On Theme And The Collapse

 I have been a fan of the author Steven Pressfield for many years.  I originally became acquainted with his work through the book Gates of Fire, which is a historical fictional account of the battle of Thermopylae.  It is a well written book - so well that for many years and perhaps even now, it appeared on the Marine Commandant's reading list. It is a compelling retelling, and Pressfield is a compelling story teller.  

It was not his first book - The Legend of Bagger Vance was - but since then he went on to write books in historical fiction, non-fiction, biographical, self-help, and books on writing.  He has also done some screenplays (much earlier in his career).  His website is here.

I have read (and re-read) Gates of Fire and Tides of War (historical fiction of the Peloponnesian War) and highly recommend both. But what I have come to appreciate even more about Pressfield are his books on writing and the creative process. If that sounds familiar, it might be:  I wrote on his book Turning Pro here and have quoted thoughts of his from War of Art here (from 2015; that seems like forever ago).  His books on writing - the ones I have (Do the Work, War of Art, Turning Pro) all have the sort common no-nonsense application and instruction that resonates, at least with me; I am sure the books I do not have (yet) - The Authentic Swing, The Artist's Journey, Put Your A## Where Your Heart Wants To Be - are all the same.  They also all contain a sort of biographical journey of Pressfield as he struggled - and literally, it was a struggled - to become a published author.

That said, there was one that came this week that I was looking forward to:  No-One Wants To Read Your Sh*t:  Why That Is And What You Can Do About It.  I was excited - not just because I read the reviews and they were great, but because this is something that I want to get better at.  Writers want people to read their writing.  And in theory at least, I want to get better at my craft.

The book was as promised, a combination of Pressfield's journey in authorship and as concise a description on the structure of writing and how to communicate as I have ever read (this may be my new best text on writing, outside of Ray Bradbury's Zen And The Art of Writing).  

In short - and relevant to today's topic - Pressfield states without a concept, theme, genre, climax, hero, villain, stakes, jeopardy, and knowing the end,  there is no story.  With these, there is a story - and Pressfield makes the bold statement that using this formula, one can write anything - a novel, a screenplay, a business presentation, a dissertation, or a sad story to your landlord about your rent - or, I suppose, a blog post.

(As an aside, I tried it for my interview prep this week.  Turns out he is 100% correct.)

So, TB, why the rather lengthy prologue about writing on a day when I am here for my serial update on The Collapse?

What a fantastic question (he says, unlimbering his fingers on the keyboard).

When I originally started this series, it was literally a one off short story.  As I looked at the short story, it struck me that this would be an interesting thought exercise:  what would it be like to live through, not a devastating civilizational world ending event, but one where civilization just kind of goes away?  

Although I did not call it that at the time, this is my concept, per Pressfield.  Suddenly the character began to flesh himself out almost without trying.  I knew him, knew where he lived (it is based on the actual cabin I would spend part of my Summer at every year), knew the location, knew some of what he would do - but not everything; he continued to surprise me.  

The genre is, I suppose, post apocalyptic - but that is a pretty big genre, ranging from something simple like a plague (Earth Abides) to nuclear war (Alas, Babylon, A.D. 2150, No Night Without Stars, War Day) to threats from outer space (Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall) to simple straight out governmental collapse (Patriots).  All of these vary in how they handle the writing, perspectives, situation, and details.  

(As a note, I think of all of that list my favorite is Alas, Babylon.)

The hero, of course is obvious (Seneca) as is the jeopardy (Survival).  Of the villain and the climax, I cannot fully say - but perhaps this is always the problem with a serial writing; it is sort of a journey into the unknown without a clear sight of land until one seems to have arrived.  One could say the villain is "Death" and the climax is "re-establishment of a civilized order" but that all smacks of being the slightest bit too cookie cutter for me.  I suppose we will find out together.

This series has not always been the easiest to write - longer time readers may recall that I took almost a two year break, mostly because I had felt I had written myself into a corner (I had not - this is a weak excuse.  I had allowed myself to believe I had written myself into a corner; Seneca handily walked out of it when I gave him the option).  Sometimes the postings come easily, sometimes with great difficulty.

What I have not identified - until now - is theme.

One of the things that have been commented upon about my "version" of a future is that it is not violent enough and gritty enough for an actual collapse.  The other is that sometimes the details or actions presented do not make "sense" in such a world.  To the former, I have suggested that based on Seneca's location - northerly, isolated - violence and grittiness would be unlikely (it is not really there even now).  

To the second - details and actions either not making sense or perhaps even foolish - I can state that, perhaps only now, I realize the theme of my writing.

Civilizational collapse is something that has many aspects, and something of interest to me has always been what that looked like to the individuals who lived through it. The Romans of the 400's and 500's A.D., the Romano-Britons in the 400's A.D., the later Byzantine Empire, even Scotland and Ireland of the 17th and 18th Century - all of these went through a collapse of their civilization. Some of that was economic, some of that was linguistic, some of that was cultural.  All of it was devastating, especially to cultures that were as much oral as they were written.  

When I sit down with Seneca as I do on a weekly basis, what comes to mind is not so much the actual practice of surviving in a collapsing world with details.  What comes to mind are observations and feelings about what he is seeing and enduring, of relationships back to what he has learned and making new connections with old learnings.  Surely in this he is no different from those that endured similar things; it is just that we do not have them written down.  The average Roman citizen of Gaul circa or Romano-British citizen that watched and lived through the "barbarians" rolling through their civilization must have had thoughts and feelings as well, but other than a very few pieces of literature generally written by an elite, educated class, we have very little except buried hordes of treasure and artifacts never returned for by their owners.

Are there fictional works on surviving the Apocalypse?  There are - James Wesley, Rawles' works (Patriots, Survivors, Founders) have all the detail one might need to equip themselves fully.  And if that is what is needed, I strongly suggest books such as those. I might also recommend the fiction of Friend-Of-This-Blog Eaton Rapids Joe.

 Has The Collapse generated some great commentary on what do in the event of such a happening?  It has, and so long as the discussion stays within the rules (and it has), there is no reason that will not occur.

But what is likely not to occur - and what I am not really going to worry about to the point of stressing over it - is creating such a high level of detail about such a situation.  From a practical point of view, it is far more research than I can support now.  From a desirable point of view, it is not really the point of the work.  And from Seneca's point of view, it is not really what he is concerned about.

If you have stuck with me this far, thank you. I try to avoid soliloquizing like this (or, I suppose, defending my writing style), but it was coming to the point that I almost did not want to continue on the subject matter.  If for no other reason than for my own sanity, this helps.

Seneca will undoubtedly be back next week (yes, in case you are wondering, he actually does take up a part of my consciousness.  He keeps showing up, sometimes at the most inconvenient times).

Your Obedient Servant, Toirdhealbheach Beucail