Surfing for stories in the ethersphere

"There's a material world, and there's an immaterial world. Both worlds exist, but in different ways..."

"But if your mind behaved like a place... I mean if every time anyone followed a trail of thought..."

"They'd be walking the path of immateria."

- Alan Moore, Promethea Book 1

This conversation comes from just one of the many books I am currently reading. "Promethea" is the story of a young woman named Sophie Bangs and her merging with Promethea, the living embodiment of imagination. The art is by one of the greatest living artists of our time, J.H. Williams. It is written Alan Moore.

I was thinking about this scene in particular in regards to writing. Stephen King is famous for constantly emphasizing the idea that stories aren't necessarily fabricated by the writer, more so they are plucked out of the ethersphere, with little control over what we see or why we see it. I agree with this notion a great deal.

Why do I write what I write? Where do my ideas come from?

No idea.

Oh sure, names and conversations I have end up in my books all the time. Places. Jokes. But the story? The characters, motivations and what drives them to make the decisions they do as they journey towards the end of their tale?

No idea.

Why does "Train Me, Gamble" star a giant, cowardly monster and a 10,000 year old fighter who doesn't look much older than a 6 year old boy? See above paragraph for the answer.

I often feel more like a channel for the story. Like there is a TV in my head that I turn on, surfing for stories in the ethersphere... Looking for what I am to document next. I take comfort and delight in the idea that the process of writing can feel as much a mystery to me as it may to an outside observer. There is a satisfaction I gain from walking down the path of immateria in my mind, seeing mysterious, beautiful, and ugly places in the universe of my imagination. Planest swirl. Characters bounce from one world to the next. Love is gained. Love is lost. Galaxies collide. Suns are born. Children laugh, men and women love. The good guys win. The bad guys sometimes do too. Defeat is dealt swiftly. Victories last forever on the final page...

Welcome back to Rudysolis.com. It's been a while. And yes, I missed you guys too. Stay tuned. I have lots of goodies coming up and I promise that the next time I leave you here, it will because we are hanging out somewhere together in person...

-RUDY!

You can purchase Promethea here. (I highly suggest you do.)

Why Alan Moore is the coolest dude on Earth...

Knew we couldn't trust those cute little bastards...

What you should be reading this week: Watchmensch!

"WATCHMENSCH" Written by Rich Johnston. Art by Simon Rohrmuller.

Review:

Watchmensch at first glance may appear as nothing more than a silly Watchmen parody. I assure you, this book is anything but.

Johnston cleverly uses the characters and themes from Watchmen to spin a tail that is both a parody and political satire on the Comic genre, Copyright Laws, and Alan Moore. Watchmensch takes real life events and interweaves them with analogues of the Watchmen characters to create a hilarious and eye opening story that is intelligent and entertaining.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rich Johnston, he has a very popular Monday column called "Lying in the Gutters" on the website Comic Book Resources. A champion of creator rights, Rich Johnston is never one to shy away from controversy.

It's a great column and a great book. CHECK IT OUT HERE!

As good as the movie...?

Guests, Watchmen Review (The Official Billionth One), Dan vs. Par

Hey guys! RUDY! here! Just a couple things to get the week started!

GUESTS:

Coming soon, there will be several additions to the RUDY! crew. Be on the lookout for blog posts from some surprise guests who will hopefully be permanent additions to rudysolis.com!

I can't say too much about them, but here's some hints: They're all cool.

WATCHMEN REVIEW (The official billionth one online. I know cause I counted.):

I saw the much anticipated Watchmen movie last week. Being a major comic book fan, this was a BIG deal and my -and pretty much every comic book fan's- world.

So here's my review:

"Saw Watchmen. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great. It's approximately 2 hrs 35min long. Boy, they sure fight a lot more in the movie."

"DAN VS. PAR!"

As you many of you are coming to learn, I'm also a bboy. As such, I often attend and throw bboy competitions (like the one I'm throwing on this Thursday at Etiquette, more on that later in the week).

Coming soon, we have a major battle that crosses coasts, genders, and all that is bboying!

DAN VS. PAR!!!!!!!! (Please echo these word in your mind to get the full effect.)

Crap talking videos coming soon. Place your bets here people.

EXTRA POST BONUS (Free of charge!)

Since my pic gallery is still in the works, I thought I'd give a shout out to my Comic-Con buddies here. They are the first official guest of rudysolis.com. Please welcome: Josh and Mike:

 BOOM!