing for a few periodicals, and then eventually published my first real book here in Thorne shortly after. Which is pretty cool! But not really what I came here to talk about.

Writing, for me, has always been a kind of coping mechanism. I'm not always very good at analyzing things real-time, my brain works much better in hindsight, and sitting down to recount the things that I've been through helps me process it all in a way that's easier for me to really understand on a deeper level.

Also, for full transparency, it helps me keep a check on my sanity. It started as a suggestion from my therapist, actually, which is a much longer story that I won't bore you all with right now. The point is, having a written account of things that have happened, which are verifiable and which line up with my memory of events months or years later, has really helped me.

So I was thinking, after everything we just went through, it might help some of you guys, too. I want to put together an anthology series. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's basically a book, or several books, containing a combination of works from different writers or artists all revolving around a central theme — in this case, the theme would be surrounding our shared alternate reality. I thought maybe if we all had the ability to write stories, or poems, or make art, or just express ourselves about the absolutely unbelievable events of eight hundred years of interconnected lifetimes, maybe we could all understand each other (and ourselves) a little better.

At the very least, maybe some of us would feel better.

You don't have to use your real name, you can take as much artistic liberty as you want. It could be a story, or a song, or art, or whatever you need to do in order to express yourself. And then, eventually, when everybody's finished, I'll put it all together and make sure anybody who wants a copy gets one.

So, yeah, that's it. If you're interested, just let me know, I guess.

( ooc: I've gone ahead and created a master post here for anyone who wants to contribute to this! Each comment would essentially act as another section or chapter of the book. You can either have your character actually write out a story, or you can provide a summary and link directly to a thread if you'd rather handwave the retelling! You're also welcome and highly encouraged to have characters submit poems or in-character artwork! Feel free to hit me at paingravy or find me on Discord for any questions or suggestions! )

Comments

[ordinar]

Does it matter if it's actually good or not?

[stations]

I mean, art is subjective, so even if you don't think it's good, it might be great.

But no, it definitely doesn't matter.

[ordinar]

Ok cool.

I mean, I don't know if I'll submit anything. I've never done something like this before. But I kind of want to try.

[stations]

I think you should. I think hearing your perspective on what happened is invaluable, because you're the only one who lived it. And I think the rest of us would love to hear whatever you feel like contributing.

[ordinar]

[He's been writing things down lately. Not, like, a diary or anything — just little things he wants to remember. Because it's too easy to lose the things that are important to you.]

Maybe I'll try a poem?

They're short, and you're not supposed to say what you mean directly anyway. You can kind of hide it.

[stations]

Poems are great! And they don't really have any rules, so you can do whatever you want with them.

[ordinar]

And submissions can be anonymous?

[stations]

Yep! Or you can use a pen name, if you want.

[ordinar]

What are you going to write about?

[stations]

I'll probably do a couple of short stories. That time me and Jerry and Ed were pirates together was pretty fun.

( Also, probably something about what happened to Sabine — but he doesn't want to bring the mood down right now. )

[ordinar]

Yeah, it was pretty cool getting to do whatever the hell we wanted.

[Yeah, yeah, with great power comes great responsibility or whatever. Never mind that he had an ungodly mental breakdown over it every few decades.]

[stations]

Yeah, sometimes it kind of was.

( Other times, not so much. Other times he still has nightmares about. )

[ordinar]

And helping people with our blessings. That was cool too.

Anyway...

I'll try to come up with something.

[stations]

Yeah, that part... that part was really good.
We told a lot of stories. A lot of really, really good stories.

No rush, but I'm looking forward to it.
Let me know if you need any help (: