What kind of god you are?

Well you aren't the real God. But I think writting is the closet thing.

You created your fanastical world from nothing and you made it's rules, it's people, it's wonders. As Neil Gaiman said "Everybody has a secret world inside of them..". You are omnipresent and omnipotent

Many tried to make a perfect world for them since they start and that's when some Mary sues and Old Shame began. 

You probably know that a good story requires conflict/flaws and even suffering. So you are reaponsable of evey Complete Monster and evry suffering in your work.

I ask you this, becuase analysing what you believe and what you do in all your stories is a reflection of what you believe and who you are and therefore show the essence of all your stories and in what their uniqueness relies.

If you could see yourself from the point of view of your characters, what kind of god would you be?. Knowimg that you will see what makes your own stories special.

edited 12th Jul '12 8:32:46 PM by FallenLegend

Personally, I've never really liked this analogy.

Maye but I would argue it is very acurate

No, not really. For one thing, no matter how much you toss around analogies like I Just Write the Thing and metaphors about them going in their own directions, my characters don't have free will.

No

If you tried to claim divinity you would be right.

But the purpose of the analogy is to learn more about you as an author and unique style as I mentioned, hence the reason free will isn't even relevant.

More about literature and less about teology.

edited 12th Jul '12 8:52:40 PM by FallenLegend

...which is reflected in how the predestination paradox is such a fascinating source of controversy in theology. :P

edited 12th Jul '12 8:52:28 PM by Noaqiyeum

It is relevant from where I'm standing - since my characters don't have free will, then any opinion they would have of me as their "god" would be one I gave them, and thus the whole exercise is moot.

Plus, this brings us into the whole problem of evil idea. Like I said, this is an analogy I don't think highly of.

Sorry but I am not talkig about a literal god as in religion, but god as in creation. More of a refelction of your ideals in the story and story telling... I still don't see how free will is relevant to that sorry...

I noted your opinion, thanks for sharing it but I would like other's point of view.

edited 12th Jul '12 9:00:21 PM by FallenLegend

You know, Fallen Legend, leaving the particular issue aside, I have to say that I've been increasingly annoyed in general by your tendency to start threads like this, where you treat your own opinion on some topic as an absolute fact. As for this thread, I've said my say and will be going, but on a more general scale you really need to stop doing this.

We have had conflicts in the past, for sure.I have strongly disagreed with you too before.

I prefer not to fight and use pm's to resolve conflicts however.

but I am curious how am I enforcing my opinion?I would like to know inorder to edit and remove it, I aim for neutrality. In mi opinion enforcing my opinion in a forum is pointless ( I know redundant)

That coment of yours seems to be a valid criticism. I assure you, the least of my intentions is enforce my opinion, if I am doing it, by no means it is on purpose

edited 12th Jul '12 9:12:03 PM by FallenLegend

nrjxll, at this point you start to look like a troll. If it's a thread which is not good enough for discussion, it will get abandoned. If people do pick it up and talk about it, you've got nothing to do with it.

If you don't like something, don't do it, but let others do what they want.

On topic. I created my world specifically with a point that for most people, it would be a good place to live. Great majority of the world at any point in time is relatively peaceful, if somewhat culturally backwards. Of course, when bigger plots come knocking, some stuff gets shaken up and some people do suffer, but at any time 99% of the people are well off. That's why I think if they realised there's a Demiurge of their world, I'd hope they'd consider him (me) a good "god".

Still, if they were real people, making them suffer for a plot wouldn't exactly count as very nice, but unlike any potential Gods of our world, I have the luxury of them not being actual people! :D

Gee, first impressions, eh?

Anyway, I've often thought about this, and I tend to come to the conclusion that most of my protagonists would hate me, until they realise that despite all the bad stuff that happens, the good guys still win. That's not to say that I'm the villain, but it's human nature to think bad things about stuff they don't understand that seems to be the cause of their problems.

I find this an amusing question given that my user name for this and other internet forums is the same name that i gave to the main Goddess in most of my fantasy set stories. Which is kinda ironic in a way as Merlanthe is a nice Goddess of healing, peace, nature and seasons and both my RL personality/temperament and the way i treat the characters in my stories is more akin to Keyla the Goddess of death, vengeance, war and embroidery that always forms the other half of my fantasy world pantheon.

In all seriousness the characters in all my stories already live with Deities that they know for a fact are real and accept as an inevitable part of everyday life. The idea that there was some even more powerful being that created their world and the other Gods probably wouldnt faze them simply because they already have a pantheon of Deities to ignore or interfere in their daily lives what difference would one more make?

edited 13th Jul '12 7:24:38 AM by Merlanthe

Neil Gaiman already examined the concept of the author as the arbiter of reality in the Sandman comic "24 Hours" with an efficacy of deconstruction that I simply cannot equal.

That being said, nrjxll is right to criticise Fallen Legend's tendency to apply his own beliefs as universal truths, and in the strictest sense is right to say that one is, consciously or unconsciously, in absolute control of one's characters. But then there is an interesting philosophical question in that, particularly if the characters became aware of this situation. I have plans to examine aspects of this in my work directly, but for the sake of discussion I will give a blunt answer: If everything that I write is a part of me, I am the worst kind of masochist.

Question: What kind of god are you?

Answer: This kind. Don't think too hard about this one, because I sure didn't.

Serious Answer: Kind of a tricky but interesting question, considering that in several of my stories the characters meet/interact with their gods (and in one instance, the main character IS one). But in terms of their relation to me...well, it'd vary from character to character.

I seem to have a natural inclination toward making characters earn their victories — often after a slew of debilitating events and generally...er, colorful backstories. So in that regard, my divine approach is something like a cool teacher, but one that piles on the workload; I'm tough, but fair, and more than willing to give chances for success/redemption if they're willing to work for it.

So I guess how my characters feel about me depends on where they are in the story (and again, based on their own ideas and preferences). If they're at the start, they'll likely be neutral. At the middle, resentful. At the end, thankful that they live a life that — despite its constant speed bumps — is ultimately a road worth driving down.

edited 13th Jul '12 10:06:50 AM by Voltech44

@Fallen Legend: This might be off-topic, but I sincerely think that you should work on polishing your grammar and spellings if you want to be a successful writer. Hope you are not offended.

I'm the type of god that manipulates the world for a better story. That's the whole point of one of my characters.

Night: FL has english as his second language, I am sure he is learning.

edited 13th Jul '12 10:33:43 AM by MrAHR

Oi, English is my second language too!

@Nightwire

Don't worry I am working on it. In fact I think I am a visual artist first and a writter second. But yeah my writting does need work :p

@AHR thank you.

@JHM point taken , how can I improve on that?. I tried to be neutral but it seems I failed.Perhaps I am taking for granted something it is very subjetive?

edited 13th Jul '12 10:52:50 AM by FallenLegend

I find this amusing because in my fantasy parody the characters treat notable fantasy writers as gods.

As for me, though, well, I once wrote a short story in which I met one of my characters and got punched in the face. I'd say that I'm not particularly benevolent, especially given my penchant for darker stories and unhappy endings.

You can improve on that by stating outright that it is a matter of your own opinion and then frame the question as how others see the issue rather than asking a question based on subjective criteria directly.

I would never want to be considered a god. My characters have belief systems which I respect and in some cases share. However in a metaphoric sence:

I love my characters and take good care of them. The lonely get True Companions , the orphans get good and loving Gaurdians, the faithful couple gets a farytail wedding and a heathy son, and the main characters become heros. However I am also responsible for The Plague, which kills billions (including several of my characters' parents), and collapses society as we know it. Not sure what that makes me.

edited 13th Jul '12 11:22:35 AM by HistoryMaker

If I were a god, these would be much better stories.

If I was a god, then there would be a lot of atheists...

I am a terribly cruel god. I have created two warring forces called Nature and Civilization that can never totally destroy each other and are destined to duke it out for eternity.

I have peopled my world with wicked nature spirits that propagate by forcefully transforming humans into monsters by destroying their souls.

To top it all off, I have created four "supreme forces" to be my proxies: the Oracles of time and fate, the Shaper of the world, and the Hunter of oath-breakers. All of these beings are sadistic sociopaths.