Tarot: King of Wands

[pyraxis]

Photoshop and MotionComputing Tablet

The Shashigai are the storytellers of Karn. It's more than shashigai's username, it's a word for a whole group of folk, loosely connected through clans and villages, who carry the stories of the people. In a mostly illiterate society where the flow of information is closely controlled by the Grehti priests, stories are hidden gold. A story is always worth a meal and warm place to sleep. A good story is worth even more, because it can light up people's hearts and inspire them, and bring them secrets that the ones in charge would prefer to keep to themselves.

Still, storytelling has a twisted side. I was thirteen and in the middle of my first novel when I was called out of the blue by a man who said he was the boyfriend of my good friend. He said something had happened to her, but she was too embarrassed to say what.

He wanted me to tell him pornographic stories. He said it would help my friend. He was lying. I don't clearly remember the rest of the call, but it's my way of laughing in the face of all that is wrong with the universe, that I took him literally. What it burned into me - to us, because we are a multiple system - was not shame or corruption, but a desire to protect our friends.

The storyteller has the power to touch people's hearts, to capture them and hold them. The real test of his character comes with what he does with them afterwards.

Who do you allow to tell your story?

Comments

[tigerweave]

Reading, and still thinking about your last question!

[pyraxis]

Yay, I asked a good question :)

[tigerweave]

You did indeed!

My response is like 'uh NO ONE!!!" But I let other people tell my stories all the time when I think about it. Especially say my mum, coz so many of my childhood stories are her stories too.
Gosh now that's set me off on a whole nother line of thinking - where stories are shared, and who tells them then?

[pyraxis]

That's one of the things that I think is really important about the Water Song, that Fiona's telling of it is so different from Lin's, which is different again from Auben's. Even though it's the same story. But what do you do when one person gets hugely offended at someone else's telling?

It's one of Lin's beliefs that she actually got from the modern world, that everybody should be able to tell their part. Though it hurts a lot to listen to sometimes.

Ok now I'm in an argument with myself over whether everybody really means everybody. :/

[tigerweave]

I think its just as fascinating as the differences between stories is what offends others in your version of the story.

[pyraxis]

How come? I know that when someone gets offended about something, then the other person has caught them out and learned something about their psyche. But I can only think of one way that people usually use that information, and that's to offend them again and to catch them in a kind of social vise for revealing themselves.

And for the person who gave the offense, it's just kind of unpleasant to be misunderstood and to have to pretend it's not your problem that you hurt someone you liked. (I know the official psychological theory is that other people's reactions are their own problem.)

[tigerweave]

Again with the presumption that a weakness or hurt is only of interest to people so they can use it to exploit or hurt further. Also I don't think you have to pretend that it doesn't matter.

I just meant that it reveals more of people thus it'll make me a better storyteller because I will understand people better.

[pyraxis]

Oh ok.

I guess it's a presumption. I want to be able to talk about those kind of presumptions more but this probably isn't the right place to do it.

[tigerweave]

That's what Lin does too.

Love to talk about it more too. Wherever.

[pyraxis]

Ok I made a filtered post.