The Country is Burning Feedback and Voting

[JakeSnakeCakes]

(flag of Aercodnu, the country that is burning)

https://chyoa.com/story/The-Country-is-Burning.44703

This is my attempt at writing something more serious, about a partisan group in an alternate world that's also very similiar to our own. Think of the setting as kind of an amalgation of Central and Eastern European countries.

If you're unfamiliar with partisans, let me explain. Partisans were armed political dissidents. They were mostly ordinary men, women and children who took up arms to fight the invaders, or their own fascist governments. I've always had a lot of respect for these people, they weren't as well-equipped, experienced, organized, or numerous as their opponents but they continued to fight because it was right. People on the internet will argue about which Allied government contributed the most to the defeat of fascism, but I think a lot of people ignore the contributions and struggles of these people who refused to surrender.

Sometimes, I feel hopeless myself. But then I remember how some partisan groups, with limited weapons and supplies helped save Jews from the holocaust, or how Chinese and Vietnamese guerillas ambushed armed Japanese soldiers with only spears or bows so that they could take their weapons. The Yugoslav Partisans who liberated themselves. The Koreans, who fought Japanese occupation for decades. Or Witold Pilecki, the Polish partisan who infiltrated a concentration camp and escaped.

Unlike in most of my previous stories, I tried to make the main character (Adem) have more of a personality instead of being a blank canvas or a self-insert.

I'm not sure how many people are interested in this story, but if you are feel free to post your suggestions on what Adem should do next. Or if you have an OC partisan, I can probably fit them in as well (I just need a name, skills, personality, and backstory.

 

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

oof.

That's a really heavy theme to try and write about, especially during these fraught political times. Good luck with that. I don't know if there'll be much public interest? (Especially on a porn site?) But that's not because of you, or your writing. People just don't want this stuff in their entertainment right now. They get enough of that noise from the news, or people they know at work, or their neighbors they're not too sure about, or if they're really unlucky, even from an actual conflict they're living through. It's just generally not something people want to think about when they're looking to be entertained. It hurts to think about.

That said, don't write it for the views. Write it for yourself. Access your feelings, get your ideas out there. Maybe, like in real life much of the time, there's no way out for Adem. Or maybe, like in real life, he'll be the Aercodnuian equivalent of a farmer stealing Russian tanks. Maybe there's a route where he gets superpowers for no reason, and you explore what would happen, for better or worse, if one common man really could single-handedly take down the system. There's no wrong answer, as a writer. Everything's been done before, but only you can do it in your particular way. Process your feelings, but don't wallow in them. Make peace with your worst fears in this relatively safe space. Find hope where you can. Manufacture inspiration where you feel compelled to.

Oh, and disable comments altogether, because roughly 33% of your audience is going to decide they have a problem with your politics, no matter what your politics actually are. You were wise not to set this in the real world, but it won't be enough to stop the hate comments from flowing. (In fact, you might ironically find people on your side sending hate comments, or your political opponents praising the insightfulness of your story, or people living through a different conflict on the other side of the world that you've never heard of, complaining about you misrepresenting their nation's conflict in your story, simply because these readers each projected different ideologies onto the forces arrayed against Adem.)

Write from a personal place, but try not to take it personally, is what I'm getting at. And the moment you realize you're in over your head or your story is starting to say something you're not comfortable with, back off, process your feelings, and either try again or abandon it for something different. This project is Writing on Hard Mode. There's no shame in failure. It was Hard Mode! Everybody fails the first time they play on Hard Mode. Learn what you can, rethink your approach, and if you feel like it, try again.

Good luck, and godspeed, sir. I would not want to attempt this myself, but I respect it in principle. (Note that I say this without having read any of it yet, so I have no idea what the story's about or how it goes. (I'm saying this bit more for those keyboard warriors I warned you about 2 paragraphs ago, than for you.))

Again, good luck!

 

[JakeSnakeCakes]

People just don't want this stuff in their entertainment right now. They get enough of that noise from the news, or people they know at work, or their neighbors they're not too sure about, or if they're really unlucky, even from an actual conflict they're living through. It's just generally not something people want to think about when they're looking to be entertained. It hurts to think about.

I see your point. It is a little odd to publish this kind of story on a porn site. If you know of any better alternatives please let me know, as I am knew to the writing game.

However, I respectfully disagree. Some of the best and most popular media right now is politically charged and very uncomfortable to watch. Squid Game is a good example, but we also have Attack on Titan, Stranger Things, The Boys. The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy is going to be made into three different series at the same time, and I'm interested in how they're each going to tackle the overt political themes from each book. Recently, I've also seen a lot of celebration of the film Come and See, which is about a Belarusian boy who excitedly joins the partisans only to suffer extreme psychological trauma and violence. Less talked about is the film The Ascent, about two Soviet Partisans who are captured by the Nazis.

I do understand where you're coming from, and I think I do agree that the audience for this is going to be very small. But if I can just tell this story to one person, I feel like I will have given it life.

That said, don't write it for the views. Write it for yourself. Access your feelings, get your ideas out there. Maybe, like in real life much of the time, there's no way out for Adem. Or maybe, like in real life, he'll be the Aercodnuian equivalent of a farmer stealing Russian tanks. Maybe there's a route where he gets superpowers for no reason, and you explore what would happen, for better or worse, if one common man really could single-handedly take down the system. There's no wrong answer, as a writer. Everything's been done before, but only you can do it in your particular way. Process your feelings, but don't wallow in them. Make peace with your worst fears in this relatively safe space. Find hope where you can. Manufacture inspiration where you feel compelled to.

Thank you, and I have been thinking about adding supernatural elements to the story.

Oh, and disable comments altogether, because roughly 33% of your audience is going to decide they have a problem with your politics, no matter what your politics actually are. You were wise not to set this in the real world, but it won't be enough to stop the hate comments from flowing. (In fact, you might ironically find people on your side sending hate comments, or your political opponents praising the insightfulness of your story, or people living through a different conflict on the other side of the world that you've never heard of, complaining about you misrepresenting their nation's conflict in your story, simply because these readers each projected different ideologies onto the forces arrayed against Adem.)

Yeah, this is one of the reasons why I chose to set it in a fictional world. I think I will keep comments up, because I want to get feedback, hear the thoughts of readers, and if it is considered offensive to someone then I want to hear why. Don't worry about my sensitivity, I have a twitter account and there have been times where Japanese imperialists spam my tweets with efforts to disprove their countries' war crimes.

Write from a personal place, but try not to take it personally, is what I'm getting at. And the moment you realize you're in over your head or your story is starting to say something you're not comfortable with, back off, process your feelings, and either try again or abandon it for something different. This project is Writing on Hard Mode. There's no shame in failure. It was Hard Mode! Everybody fails the first time they play on Hard Mode. Learn what you can, rethink your approach, and if you feel like it, try again.

Good luck, and godspeed, sir. I would not want to attempt this myself, but I respect it in principle. (Note that I say this without having read any of it yet, so I have no idea what the story's about or how it goes. (I'm saying this bit more for those keyboard warriors I warned you about 2 paragraphs ago, than for you.))

Again, good luck!

Thank you, I really appreciate all this feedback, as well as the comment left on the first page. I'm excited to continue.

 

[JakeSnakeCakes]

After going back to my research, I'm too depressed to continue this project. Reading about these real-life atrocities is hard enough. I don't think I am currently capable of writing about them.

 

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

After going back to my research, I'm too depressed to continue this project. Reading about these real-life atrocities is hard enough. I don't think I am currently capable of writing about them.

Yeah, that's... yep. Pretty much.

And if you can believe it, from a certain twisted point of view, the fiction about war is even more depressing. Because unlike in real life, where the existence or nonexistence of god is an unsolvable philosophical quandary, in fiction, we, the reader, know that this world we're reading about has a god: the author. And he's doing it on purpose!

 

[JakeSnakeCakes]

That reminds me of something Gen Urobuchi said.

I have nothing but contempt for the deceitful thing men call 'happiness,' and find myself with no choice but to push my characters, whom I pour my heart and soul out to create, into the abyss of tragedy.

 

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

“'Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.' How does this famous quote apply here?”

"It teaches us that if we always focus on the bad stuff, it'll turn us into the kind of depressed loners who go around quoting Nietzsche at people and thinking it's profound?"

"I mean. Technically, you're not wrong. But also, fuck you!"