Building a fictional world for storytelling - need input

Post Reply New Topic

Ok, working on a germ of an idea for a story, and could use input/inspiration/poking holes in the logic:

You've heard the quote about "perception is reality", and maybe you even ascribe to it. Many counter that perception is only our view of reality - a self-created illusion.

And that this point, I'm sure you're pretty well-versed in multiversal theory. Between comics, movies, and actual scientific theories, the idea is pretty mainstream at this point.

So the world I'm building is that perception is actually your own self-contained reality. The only person in your actual universe is you. Everyone else you know is in their own universe, separated by a thin veil, so you can interact but not actually exist in each others' reality. Think the Matrix, but naturally evolved, i.e. no higher design.

This would explain why two people could look at the same well-known politician, yet one sees a man of God that had a productive, fruitful term and was screwed out of a second term, and the other sees a serial crooked cult leader that checks all the boxes of the Antichrist. (Can you see my inspiration for this idea yet?)

Other facets of this theory:
* When people die, they actually escape their universe and enter a larger multiverse. Ghosts are actually these people trying to interact with you in your reality. Success at this varies, depending on the "ghost's" natural ability and the thickness of the veil.
* Aliens are actually people that escaped and formed a scientific community to study individual realities, and have successfully entered it through technology.
* Animals have their own universe as well, and in theirs humans are the same to them as we preceive dolphins, monkeys, etc.
* Non-alive objects (dirt, metal, plastics, etc.) can and fopass through these veils. This why you can hand someone an object, or someone can shoot you.
* People with recognized mental disorders and psychics are more likely to be able to see past their own veil, but nothing additional. As a result, they are more likely to become ghosts once they pass (see above).

So there's the core of it. Ask questions to clarify points, challenge a facet to make me think harder on it and come up with a correction, ask about something I hadn't considered so I can codify it. Be my playtester!

Looks like you're off to a good start. Now, just start writing!

That's how I've felt since I was a child.

I distinctly remember realizing that we all have separate points of view (perceptions / realities) and that everyone only belongs to their own bubble. The reason I can't be around people is because that means there are too many universes and I get overwhelmed by that magnitude. I've been aware of it for over 50 years. I don't mean that I'm egocentric. The other universes matter as much as mine, but that's why I shy away to protect myself.

What comes to mind (when you mentioned the different views on politicians), is the difference between 'fact' and 'truth'.

The facts on any given thing are too many to be functionally useful. Take a pen as an example. What color is its outer shell? The butt end little plug of plastic. It's head and ball. The inner tube, and the ink in it? What are the lengths of each of those elements, down to the finest measurements modern science can manage. Their width and depth. The weight of each component? The weight of the whole? What chemicals are each made of?

Now do that with the table the pen is on. The paper you'll write on. The hand holding the pen.

Too much info to be practical.

So we cherry pic enough facts to be useful and tie it together with a story.

'Please pass me that pen. No, not the red one... the blue one'.

That's 'truth'. Of course, different people choose different facts from the stack and tell different stories. That's how some people end up seeing a lying sexual offender that CPAC raised a golden statue to as the antichrist and others tell themselves that he is Christ.

And that is why we don't see reality as it is. We reduce everything to neat little explanations that once catalogued are forgotten so we can look into other things. Few things actually get LOOKED AT.

I remember reading about one of the famous trackers (just died a couple of months ago), walking to the middle of a beach, digging about a foot down into the sand, picking up a few grains and studying them. Then put them back, filled in the hole, and walked off. Apparently it brought the fisherman who was close by to tears once he realised the meaning of what he witnessed.