One more thing that I haven't been making clear enough! What I'm working on isn't just an adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.

The work that I am making is titled Ĵwlŷs Kæsar: A FFXIV Tragedy and Annotary in Five Acts. Tragedy, yes. But it's also an "annotary." This work is by me, Ellis Arcwolf.

An annotary is usually a "found" document, a dry academic treatise, or a classic work (like, say, a fictional adaptation of a classical play that happens to be called "The Tragedy of Ĵwlŷs Kæsar" by Liam Meri'a Morvelet). It serves as the central keystone that justifies the presence of the notes.

Those notes (footnotes, annotations, margin doodles, whatever) are true narrative engine of an annotary. This is where the character's voice breaks through the formal constraints to provide personal anecdotes, biases, and emotional truth.

The notes within an annotary aren't just for the reader; they are often written by a specific character within the world, making the act of annotating part of the story itself.

A popular example of this narrative style, which is more often called "ergodic literature," is Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. The "story" is a 999-line poem, but the real narrative is found in the increasingly unhinged side commentary by the diegetic editor.

So that's what I'm doing. That should explain it more clearly. 😊

#FFXIV #FFXIVWrite #WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #ErgodicLiterature #Shakespeare #JuliusCaesar #Metafiction #TheTaperProject #BardOfSagon #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

I watched this video today from Tale Foundry, about Stories That Don't Want to be Told.

It's about "ergodic literature" which is apparently literature that takes extra work beyond just reading the text to understand fully.

The video points out stories like "House of Leaves".

I've read "House of Leaves". I did not find it disturbing or disorienting. Everything about the book and it's matryoshka doll of unreliable narrators is internally consistent. Everything makes perfect sense if you take the book at its word, if you understand its rules.

It made me think about an unsung advantage of being neurodivergent. I've spent my whole life learning the rules that govern things I cannot natively understand.
I couldn't survive in normal neurotypical society without that skill. I have to live in a world that makes no sense to me.

I actually found "House of Leaves" kind of boring if I'm being honest.

In the end, the words on the page are only half of the story. That's always the way it is when you read something.
You read what's on the page and your mind fills in the blanks.
Apparently some people can't fill in the blanks using the rules laid out in the story itself or navigate conflicting rules and contradictions. The get cognitive dissonance and feel confused. They don't understand what's being asked of them. They get defensive, maybe angry.
Welcome to how it has always been for me and people like me.

#AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #HouseOfLeaves #ErgodicLiterature #Reading #TaleFoundry

Stories That Don't Want to be Told

YouTube
Ergodic Literature: The Weirdest Book Genre

YouTube
I'm here all weekend, Tallahassee! Come down to InfinityCon. Just did a walk around, and there are lots of cool vendors and artists here to check out… not just me. 😉 #tallahassee #convention #comics #convention #comicconvention #comicart #comiccon #event #events #cosplay #cosplayconvention #horror #horrorfiction #horrorfictionwriter #horrorwriter #horrorbooks #writer #writing #literature #ergodic #ergodicliterature #macabre #cliffhensley #cliffhensleyauthor

House of Limburger Leaves: A Metatextual exploration of the works of the cheese maker, Mark Z. Blaťácké~zlato, in relation to yogourt critiquing and the fermentation process of narrative notations.
- by Johnny Camembert Truant

This literary work was inspiration for The White Cheddar Album by The Ergodic Curds

#Pseudepigrapha #Ergodic #ErgodicLiterature #MarkZDanielewski #HouseOfLeaves

#CheeseASongBookOrShow
#HashtagGames