Weekly Update - 140 (Patreon)

In the book trilogy The First Law by Joe Abercrombie, (not to be confused with Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind), there's a character named Glotka who constantly asks himself the question, "why do I do this?"

What a fantastic question.

Comic This Week?  Yeah! Pretty sure.  Assuming I have the normal amount of productivity tomorrow.

Drawing: Page 158-160

Playing: Rimworld

Reading: Not enough

Ramble:

Something I've wanted to address for a long time is how I feel sometimes when I'm rambling.  On the rare chance I have something I think is smart or insightful on my mind, enough so that I want to share it with others in case there's the possibility it's something someone else might not have heard before, I fear my writing takes on a certain tone.

I type alongside the voice that I hear in my head: my internal monologue.  And my internal monologue takes on different tones depending on what I'm writing.  In that way, that's what I mean when I say I can almost "hear" my characters speaking in their patterns of speech at me.  Riley has a distinctly different voice in my head than Max. Kiera sounds different than Kiva. Donno... talks like Donno.

When I'm writing in my own voice, I hear that too, but that inner monologue also evolves into different "characters" or versions of me depending on what I'm writing about.  The problem is, if I'm writing something that I think is even remotely smart or insightful, as I usually am in most of these rambles, it feels like I take on a tone that's best likened to a highly educated teacher or scientist, speaking with authority (and probably a bit of a stereotypical British accent.)  It reminds me of something you might hear in an old documentary. It's a tone, though, that I feel might sometimes come across as overly arrogant.

Whether I intend to or not, I'm sure that tone comes through in my writing, both here and sometimes on Discord when I start following a train of thought down whichever way it may go. But adopting this tone may, I fear, make my rambles sound far more haughty and pretentious than they are really meant to be. These are called "rambles" for a reason. They're meant to be raw, unfiltered thoughts on whatever topic has graced my brain with its presence, where I type until my shriveled little skull-organ runs dry. I'm not qualified to speak with authority about anything. As it so happens, I am NOT a highly educated teacher or a scientist, (I know, shocking,) and I never want to be in a position where something I say just stands unchallenged. I am always aware, and I want everyone to be aware of the possibility I could be wrong. At any time, about anything. I WANT to be challenged if I say something dumb or if I am holding onto some view that is dumb.  I'm always happy to change my mind and look at something from a more rational perspective. My hope is only to organize random thoughts into words, find some clarity among them, or to maybe get others thinking about the topic at hand, and maybe even spark some discussion. Beyond that, it's really just me barking into the void.

See, I think I'm doing it now, without even really realizing it.  It feels like I'm using that tone. I'm not even sure how to turn it off. In any case, I hope people don't find it too off-putting.  I also acknowledge that this worry of mine might not even be a thing anyone else has noticed. Maybe it's just another anxiety of mine and no one is actually concerned about it but me.

Incidentally, there is a character in this comic that borrows upon this same haughty tone in similar fashion, and we're going to become very familiar with them soon.