The stepping stone

I always wanted to write a novel.

A novel, be it something heavily action oriented, a horror carnival, or romantic mush spun and woven into the fabric of literature. Comedy is not an exception though - although I need to write up more clever jibes and metaphors to at least provoke a smile or a chuckle from a reader.

I am not short of ideas either.

I have this little story about how a man/boy who finds himself trapped in an international conspiracy of corporate assassins, and intends to be one. I want to make this a series, somewhere along the lines of Pendragon, the Harry Potter series, stuff like that.
Also, I have thought up a few lines of horror stories telling how a boy kept talking to himself in a bathroom mirror in his house, conjuring up alternate, completely different version of himself; a more richer, handsomer, much more positive person. Something about escaping reality by talking to an apparition but later, the boy would find out that there would be more to that apparition that he considered a confidant all this while. I'll try to make it scary as possible (meaning more research on ghost stories and probably even more ghost/slasher/horror films. sigh.)
Also probably romance stories, minus the romantic aspect. I had, as mentioned a few times here, written quite a bit of love letters for 3 months every day towards an ex of mine. I reread a few of them recently. Was disgusted that she get to read all this but then I realized little by little, I do have the capacity to turn sentences and words into one big flowery mush of emotions and feelings. And the rather stupid dedication of a man towards a woman he did not understand well enough.

Good ideas? I don't know. But..
A well known fact is that I have not yet seen or heard a Malaysian English fiction, or non fiction novel being an ultimate bestseller, or at least having a popular following, or even, having a strong readership base. There are so many talented Malaysians I know, personally, who can write so well. Their writing talents are merely confined to the walls of journalism and mass media in this country because of course; as said in an age old saying of parents here: Writing doesn't put food on the table.
But doing what you love most; isn't that what everyone wants to be able to do? But alas, this country is so much unlike the bestseller Western nations; putting food on a table here is getting harder for the common youth.

Railed off again as usual, I see.

I have procrastinated heavily, and for a few months, on my novel. Or any writing for that matter, In fact, I took 4 weeks just to think of writing a post here.
But this ends abruptly today; I am going to start writing and hopefully, a masterpiece that is worthy to even one reader's eyes, and salt to the reader's mind.

I shall be off to begin the furious typing of the keyboard, brimming with ideas. I'll post excerpts here; although I am rather confident that little would view it, much less plagiarize it.

See you, readers.

Debilitating Debates with Dan (1)

Personally, I do not like debates.It is still a baffling moment to me even now as to how I acquired this dysfunctional title.

But in any case let's move on to the matter at hand.

Lies.

As I would think, lying is basically the telling of a story. A fiction. Something that did not really happen or did not exist. That means Miss Rowling is a hell of a great liar. And so is Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, or even the Malaysian national laureate, A. Samad Said.
That would be the fool's definition of lying. As I am a dreadful fool by myself, I am just following the dictation of Macbeth, my the greatest English liar (or poet/storyteller/linguist) of all time, where he said something about being a foolish actor dancing out to his lines on stage, and something to do with a candle and.. something else.

Alright I will be serious this time.
Lying, as per defined by a reliable internet dictionary of mine (Merriam Webster, thanks!), is a verb that is to create something false or with a misleading impression. More like the wordy version of cheat, where you spin lies and falsehood to swindle something out of a fool. You lie, you cheat. You cheat, and you lie. Those two verbs go hand in hand together, don't they?

I would be very blunt and say that lying, is done by everyone these days. No one is free from the damnation that is spinning a yarn or weaving a simple sentence to deceive a person.
As kids I am pretty certain that many of my readers would've lied or two to their parents for a) extra sweets or candy, or b) extra game time or time with friends.
And even now we spin tales worthy of the greater laureates of our time, just to get out of something that we are unwilling to do.

But what about hiding the truth, you ask?
I would say that's somewhat lying as well, because you are creating falsehood - a blunt quotation from the definition - to others. For example, you don't want to hurt your vegetarian girlfriend by telling her you are a closet meat guzzling carnivore that loves red meat as much as a pregnant lioness. You are creating the illusion of an animal loving hippie to impress your equally hippie girlfriend. How's that for a story?

What about a little white lie?
When is a lie little, and white? I would ask you back. There is no lie too little or too big. But frankly though, why did the "white" adjective even sprung up in that phrase at all? I would Google it (or search for its meaning on the internet you puritan linguists) but I'd rather dictate its meaning in my own fashion. White is colour that defines the purity of an object. Lying in my opinion, is the most impure, a sin and certainly does not fit anywhere near the requirement of needing an adjective to define its goodness. Or unless, since white, if shone through a crystal prism, would be split into seven different colours. Moment of realization; a lie is often seen in the SEVEN different sins e.g Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Pride, Wrath. The Seven Deadly Sins as it is called, surely has a hint or two lies within them is it not? (I am still agape with my realization as I was writing this mind)

Also, there are many would question the lawful lie, which is the "lying for good" kind of lie.
My gentle readers, if it is not the truth, it is never good. Lying is never something that you can be doing for the good of anyone. It can put the liar, and the one who is being defended by the lie, is such peril. You can take Anne Frank for example. For the readers that do not know about who Anne Frank is, Wikipedia it. Or you can read a condensed retelling here by me.
Anne Frank was this famous Jewish girl who wrote in a journal detailing about her life in hiding from the German Nazis that were ruling Germany at the time. Anne, and her  family were Jews and if you all haven't heard already, Hitler has as much love for Jews as much I would have love for the durian. He really, hates them. And me, durian. Regardless, they were living in the attic of a sympathizer's house that had to answer "no" to all German raids of Jews to protect Anne's family. But there is so much that only one family could hide with lies alone; they were found out one day and no, not all of them died. Anne's father, Otto Frank, survived but really, if you want to know what really happened, read her diary.
The gist here is that if you lie for the sake of saving/protecting another person, you are endangering yourself. No one gains, and the fear of being discovered is always there. Not a good way to live, to be frank.


And if any psychiatrist or church priest haven't told you already, lying could really damage you mentally. Especially if the lie is being inflated all the time. The longer a lie gets. the fear of the said liar would increase exponentially. The fear of always being found out, being revealed to the world of what really is, the horrifying truth, is always there.
That fear will lead to a severe drop of social interaction of a person, and would often turn anyone to a introvert that seeks the comfort of solitude. Because being alone, no one would ask why or what or whom or when and how. It is easier that way. And this fear, could also lead to suicide, if unchecked. Lying fear, could bring about a sense of overwhelming guilt that is deemed unsolvable by a liar, because he/she would never want to break the lie open and to tell the truth. The guilt would bring about severe depression, a debilitation in social skills and lastly, the taking of your own life.

Another mental effect of lying I would add is that, most liars would believe their own lies. Those are pathological liars i.e, ones that literally tell lies to live. I have not much to divulge on this because I have never personally seen an actual person that believes his own version of the truth, although we do see it everywhere these days - the political scene of the country - but that's another story.

So.. ladies and gents. Tell the truth more often now would you? Or at least try to keep the ratio of your lies against truths a little lower next time i.e more truths than lies.