#imaginary world

[ENG] Fragments of the Labyrinth — The map is finished // [FR] Fragments du Labyrinthe — La carte est finie

[ENG] A map kept by one hand is a leash.

So I won't keep this one.

One year of work. One map of a world that won't hold still.

They call the Tower the centre.

I found no centre. Only a lie useful enough to draw.

I made this at the foot of the Tower, with my back to it.

The Tower seals its map and calls it the truth.

Mine is meant to move. Copied, carried, hidden,

passed to whoever needs to cross.

Every hand that holds it is one the Tower can't count.

Soon, a few of these maps will leave my hands.

Each one finished by hand. Each one a crossing.

When that day comes, you'll know.

Watch this space. Or the newsletter, if the algorithm forgets me.

The paths move. If you follow it and it fails you,

it lies no more than I do.

---

[FR] Une carte gardée par une seule main est une laisse.

Alors je ne garderai pas celle-ci.

Un an de travail. Une carte d'un monde qui refuse de tenir en place.

Ils appellent la Tour le centre.

Je n'ai trouvé aucun centre. Juste un mensonge assez utile pour être tracé.

J'ai fait cette carte au pied de la Tour, en lui tournant le dos.

La Tour scelle la sienne et l'appelle la vérité.

La mienne est faite pour circuler. Copiée, portée, cachée,

remise à quiconque doit traverser.

Chaque main qui la tient en est une que la Tour ne peut pas compter.

Bientôt, quelques-unes de ces cartes quitteront mes mains.

Chacune finie à la main. Chacune un passage.

Quand ce jour viendra, vous le saurez.

Surveillez cet endroit. Ou la newsletter, si l'algorithme m'oublie.

Les chemins bougent. Si vous la suivez et qu'elle vous trahit,

elle ne ment pas plus que moi.

I always thought it's just a thing creative people did?? like i thought that's what writers did to make their own worlds and stories but apparently, while it's a similar thing, it's also something separate? And maladaptive daydreaming is also a different thing!! (as far as I understood)

I watched a video about it and the woman in it said something about the difference between paracosms and worldbuilding (to her) that I related to, which was that once an idea comes to her mind regarding her world, it is accepted as a fact and doesn't change. I've always struggled with changing "facts" about my world or names of characters once my brain declared "this is a thing that exists now."

The funny thing is I literally have draft in tumblr written since June, that in short says, "am i the only one who struggles to change things in their stories" and I never posted because I didn't know how to word it correctly and how to convey what I meant, and it's funny reading it back now. But I had to learn to change things when I started writing, because with writing, it needed to make sense, whereas in my head, it was all about the vibes. Regardless of paracosms, I'm sure my fellow writers understand this struggle too.

I also read that paracosms happened in childhood but for me it was more teenage years, and I only really started writing because I wanted the world I created in my mind to get out of my head and become something tangible. It's why I think of writing as medium to tell my stories, because while I love writing, my true passion is making stories. Even if they're just in my head.

It makes even more sense now why I'm so protective over my world, characters, and their stories. Why I didn't even tell anyone, like my close friends and family, that I write for a long time, even though I wanted to. Because I didn't want to publish my work, but still wanted to share the joy it brought me. I genuinely think it kept—still keeping—me sane, and if I didn't have this world and these silly little characters in my brain, I might be doing drugs right about now even though I sometimes lose sleep thinking about them