Generic Omniversal Existential Crisis

[Jonn Wolfe]

Or, Who am I a background character for?

We're all familiar with, or should be familiar with Heinlein's "World as Myth" theory, That which is written comes into existence. Which is severely simplified from:

Robert A. Heinlein's The Number of the Beast introduces the concept of the "World as Myth" which supposes that all fictional universes are equally real and, moreover, are accessible to one another via interdimensional travel. The act of authorship is what creates said universes, which leads to the interesting notion that the characters in any given universe may be controlled, at any given moment, by an Author from another. Characters could, in theory, meet their own Author. Conversely, each Author is a character in someone else's fiction.

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And, I think it's backwards. Specifically: "The act of authorship is what creates said universes" I think it would be more appropriate to say that "Stories of Significant Weight are told elsewhere in the omniverse." (Omniverse in this case referring to every multiverse that exists.)

This is like saying that the Bible, the Koran, the Tanakh, and other books of religion are of significant weight to be told and written 'everywhere' in the Omniverse.

This could go with several tropes, but I think the leading 'television crossovers' and etcetera all exist on the same world in the same universe. Like... Doctor Who and Torchwood, Magnum PI and Murder She Wrote, Frankenstein Dracula Wolfman, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and things of similar nature all being tied off in their own collective universe makes sense to me.

Regardless, all of those worlds are populated by People who think that whatever is happening in their world is Perfectly Normal. We might find it ridiculous, but it's old hat there.

Then it flipped in my head, and it made me stop and blink. "What story am I a background character in?"

Then I got to wondering... What the Hell could be written about this world I'm typing in? Well, other than 'A Deconstruction of the American Presidency'. (No politics here, plzkthx)

Are we just a spot where all the stories are told, or are there several books, shows, or films denoting things in This particular universe ... somewhere out there?

What would they be?

What could they be?

What could have happened here that would be extremely noteworthy and unique?

 

[NamelessMcGraw]

Well, if you'd asked me four years ago, I might've said that our universe is what AlternateHistory.com might call an Ameriwank. That is, a timeline where one nation, in this case, the USA, has a ridiculously successful (and ridiculously lucky) time of things.
Nowadays, of course, I'm not so sure.

 

[Mgunh1]

Can I just say, I loved Number of the Beast? It was, to my knowledge, the world's first multi-author multi-crossover fanfic. It was also complete crack.

And, I think it's backwards. Specifically: "The act of authorship is what creates said universes" I think it would be more appropriate to say that "Stories of Significant Weight are told elsewhere in the omniverse." (Omniverse in this case referring to every multiverse that exists.)

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Why not both? Time is a flubbsy-wubbsy thing anyway, when you're dealing with the immaterial potentiality of non-space between universes, it quickly unravels.

Are we just a spot where all the stories are told, or are there several books, shows, or films denoting things in This particular universe ... somewhere out there?

What would they be?

What could they be?

What could have happened here that would be extremely noteworthy and unique?

Click to shrink...

Who says the story has even started yet? Maybe all this is just background fluff to set up the environment for the story to eventually be told.

Of course, that's assuming there is only one story to be told per universe. Which is exceedingly unlikely. I can point to numerous events in history that are novel or movie worthy, and, in fact, had movies and novels based on them.

WW2 alone gave us heaps of heroes and bizarre tales to tell stories about; from the infamous White Death, to the guy Rambo was based on.

And you have to remember, not all stories are action packed or even noteworthy in the universe they are based in. We could be living through the before, during or aftermath of someone else's slice-of-life manga.

You see, you might not even be a background character. The story might have already been told and all this is 'and so the story continues' type stuff. Because a universe doesn't just end when a story is told, life goes on. Thus, just because it is plausible to say that every universe exists to tell a story, that doesn't mean that story is the only one that universe has to tell.