Wisdoms - Blog Posts
Bias
Does one ever really "stop" being influenced by the things they read, watch, play, or otherwise experience, fiction or otherwise? You can't endlessly tinker with the story of Unsounded, and I imagine you already know what you want to say with it... but do you see yourself still able to change or evolve, either during the making of it or beyond? Signed, someone feeling old and stuck.
>>Does one ever really "stop" being influenced by the things they read, watch, play, or otherwise experience, fiction or otherwise?
I think that's up to you. My sixty year old mom listens to the same Tom Petty albums for hours, and watches the same episodes of MASH over and over and over again. For her, media has become a warm and comforting bath after a long day. Maybe that happens to all of us as the world gets more alien and we need that comfort. I don't think it has to be that way, but I think it takes real effort to continue to connect with new stuff; to let it in. The new stuff won't be catering to you so you have to do more work to understand it. And work sucks. But if you care about staying connected to the changing world, you gotta do the work to change with it. Or don't. It's your call.
If you feel old and stuck, let new stuff in. Don't dismiss it, even if your experience lets you recognise the same old tropes repeating themselves.
That latter thing is a problem I have. The older I get, the smaller the world seems. We just aren't very interesting animals. We make the same things over and over because we're trapped in such a tiny, limited world. Teach a hamster to paint and all you're gonna get is canvas after canvas of water bottles and hamster wheels.
>>You can't endlessly tinker with the story of Unsounded, and I imagine you already know what you want to say with it... but do you see yourself still able to change or evolve, either during the making of it or beyond?
Unsounded's changed a lot as it's gone along. It's a very long comic, but it's broken into storylines that have reflected my own changing self as the years have dragged on. I'm sure you've noticed it's gotten a bit more cynical in recent chapters. Sette has sobered up as she and I have experience more of the world. It'll keep changing, too. There are places I want to go in it that I couldn't have gone ten years ago. There are things I want to say that I didn't even know existed back then. Fortunately, while Unsounded's narrative highway is complete, there's plenty room to traverse that highway dynamically, via vehicles I've yet to even decide on.
So yeah, if you're stuck, Anon, get in a different car. Maybe get on a hippopotamus.
How do you feel about evolved forms of contractions? It'd've, for example :3
I think you should use whatever tools communicate your intentions best!
I've seen eggheads complain about excessive contractions, and against trying to phonetically write out how characters speak. but lol i say. lmao.
Beautiful writing is rhythmic writing, and every syllable is a musical note. Why would you restrict what notes you can use? Preposterous. Ludicrous!
I didn't think Duane was so misogenistic ;_; since he, in the end, tolerated his daughter learning pymary.
I think we’re fooling ourselves a bit if we don’t acknowledge he’s something of a misogynist. The challenge with Duane and with many of the characters in our cast is that they are inescapably marked by the cultures they grew up in. Just as we ALL are. We ALL have biases within us that we have to acknowledge and consciously overcome. There is no pure and unblemished person. It’s not possible in this bitch of a world.
Duane relenting that night and agreeing to teach Mikaila pymary was a battle - fought and successfully won - against his own misogyny. It was a good thing. But it was not a moment when a light switch flipped and he was suddenly a paragon of gender equality. He’ll keep struggling daily with his biases the same way we all do.
Everyone around you has biases. You can write people off because of them, or you learn to love in spite of them and help them understand more and grow. I do this with Duane the same way I have to do it with my dad and a lot of other people in my life. It’s the most difficult thing.