The beginning

The first chapter of a book I have no idea about

The room was unkempt to the extent that it seemed uninhabited. A rundown section of an otherwise perfectly maintained mansion. It didn’t bother her. In fact she reveled in the knowledge that she was in some way different from everyone else. It was better to be infamous than ordinary. The irony of her situation was that far from standing out due to her neglect, her room was now overlooked. As far as her family was concerned, it did not exist. Just like her problems did not exist.

Peering out the window she saw the huge estate in the darkness of the late evening. It would have made the ideal setting for a gothic love story from the Victorian era. The setting of her life was in tragic contrast to the events of her life. Mundane and completely devoid of any dramatic event, she was fed up with it. Nothing that could possibly serve as a form of inspiration had happened to her. No great family tragedy, no love lost, no friend forgotten, and nothing that could bring immense joy either. The bell rang. It was time for dinner.

Dinners at her house were uneventful. It was the only meal that could not be missed. To fail to show up within a few minutes of the bell was unforgivable. Grace was said in subdued yet firm voices and was followed by the sound moving chairs and cutlery. Despite the fact that this was the only meal in which the entire family sat together, very little was said. Her parents never fought in the presence of their children, and other than fighting they seldom spoke. Her brother was away at college and had a rocky relationship with his father. Her sister was twelve and going through a phase where she was withdrawn and introverted. As for our central character, she had never been much of a talker, and had nothing of importance to say to her family. Her mother stared with accusing eyes at her father, who responded with an indifferent nod. He must have threatened to disown their only son once again. She sighed silently and glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes were left of this pathetic attempt to project the image of a happy family.

By now you have understood that I am not much a writer. Yes, I am addressing you, the unfortunate reader of this undisputed drivel. Well, at least I can safely say that I have mastered the alienation effect, even though, the characters were such stereotypical caricatures of actual human beings, addressing you directly would not have been necessary to deter you from investing yourself in the story. What am I writing? Is that what you want to know? Well I have absolutely no idea. Yes, I know that doesn’t say much for me, but it says even less for you! Wait, I didn't mean that, so please don’t close this book, I’ll try my utmost best to make it interesting and believable. How about we do this together? If you want to be a part of the creation of a book that could possibly win the Booker Prize or possibly be the greatest critical and commercial failure of the century, then by all means continue reading. If not, your time no longer belongs to me.

Well, you’re still reading. I suppose it’s more out of curiosity than an actual desire to help, but who am I to judge? But reader, the thing you are doing right now is what scientists have tried to do for years. You are conversing with someone from the past. Well, technically I hope I’m still alive to witness the publishing of this book, but you are talking to me from the future. Or in your case, I am from the past, or I am the old me. Do you get it? Has my circulatory style thrown you off the right track? No, I have faith in your intelligence. It is an assumption that I must make. I cannot write my masterpiece with idiots as my fellow authors. If any of you feel that you may not be of much use, I implore you to close this book, or read the pages not as a participant but as an audience.

I think that I can say that the original story needs to be reworked. In fact let’s forget about it and start afresh, a clean slate. Don’t you agree? Yes, unanimous approval. I knew we would get along! Fine now what we have is absolutely nothing. Any contributions? No aspiring authors that have ideas that they are fearful of expressing on their own? Well then, I’ll go first. How about a set of characters similar to the people present here: The author, a group of people who find themselves unable to resist playing a game that seems impossible to do, and a few spectators, self-aware of their own failings. Is the author diabolical? If so, who are the victims? It is one of those stories where no characters have defined roles, but the situation or invisible forces drag them down? Is it a comedy, tragedy, thriller? Is there death? If yes, death for all, or just a selected few? Must I name you? Am I who I am in reality? The questions posed by such an approach are serious and the answers would determine the entire plot of the story. As for the style, oh! Let’s deal with one aspect at a time.

I don’t believe in defining a book by giving it a genre. Genres limit literature. Characters are my personal choice for a beginning. Create them, give them certain attributes and traits, you will find that a story develops around them. As authors, it’s not our job to categorize a book, but to provide a book that is difficult to limit, restrict and brand. So, who should we do first? The author, you say. Sure, why not! As I am the author, my fictional counterpart must be drastically different. My selfish motive in achieving this is to live vicariously through someone not bound by the confines of reality. As this is a book, let’s give the author power and make him/her an omniscient force. I have always wanted to be all-powerful, maybe that’s why I decided to write in the first place. God? Yes, what a wonderful comparison! Like the Almighty, the Author is treated as a proper noun. The Author is just a force that is faceless, passive and very rarely speaks directly. Nobody sees the Author, yet everyone knows of the existence of such an entity. However, the reader of our book, ironically its writers themselves will be led into the mind of this person. The Author should not have emotions originating from him/her, but be a catalyst for the emotions felt by the other two groups of characters. We have definitely made progress; in fact I’m so optimistic about this novel that I could safely say that it might be made into a movie!

Someone once told me that the secret to every great work of art was simplicity. Obviously, I didn’t agree with that. Shakespeare wrote texts that can be interpreted in numerous ways, and he is still considered as one of the greatest playwrights in the literary society. However, that does not mean that great literature cannot be simple. My point here is that let’s keep the number of characters limited. Consider a situation where a group has the attributes of a single man. If communities were based on personalities and a community thought as one and reacted to situations in the same way, then we would have just two more characters on our hands. On the other hand, wouldn’t that limit the plot? Where are the ground-breaking ideas and suggestions that you promised me initially? You are from maybe even a different era, isn’t there something that you can tell me? Or is it that you like my ideas and don’t wish to interrupt? Really! Am I that mesmerizing and eloquent? Have I finally grabbed your attention so well that you are too absorbed in my words to come up with those of your own? Never before has anyone ever given me this level of appreciation and respect. Tears have come to my eyes. I am most grateful indeed.

Back to the story, I think I have it. Group A (the intellectuals) and Group B (the others). No names, neither will we divulge their roles or mental capacity. As far the story goes, they are simple A and B. Both groups think as a whole, and have a socialist system, divided into subsections: A1, A2 and B1, B2 etc. There are no records of their populations, but everyone knows the ‘name’ of the other. As the novel progresses, the lines dividing these two communities become blurred and the individuals begin to develop an awareness of their respective selves, and realize their independence. I think that would offer us an ideal opportunity to explore the human emotions that are connected to our sense of identity, such as jealousy, hatred, ambition etc. So, now we have a Utopian/dystopian type of setting. I hope you don’t accuse me of plagiarism, as books like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or Erewhon have dealt with similar themes. Oh, who am I kidding? Dystopian worlds have been done to death in both literature and film! So the question is, do we admit defeat and chose another idea, or do we try and make this one different? Can we really hope to compete with classics that have etched themselves into pop culture and have been hailed as masterpieces? I am but a novice, so no. And now here we are again at the very beginning. What's that? Oh you want a break? Well.....okay. I suppose we have the time.

Author's Note

give me anything. is it good? too boring? is the concept good and is it written well? absolutely any thoughts. also, is it too pretentious?

Reviews

[Timothy Burjess]

Friend, intellectual, fellow aspiring author, what you have achieved here is intriguing, encapsulation to the highest degree. Now I must say that I have not read any metafiction (excuse the indoctrination of genre) before, so class the following review as void from the onset - one cannot comment if one has no knowledge in the subject being analysed, then again; their cannot be a cross-contamination of personal bias or intertextuality when one finds a new interest. This perhaps a reason to carry on reading this review, my oh so talented Author-to-be.

The first three paragraphs excel in description of all kinds: character construction promoting into character development, a state of society which is indeed enthralling and rules, values and expectations which really do capture the attention of the reader; a most pristine aspect considering what the fourth chapter erupts into.

Having looked into metafiction and studied the indoctrination which entangles the freedom of every named genre, this paragraph could be construed as perhaps the most important. This stanza is portrayed in an entirely make-or-break fashion, forcing upon the reader a choice, a choice they must make in their present time; close the book and your mind, or submit to the words, the ideas, the chaos, but most importantly, to give in to the author's, almost demands. Finishing with promoting a sense of potential collaboration? Ge-ni-us.

The next couple of paragraphs explore use of temporal distortion (a personal favourite) and literally asking the reader questions, both effective techniques which keep the reader both on guard and interested. Mixed together, this devices work in a harmonious discord (excuse the juxtaposition), perfectly, perfectly, bloody perfectly! By this point, I feel I must say, I had a sly smile creep at the sides of my mouth, I must further point out that only a few authors can create this paradoxical, minor yet substantial gesture upon my face.

When this book is printed, the critics will have a field day, but amongst the intellectual minded, quotes from this will plaster the walls of many a dusty room; the most respectful place for words worth more than the blight on earth, commonly referred to as money. If I may quote: "The author, a group of people who find themselves unable to resist playing a game that seems impossible to do," locate that one under a baroque painting of a wise old man reading, "My selfish motive in achieving this is to live vicariously through someone not bound by the confines of reality." locate that under a surrealist Dali piece. Your sentence creation, your literary genius, your insane all-be-it intellectual thought process is supremely inspiring, invigorating, oh my fellow number on the internet! .83736383 is the name by the way.

Towards the end of paragraph seven, your understanding of human psychology truly comes to light. But that horrid bias which delves in all of use is going to make this paragraph rather controversial I feel, for you have fathomed the psychological process of people like you, me and others like us, what about the rest of people? The people entranced in society shall not understand! That would be an awful shame to leave them behind do you not think? Ah well.

As for the end of chapter eight, I must apologise, but this really needed a review. As for the final chapter, well this is la grande finale, the unmistakeable enticer. You manage to make the story in all but a few sentences, perfectly too, oh such talent my friend, such talent. Finishing the paragraph you are very, very truthful, and I would personally say that yet, the Utopian/Dystopian divide has been rampaged upon. The frenzied masses hungry for unorthodox fame and supposed intellectual recognition have used this literary environment as a playground, for many many years and have played there for what seems an eternity, yet, there is still a couple of toys lying on the floor of that playground, dropped by children in the stampede to get to the swings or the slides - that rattle of a shaker or the glimmer of a forgotten toy car will once again ignite that environment in a way which has never been seen before and hopefully shall never be rampaged upon like its predecessors. There is still hope my friend.

Over all. 100/100. Wholly truthful, one of the best reads I have had to date. Ultimately encapsulating to a point where I feel I'm addicted to your words, that sense of connection you strived so hard to create, has achieved its goal, without a doubt. To people like me, this book once published will go down in history.

Thank you so very very much moi droog. Keep writing and I shall keep being one of those annoying reviews who never shuts up and just continually writes, and writes and writes about the effect your story has had on them, *breath*, so yes, please, continue your inspirational reign Ora6254, the world needs your intellect!

[Ora6254]

Wow! I never expected such a glowing review! Thanks for taking the time to read and review my work. By the way, the review itself was amazingly written, so much so that I feel compelled to check out your other writing!

[Timothy Burjess]

I felt a need to review this one to such an extent, I found it utterly absorbing, enjoying every single sentence, thank you for sharing it with me!

Thank you for reviewing my review and feeling compelled to read some of my pieces.

Timothy.