Chain of writing ideas from a discord server I occasionally post in:
1. Hm, got another writing idea from Bo Burnhamâs âWelcome To The Internetâ, of all things.
In my greek-mythology-focused urban fantasy WIP, I was already developing a worldbuilding detail where the gods have both a humanoid/biological presence, and a âmetaphysicalâ presence, the latter of which are kinda like cosmic fluids that can be influenced by (and influence in turn) events in the mortal world.
âŚIâve now decided that, terrifyingly, the Internet ALSO has a metaphysical presence in this way.
2. Essentially itâs a setup for the metaphysical side of the storyâs implied background conflict.
The protagonist is a writer who has writerâs block, and the gods basically send him on a full-on mental health journey because they think him actually pulling that off and finishing a book would hopefully help the rest of the mortal world.
âŚand part of why is because, due to stuff happening in the mortal world I wonât get into, Eris, in a metaphysical way, is getting absolutely swollen with power from two opposing angles, the Muse of History Kleio is also fighting back on that front, but by way of the internet is bleeding into Psyche (note that Psyche ONLY exists metaphysically in this universe, sheâs been subsumed into every human consciousness combined by this point in history). The result? Burnout. A lot of cases of it. And so Athena and other so-called âphilosopher godsâ are trying to find a smarter way to deescalate things
3. Expanding on this writing idea for my urban fantasy WIP. In this continuity, Psyche probably ascended to godhood roughly when humans reached mental modernity. By the modern day, pretty much the only way to contact Psyche is as a vague understanding by aspects of a personâs Self that they are, in fact, fragments of Psyche. This can cause some real mindfucks if the topic of Psyche comes up while attempting to self-administer positive self-talk during Guided Imagery.
4. Writing idea expanding on this (long chain, I know):
The protagonistâs Aspect of Self/Fragment of Psyche starts slowly becoming a reflection of his own vicarious grief, basically a reflection of the collective time the world has lost and the collective mental health damage the world has accrued, and so Psyche almost starts acting like an apparition of vicarious loss.