Le gasp! Possible revival of the 4th and 5th grade novelist within? We shall see.
Cybereality
TRIGGER (if not overall inspiration): “Gamer Girl” (Mari Mancusi) and, consequently, its summary. Found on a shelf in Barnes + Noble, created instant magnetism thanks to my gamer boyfriend messing with my head.
Also, a good friend’s latest female conquest on the notorious ChatAnGo. Thanks, Sir Pimpsalot.
When I discovered aforementioned book, I was immediately drawn in thanks to my own online exploits. I was half in love with the concept by the time I got through the first sentence of the summary. By the end, I was smitten, but not with the book. The concept itself was quite incredible, but if the summary was to be believed, the book went into said concept on far too shallow a level to do it true justice *summary included in the comments, didn’t want to make everyone read it*. I was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to take the idea of “Gamer Girl” and bring some truth to it- the truth that so many socially troubled adolescents secretly turn to the internet for in our modern day and age, spawning a whole underground online world that I, content enough with my “RL” [read: Real Life], was completely unaware of until an IRL tragedy catapulted me into it headfirst.
Then, Sir Pimpsalot’s exploits and newest virtual damsel prompted me to graduate from the idea of breathing life to “Gamer Girl” to creating an entire short-story collection of different online situations and stories. After all, it’s a multi-faceted underground; from the gamer almost forced to bond with e-compatriots to reach the next level to the verbal roleplayer, simultaneously demolishing continental capitols in an IC thread and discussing real-world international politics with fellow players from numerous universities in the OOC thread, to the addictive pull of social networking sites and their growing “People You May Know” networks (thanks, Facebook).
We’ve all heard the stories about the pedophiles on Myspace, the Facebook stalkers (which some of us can even be counted among; I know I’m guilty as charged), the eloping “good girls” who are ensnared by the net of captivating and sexually deprived older men… What about the sunnier side? What about the lives of adolescents on the bring of self-destruction, whose hopes were revived by total strangers that understood them much better than anyone in a 10-mile physical radius? What about the lifelong friends and the intriguing opinions of those born from different worlds but with similar interests? No one has ever written of their story.
It’s January, the first month of the year, nine years into the 21st century.
I think it’s about time.
COMING UP SOON:
Beloved Illusions
TRIGGER (if not overall inspiration): Laurie B. Weasley
PRELUDE: Two girls walk into a Hot Topic store, dressed so calculatedly that they almost melt into the racks. Eyeing a couple particularly cute males that seem to fit the stereotypical “emo-guy” bill, they clomp over a few aisles, determined to catch them off guard. Instant chemistry result in fast friendship and even (fatal?) attraction, of the “can’t-stop-thinking-about-her” variety. But what happens when the guys find out their muses were illusions- projects created by two particularly bored young actresses- and they the unsuspecting victims of the girls’ experiment?
