Monday, April 18, 2016

O = Other Worlds

Do you love alternate realities or other worlds?

As a young reader, I couldn't get enough of them, although they looked something like this:


And now they look more like this:

Source
In The Mirror People (my contribution to the Parallels anthology), my other world looks like this:


The concept started out as an idea: What if it was someone's job to mimic their reflection? I sat down to write and these words glared back from the computer screen:

Every day I stare into the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer.

Well THAT wasn't a direction I'd considered going. Regardless, I had to see who this narrator was and what was going to happen to him. Jak appeared on the page and I have to say, he's one of the best characters I've ever had the privilege of transcribing. (I say transcribing because our journey together didn't feel like writing. He told me his story, no reservations.) What if two dimensions were actually dependent on one another, but only one side was aware of the relationship?

Yeah, bend your brain around that one, eh?

Do you have a favorite dual reality story?

(Remember, comment and be entered to win one of 10 copies of Parallels.)

18 comments:

  1. That would be a freaky reality to exist in. Jak was a great character, and I'm definitely glad I wasn't in his shoes.

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  2. It would rather suck. It certainly did for Jak.

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  3. Cool concept. Scary concept! Wonderful job, and that example is amazing!

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    1. Thanks! Because who hasn't looked at their reflection and thought it was a little off?

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  4. I write of other worlds all the time. My Mirror World is a place that has the main ingredients of ours but took a sharp right on probabilities! :-)

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  5. Well, Fringe of course, is my go-to multiple reality shows. But I think your story would make a great movie.

    Susan Says

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    1. Thanks, Susan. I completely agree. We watched Fringe when it started. Very trippy.

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  6. Your story was one of the ones that I really want to read. It sounds fascinating.

    ~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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  7. What an amazing picture. I always loved reading as a child, but fantasy books passed me by until my late teens. I'm making up for it now by writing my own.
    Jack sounds pretty scary, but the way.

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    1. I started with fantasy books. They're a happy place, eh?

      Jak's reverse identity is pretty scary.

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  8. This is such a cool concept for a story and an amazing picture. Not to mention a brilliant first line.

    As for my own other worlds, well they're highly magical but that doesn't necessarily mean they're pleasant places to live. I'd much rather make off into one of the fantasy lands I read about as a kid, maybe pre-white witch Narnia.

    ~Dianna
    http://www.thedabbler.ca

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    1. Amen. The older I get, the less fun my story world's become. Next thing you know, I'll be writing in the real world. *gasp*

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