Sane Philosopher Meets Mad Writer
Meeting the mystical challenge of the honor code—Bwahaha!
Yes, folks, another gruesome post to give you that Halloween Vibe. My somewhat sane philosopher side meets up with my mad (as in insane) writer side. Sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with a laptop computer and an internet connection.
Recently, in the misty regions of a land known as Substack where warriors, swordplay, and more hold sway,
, writers of fantasy fiction, posed a challenge that other writers, no matter their genre, put forth the honor code to which their characters adhere and that drives the story. That challenge brought to mind a goal I had had at university in a far off distant land called the USA decades ago (don’t ask how many—that would be rude and I might have to put a hex on you).While other acolytes were learning useful things from the school wizards and witches, like the magick of economics, the mystical mysteries of accounting, or how to train young wizards and witches, I was studying the more esoteric areas of Philosophy and English Literature. Truly mad. Their goal was to become productive citizens in that distant land. Mine was to become a mad fiction writer incorporating philosophical ideas. Things didn’t exactly work out that way for me. Maybe I’m just not mad enough. Plus, tedious details kept getting in the way, such as needing a place to live, food, healthcare, and most of all ideas of what to write. And since my studies hadn’t included being able to conjure up the first three, I was faced with the ignominy of getting a job. I did. And writing became a back burner item. For now, the philosopher, aka Dr. Jekyll, side was restrained to more sane writing such as articles, software user guides, attempts at short stories, some published poems, and later blogs and website content for various tea companies. The mad writer, aka Mr. Hyde, was fuming in the background, rattling the bars of his dungeon cell to get out.
All that halted in January 2019. Mr. Hyde was about to burst out. My husband (and no, he’s not a wizard) is to blame—uh, I mean, is responsible—that is, kicked things off. He suggested I revisit my attempt to write a romance novel started in early 2003. Dr. Jekyll trembled at the idea, but Mr. Hyde told him to shut up and sit off to the side. And Mr. Hyde was right. This time, my efforts began slowly but soon snowballed into what is now a mountain of writing called the Freelan series, with stories of aliens, ghosts, and other such creatures popping into my head along the way and now collected into two books, with a third soon to be published.
The one thing I attribute to the achievement, done without magick, is the incorporation of those philosopher ideas, that is, Dr. Jekyll infusing Mr. Hyde with some sort of super powers, attained over the past quarter of a century when my husband had introduced me to Ayn Rand, a very sane writer/philosopher whose two major novels are still in print and sell well: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
Philosophical Guide, not Honor Code
Instead of talking about an honor code, I will lay out the philosophical guide Dr. Jekyll had infused into Mr. Hyde for my writing in the Freelan series.
Basically, I follow what Rand had developed in her writings—a most sane and non-magical philosophy called Objectivism. It can be summed up in this quote by one of her heroic characters, John Galt (also not a wizard):
“I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for
the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
So, how do we parse this seemingly simple statement? Here is my take:
To never live for the sake of another man means to honor your love of your life and not put it behind the needs of others.
To never ask another man to live for your life means you don’t condone force of any kind, including the government, being used to take from others to meet your needs.
This is the guide for the Freelan series where my hero Jim O’Connell follows both ideas. He is a man who looks to himself for success in life and doesn’t turn to “friends” (aka, cronies) in government to get an advantage over competitors. Naturally, his archenemy Sid Minot is the opposite, i.e., a man who schmoozes with bureaucrats to help his business and crush the opposition. The battle between these two is like two generals leading their armies. On Jim’s side, the people who know him well and who agree with his view of life—to live with respect for the individual rights, including property rights, of others and having them respect his. On Sid’s side are people who owe him favors, ride his coattails, and fall into the trap of thinking he is their benefactor. Jim’s side is honesty, respect, and productivity. Sid’s is backroom deals, scheming, and putting people into situations where they will do what he wants.
As with most battles, there are people caught in-between, the main one in that romance novel turned philosophical treatise, aka part one of the Freelan series, is Rose Wilson, recently widowed and Jim’s neighbor in the rural area of Hammil Valley in eastern California. She becomes a target and a pawn in the back and forth between Jim and Sid. And eventually, she and Jim… well, I’ll leave that for now. (See excerpts here.)
The philosophy of Objectivism guides my Mr. Hyde in determining the actions of the characters. Jim would never run to the government to get a law or regulation crafted to shut down Sid’s business, but he is not averse to confronting the government crony Sid uses to try to get at Jim.
And Mr. Hyde keeps these things in mind:
Jim is the productive man who deals with a leech on society (the government crony).
The man who pays taxes (again Jim) is under the yoke of the man who spends them (again the crony), supposedly for the “greater good,” who is acting for the benefit on Jim’s enemy (Sid).
The crony in essence forces that taxpayer (Jim) to live for the sake of others, a violation of Jim’s creed of life, the very basis of his existence.
A Word for Your Mad Writer
Let out the Mr. Hyde within you! When you write, your characters will exhibit a certain philosophy. It needn’t be your philosophy, but it should remain consistent as you write about those characters. You will keep thinking, “Gee, how would Character X respond here? What would she or he do?” Too many TV shows, novels, et al., make their characters do something “out of character” simply to make their story work. I encourage you to refrain. Stay consistent. It will be more believable. And your story will be the better for it.
Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!
See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.
Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.
And check out more from Team Halloween
– Victorian Vignettes (dhw) – Agent of Weird: Exploring the Write Fantastic – Tales from the Defrag – Monsters & Mystics (dhw) – Andy Futuro (dhw) – Pretty Evil Fiction – Fiction by Bill Adler (dhw) – Everywhere and Nowhere: Explore Fantastic Worlds (dhw, with help from faerie ancestors) – Blackthorn Witch – Telegrams from Bloodstream City – Horror Weekly – It's the Devil – Caro’s Writing Perspectives (dhw) – SwampWitch (dhw) – When in Doubt, Walk in a Circle (dhw) – The Charlotte Pendragon Diaries by Charlotte Pendragon – Chris from Monster Complex – Colin’s Dark Stories (dhw) – Cyndi’s Dark Fiction – detect magic (dhw) – Dan’s Deliberations – Lamp Post in the Marsh – Made from What’s Not Real (dhw) – Dirt Boots | A serialized novel by Australian Foodie – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles – Exploring the Eyrie (dhw) – EternalArt’s Substack – Vampires & The Vapors – Garbage Notes (spec fic, poet) – Ginger’s Substack – Grace’s Spook Show – A work of fiction – Conversations with Critters – Honeygloom (dhw) – Through a Glass, Darkly (dhw) – Jenna B. Neece - Author & Podcaster (dhw) - check out Magical Manifestations podcast – Autumn Lives Here (dhw) – Monster of the Week (dhw) – Strange New Worlds (dhw) – Substack von jonasT (in German) (new here - stop by and say "hi") – Joyce's Place (dhw) – The Fantastic and Mundane Chronicles of a Fantasy Writer – Cobwebs and Candles – Halcyon Horror (dhw) – The Palace of Night – Fiction for the Cosmically Disturbed – The Traveling Circus (dhw) – Wannabe Vampire – The Inciting Incident with Mata Haggis-Burridge (dhw) – Targeted Nightmares – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover (dhw) – Morgthorak the Undead – Newton's Tales of the Macabre – Books and Boos, with Nicolina Torres – The Norman Crane – Macabre Curiosities – Twisting the Myths (dhw) – PC3 Horror – Robert's Substack (dhw) – S. Dumont’s Corner – Talebones – Scrawls of the Dread’s Substack – Automatic Writer – Kindling – The Horror! The Horror! – Slow Burn Horror’s Substack – Snowy Hearts, host of Menagerie Morning! (dhw) – The Wild and the Quiet – Shadows and Space (dhw) – Bros Krynn’s Newsletter (dhw) – Dracula’s Ghost – Pandora’s Box of Infinite Stories – DOOM FICTION (dhw) – Wyatt Werne (dhw)———
———
Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of recently published eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio), and my new book of eerie Sci-Fi stories (Kindle and paperback), both from Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the covers.) A third book will be out in about a month: The Wiccan Tales. A real Halloween treat. I will be posting an excerpt or two plus the cover design before then.
Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales: Ebook, paperback: Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Ebook on other platforms: Books2read. On Audible.
The Stardust Alliance and More: Ebook at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and elsewhere. Paperback at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. On Audible.
I am hoping I can have more reading time soon since I want to read so many of our wonderful authors here on Substack.
Yes, the resolution of the tale should flow naturally from that which motivates the main character, whatever that may be. Thank you for your thoughts on this topic.