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From: WMartin@Office-3@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Characters with a life of their own
Message-ID: <3888@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Aug-83 10:56:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.3888
Posted: Fri Aug  5 10:56:00 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 8-Aug-83 02:25:53 EDT
Lines: 49

From:  WMartin at Office-3 (Will Martin)

Larry Seiler's message about the seemingly independent actions of
characters within his creations brought an idea to mind, and I
wonder if anyone else recognizes this as the tenet of some mystic
belief-system or even the subject of an essay or story from the
SF past.

The idea is that someone "creating" fiction, either writing or
tale-telling or script-writing or whatever, is really mentally
perceiving the the actual actions and events and inhabitants of
an alternate universe.  There would have to be some sort of
differential time rates, of course, as it doesn't take an author
a lifetime to develop the life of a character.

Since I have long personally been convinced that there really are
an infinity of parallel universes, wherein all possible actions
are taking, have taken, or will take place, and that there must
be some methodology of moving either matter or information
between these alternate universes, this idea fits in well with
this world-view.

This would mean that creative talent or inspiration is really
more of a telepathic sensitivity than something totally internal;
I am not sure if this viewpoint is flattering or denigrating to
authors and artists.

Since I have this conviction, I have long found
alternate-universe SF to be my favorite sub-genre.  I wish that
more authors wrote about this, and that those that did took
greater advantage of the multiplicity of wildly divergent or
closely parallel environments the concept provides them.  And, if
I am right, and we find practical methods to move between these
universes, the results would be much more rewarding than space
travel could be!  (Infinite energy, infinite resources, infinite
dumping grounds, infinite interesting intelligences or animals,
infinite room...  )

Anyway, I have drifted off my starting point.  Does anyone
recognize this "fiction as mental perception of other realities"
concept as something printed or discussed in SFdom?  Or did I
make it up myself (or steal it from the brain of a dolphin
scientist on Earth MMMMLXXVII)?

Will Martin

(PS -- How WOULD you label alternate universes anyhow, so you
could identify them in discussions?  Numbering infinity gets
tedious...  WM)