Alienus Tempus is still alive. Rumors of my demise have been highly exaggerated. I've had moments when I've thought I'd never escape the tight grip of mental illness and depression. Despite the struggle I've made recent progress on AT. For one, I've roughed out an introduction.
To understand my life, one must be aware of how Philip K Dick's world has influenced me. I've found to facilitate this, a minimum amount of knowledge of PKD is necessary.
The "mini-bio" is my chapter 2 and is titled "PKD 101". Most of this will already be known by people who are familiar with Phil. It's meant to be a brief review and a gentle introduction to the newcomer. It's just a first draft and resembles more of an outline. More information is needed. And then more revising.
The next phase involves rewriting my experiences so that they will be more engaging. To make it read more like a traditional memoir, with all it's tools that are used in fiction. This involves a delicate balance between showing and telling which will be a challenge. A challenge that can lead to multiple benefits such as memory recall as I place myself squarely in the action.
Another benefit could be that I'll invoke more emotion and reflection as if I were actually reliving the experience. This translates to more engagement and empathy from the reader.
Alas, I have a major obstacle, or block, if you will. There is a lot of necessary telling in my story as it seems a majority of my scenes involve scenarios which don't include people. Unless they happen to be characters on television. This means there is less dialogue as I'm describing events that are happening while I'm usually the only one around. This is how the Universe has communicated with me. Mostly. So, it's a real challenge to make it sound more like the traditional memoir. But, who says it has too? Right?
