"The white sun is rising over the lavender hill..." · 8:05pm May 2nd, 2014
(This post is a response to Aragon's blog post here. A supplement, if you will. Just a few things that I wished to clarify.)
As some of you may have noticed, I just published my latest story here, entitled "My True Body." Well, my latest side story, anyway, since it is in fact an addition to a tale named "Born On A Rock Farm," created by another really talented writer named Aragon.
When I first noticed the aforementioned story pop up in the "popular" box, I remember thinking something along the lines of "Oh god... that pun is horrible... and what the hell is this, anyway?" Still, the "pony with a guitar" cover image managed to draw me in, so I decided to give it a read. Once I got to the end, I thought it was more or less okay, so I gave it a fave and like, then spent the next few hours (or was it days?) arguing with the author in the comments section about some of my gripes with the story, especially about Inkie's character. It was there that I found out just how focused the content was on the whole "messiah" thing, which was slightly to my dismay, since up to that point I viewed it as a slightly flawed, but otherwise excellent story about a pony musician, and there simply aren't enough good stories of that kind out there (with the exception of the billions of pathetic TaviScratch fics, or whatever you call them...)
That said, I left the story with a bittersweet taste in my mouth. I really liked the basic idea behind it, but certain elements of the execution bugged me so much that it never managed to reach the zenith that I was hoping for.
A couple of days later, however, I was listening to the song "My True Body" by Angels of Light, and when it got to the line "I can see the footsteps of Jesus...", an image of Inkie Pie and the bloody hoofprints she leaves behind pooped up in my head. In fact, from that point on, every time I listened to that song, I was reminded of this story. But what was even more interesting for me was the gradual shift in my perspective of Inkie's character. Previously, the whole "silent, wise, messianic figure" didn't really do it for me, nor could I imagine just what her music might sound like in order to be described as "the most influential thing ever" and the like. Then, after many, many listens of the aforementioned band's music (as well as some other associated acts), I started to imagine her like this:
To me, this guy – who also happens to be the leader of Swans, by the way – seemed like the perfect "real-life equivalent" of Inkie Pie. Or, to be more precise, the character I wanted her to be. A person who creates an atmosphere containing an immense amount of internal tension, which is then released through music that is both transcendental and terrifying. A sort of "wrong eyed Jesus," if I may use that phrase, and the more I listened to the man's music, the more I enjoyed this interpretation of Inkie's character. Having seen him live not too long ago was also a great help in affirming this image.
Now, to be fair, the original fic did partially go in this direction. However, it still left me wanting, not to mention it really downplayed Inkie's "mortal elements" toward the end, and those were what made her sympathetic to me in the first place. So, with this new image now in my head, I figured I would love to try taking it all the way. The original would show her "divine components," while I would sculpt "Inkie Pie the earth pony," the musician whose music makes her hooves bleed as it reveals the true, ruthless nature of life. I wanted to describe her music as something incredibly difficult, almost unpleasant to listen to, and her role as a musician as something that was never hailed by any great number of ponies during her lifetime, or even afterward, and only her influence on others being viewed as having a great, but only indirect impact. I wanted to discover how she felt on the inside, to dig up the parts of her soul that became the inspiration for such amazing performances. I wanted to show her pain and struggling in the most visceral fashion that I could conjure up. I wanted to show everyone her dreams, her emotions, and her view of the world based on her experiences of it.
With that in mind, I set out to write a fic about my own version of Inkie Pie, which, as those of you who have read both fics may have noticed, turned out to be far more dark and abrasive that the original. In fact, one of the greatest rifts between me and Aragon during the creative process was deciding whether Inkie was already "enlightened" by the time my story about her takes place, since this also determined her thoughts and emotions toward those around her. In my head, Inkie gradually reached that level through the years of traveling and performing her music, and I wanted this fic to be a "snapshot" of her character roughly 75% of the way to the top in the spiritual sense. That would place her on a level already way above her peers, but still where she could fall victim to sudden bursts of emotions that may be in the wrong place.
That section where she describes her emotions toward her Band, for example, was originally going to be far more vitriolic and cynical. My version of Inkie grows to despise her followers once she finally decides to acknowledge them, simply because they make her own efforts feel like a waste. However, in order to avoid completely screwing up the character Aragon originally intended to create, I agreed to go with the "enlightened route" and mention such emotions as things Inkie "might have felt in the past" instead (some of the other details are still there, though...)
The basic premise, however, is unchanged: in my book, true messianic figures do not radiate warmth, comfort, and joy all day long. Instead, it is far more likely that their presence would make one feel humbled, terrified, or even angry because they couldn't cope with what such figures could reveal to them. More importantly, though, I wanted a much more down-to-earth character, since that reflects my idea that enlightenment isn't reserved for a few special "chosen ones" who pop up once every millennium or so. We could all do it. All it takes is for a person to make the necessary decisions and go down the path that leads there.
I hope that I have succeeded, and that you enjoyed reading about it...
That is all. Thank you for your attention!
(obligatory extra music embedding:)
Also, I'm probably going to write a sequel or two...
A sequel?! Huh! That sounds like a good read. I'll definitely look forward to it. Ignore the fact that it seems like I only read those ten words; I did read the whole blog post.
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I'm glad you decided to read any of it....