It is well-known that an author's mental state will invariably alter the image that gets conveyed through art. The "True Image" is impossible to convey with perfect accuracy, even if nonwithstanding one's technical skill, for the very human condition always carries a degree of subjectivity. In addition to the inescacable core facts, there are more mundane obstacles, as well, in the way of conveying - even as simple as not having eaten properly for the day might subtly alter the idea or the image, turning it more pessimistic with the aid of poor mood. In short, as the artist always remains the sole 'conveyor' or 'moderator' of his- or herself's thoughts, one simply has to content with the fact that the image will never be perfect thanks to general human error. Things would just be easier if the whole business of art-conveying could be delegated to machines, but sadly that day is yet to come.
In any case, a lesser-discussed (or at least I feel so) topic is the conveying of character's own views of themselves. This matters little in the visual arts - although some may disagree, for it is said that behind every painting there's a story - but nevertheless it's all the more relevant in storytelling. Every author worth his salt knows to know their characters (or the artist's own inner personalities in some cases) as thoroughly as possible, for only this way authenticity - or believability in more common terms - can be reached. If one knows the characters, then they will know their motivations, hopes & dreams, and when presented with differing situations little additional thought is necessary, as simply observing the character's actions is enough, and so, writing it all down becomes a formality. So all that aside, what is this about "character's own views of themselves"? Well, if one has come to understand the fact that everyone's views of themselves are ultimately subjective (like Crawzinscky famously came to realize in "The Essence of Isolation"), then the character's selves are, as well, equally fleeting & tenuous. We might not even need to go that deep in order to ponder, for example, that if Sophia was to paint a portrait of herself - assuming for a second her technique was perfect - would this "image" be the objective truth of things? Obviously not, but what else there is to be projected for the audience? What would be an "objective truth" of her image? A photograph, sure, but considering it is difficult to take a picture (purely objective representation of a physical thing) from a fictional universe... the thought is akin to taking a picture of an idea. It would be like an "objective" image of mathematics - certainly one can represent certain numerical truths as numbers, such as 2+2=4... but can one take a picture of the concept of a number?
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A.K
Gothic fiction novelist Archives
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