On Continuing To Write The Collapse

 Of the many things that I have written over the years, one of the most challenging has turned out to be the now-weekly serial The Collapse.

I use the word "challenging" rather than "difficult" advisedly.  Writing has never been "hard" in that sense for me; while I try to plan out my writings more in advance to give some time for editing (e.g., actually improving my writing), I have been known to write up a post in 30 minute period. Part of that of course is inspiration:  Sometimes the words and ideas are there, sometimes they are not.  

The Collapse, as such, is fiction, and therefore has the challenges of any fictional work.  One has to "invent" characters and geography.  One has to write situations in such a way that they are somewhat believable.  

The surprising thing - surprising in that I did not expect it to happen to me - is what other writers have noted:  at some point the characters and situations take on a life of their own.  Sometimes the situations are easy to write about.  Sometimes they are incredibly hard, in that they deal with things that are either distasteful or downright jarring to the soul to write about.

There is no "overarching narrative" for the story as well - which seems to make it more difficult to write than perhaps a typical book with its "Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Conclusion" mapping.  If anything, the year and the seasons are as much of the narrative device as anything.  

Imagine my shock to realize that for something without an overarching narrative, I have been writing this since 2018.

As has probably been clear if you have been reading for a while, this is not a "how-to" series on how to navigate societal collapse; there are far more elegant and practical works out there and I myself have almost no experience in that matter.  In some ways, perhaps, that may explain why narrative devices appear and then fade into the background - although I suspect in a world where one is reduced to the basics, lots of good ideas fade as well.

Instead, it was intended as (and still remains, so far as I can tell) more of a personal memoir of one man as such an event occurs.  Sometimes there are specific events (just like in real life), but sometimes there are simply random thoughts and observations, the sorts of things that come to one when gets home from any day of work; how often have I come home and pondered on events of the day, not thought about world changing ideas.  I just as much wonder about the leave in my garage space and how they got there when I pull in as I do about perhaps more important events.

Is there an "end" to The Collapse?  Frankly, I have no idea.  I have taken at least two "breaks" in writing, but in both cases it appears that Seneca's story was not done.  

For now, he continues to write from just over a horizon of possible, with I serving as his amanuensis.  To be honest, I am always as interested as you are in what comes next.