And Her Hobby Is . . . .

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Simple question:

As a *reader,* what would you think about a woman whose hobby is painting her life story - which is a significant length of time - on her bedroom walls in hieroglyphs?

Mysterious and intriguing?

Or crazy?

Or something else?

WildScribe · Mar 8, 2010

Hobby? I don't know, a bit self-involved, maybe. Morbid.

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Morbid?

Kitti · Mar 8, 2010

Mysterious and intriguing?

Or crazy?

A bit of both. But then again I always wonder why the extremely long-lived (or immortal) don't go slightly crazy over time...

Is it really "just" a hobby? Is she doing it because she needs to occupy her spare time? Then I lean towards the slightly crazy. If there's some indication of purpose behind it - she's doing it for some other reason - then I lean more towards the mysterious and intriguing.

alleycat · Mar 8, 2010

I was quite excited about the idea until I got to "in hieroglyphs". I was at first thinking "painting her life story as a mural on her bedroom wall."

The hieroglyphs might make it more intriguing in a way, but it also makes me think of movies and books where the solution is solving some kind of mysterious hieroglyphic code. In other words, it can be a cheap plot element (I'm not saying yours is).

Just my thoughts on first reading the idea; I'm not trying to suggest changing it.

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Kitti said:
A bit of both. But then again I always wonder why the extremely long-lived (or immortal) don't go slightly crazy over time...

Is it really "just" a hobby? Is she doing it because she needs to occupy her spare time? Then I lean towards the slightly crazy. If there's some indication of purpose behind it - she's doing it for some other reason - then I lean more towards the mysterious and intriguing.

She's been alive more than 2,500 years (she's from the Greco-Roman period of Ancient Egypt) and she's pretty much bored now. Knowing her, she could have a deeper reason for it, but it could also just be something to pass the time.

Al Ross · Mar 8, 2010

If she lived 2500 years and she wants to paint her life story on her bedroom walls, her room must be huge.

As a reader I would think she might be slightly deranged. I would be intrigued about the why.

veinglory · Mar 8, 2010

BlackMagic528 said:
She's been alive more than 2,500 years (she's from the Greco-Roman period of Ancient Egypt)

That does kind of make a difference

veinglory · Mar 8, 2010

Al Ross said:
If she lived 2500 years and she wants to paint her life story on her bedroom walls, her room must be huge.

Hieroglyphs are a bit limited. They might say thing like: famine or army invaded. So you can't get that chatty even given the number of years involved.

CheyElizabeth · Mar 8, 2010

Ehh I'm on the fence of Thats Too Crazy vs. Very cool- Want To Read.

I guess it depends on how you write it..

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Al Ross said:
If she lived 2500 years and she wants to paint her life story on her bedroom walls, her room must be huge.

As a reader I would think she might be slightly deranged. I would be intrigued about the why.

Well it's not a daily account. :tongue

It's basically a listing of the events she feels are important (even with that, I have a feeling she's going to need more space).

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

veinglory said:
Hieroglyphs are a bit limited. They might say thing like: famine or army invaded. So you can't get that chatty even given the number of years involved.

That, too.

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Upon further thought, I wasn't clear about something:

Currently, the character is in modern day Chicago. When I say she's from Greco-Roman Egypt, I mean that's when she was born.

Sorry if that confused anyone. It just occurred to me that it could've been misunderstood.

Ambri · Mar 8, 2010

I'm somewhat intrigued by the idea, but as a reader, I'd definitely Expect her to have a motivation/ reason for doing this, such as remembering relevant pieces of history that have been lost to the mainstream view of "history", or something that makes sense, given your plot, etc.

Lydia Sharp · Mar 8, 2010

Interesting. But I wouldn't use the word "hobby" to describe an undertaking like that. It seems more like a passion, or at least it should be. Something has to be driving her to do this, more than a simple, "eh, I just thought it would be cool."

sunandshadow · Mar 8, 2010

Have you seen the movie MirrorMask?

In general I like the idea of an artist living surrounded by their work while creating it, but in practical terms the elaborate planning of hierogylphics and the implication that it's a story for others to read makes bedroom walls a bit of a strange choice. Maybe if she intended the building to become a museum or gallery later and slept in each room as she worked on it...

Mr Flibble · Mar 8, 2010

I've seen something like this...only the character was recording their dreams iirc. Um, oooh, it'll come to me in a minute

I think it was one of the Dragonlance spin off books? Anyway, it kinda worked for the character.

SPMiller · Mar 8, 2010

I don't think an immortal could possibly get bored. A brain, even an immortal one, can only hold so much information. After a while, she'd be doing new things again simply because she couldn't remember the last time she did them.

That is the reason she'd write her life story on the wall. So there would be a record, and she could remember.

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Interesting theory.

SPMiller · Mar 8, 2010

It's not just a theory.

Try to remember where you were on 11 July 1996.

BlackMagic528 · Mar 8, 2010

Well, no, I wouldn't remember that, but I do remember the exact date of my appendectomy. Why? It was something huge and important.

I apply the same principle to this character. Naturally, she doesn't remember every moment of her life.

She does remember the important moments, though. Some details escape her, of course, but the major points don't.

SPMiller · Mar 8, 2010

Define "important moments".

If you mean lovers, best friends, marriages, funerals, and things like that, then no, there's no possible way a physical brain could remember all that, not even the rough outlines of the events. Most of it would be completely lost over time.

Mara · Mar 8, 2010

If I were immortal, I'd do all kinds of weird things just for the hell of it, and wouldn't care what anybody thought. I mean, most old people I know stop caring about social norms. If that's at 60-80, 2500 would probably be even more severe.

For some reason that I don't understand, though, most people seem to expect immortals in fiction to conform to social norms and act completely normal and respectable. I don't get it.

timewaster · Mar 9, 2010

BlackMagic528 said:
Simple question:

As a *reader,* what would you think about a woman whose hobby is painting her life story - which is a significant length of time - on her bedroom walls in hieroglyphs?

Mysterious and intriguing?

Or crazy?

Or something else?

narcissistic, self obsessed, probably not that sympathetic.

shaldna · Mar 9, 2010

Bat shit insane.

Or just really creative and interesting.

I don't know, I mean, is she cackling while she does it?

And Her Hobby Is . . . .

Master of the Darklands :-)

Slave to the Wordcount

Master of the Darklands :-)

procrastinatrix

Still around

Master of the Darklands :-)

volitare nequeo

volitare nequeo

My horn can pierce the sky!

Master of the Darklands :-)

Master of the Darklands :-)

Master of the Darklands :-)

Plotting something

for the love of love

Impractical Fantasy Animal

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Prodigiously Hanged

Master of the Darklands :-)

Prodigiously Hanged

Master of the Darklands :-)

Prodigiously Hanged

Clever User Title

present

The cake is a lie. But still cake.