This may be a bit disjointed. Figuring out a way to put it all together in such short time is a bit challenging.
I believe in the multiverse. I believe that information is spread along the universe and can be intercepted by people with certain skills. I believe that cultures are all trying to make sense of that information through religious beliefs and folklore. I believe that each culture, at its core, conveys the same information, particularly in regard to the spirit world. I believe that writers are capable of tapping into this stream of information and present it in the guise of stories. Therefore, most stories actually exist somewhere, in some alternate universe, and we get peeks of them. And, there's a good possibility that one can step into these stories.
It happens often enough in certain fantasy stories. Someone is sent to a different time or different world and must survive and/or find his or her way back to the original world. Aside from the desire to experience the fantastical unknown, why does that idea keep cropping up? Even as far back as folktales and mythology, you see people traveling to the fairy realm or spirit realm and return many years later. They are the same age whereas everyone else had aged. Why this similarity between cultures if it isn't somehow true, somewhere?
Years ago, my best friends and I mused about a multiverse. Granted, we didn't have that term at the time. This was back in, oh... 2000 before we read a bunch of comics and the Marvel and DC universes relied heavily on the idea. And before we learned the difference between "universe" and "observable universe." We were huge fans of anime (and other nerdy things) at the time and wished that it could be true. Somewhere. And we determined that if the universe was as infinite as science claimed, then surely we couldn't be the only planet with life on it. In fact, there could be other "Earths" out there with "humans" on them, each just slightly different from our own world. It's infinite, so why not? Somewhere way, way out there... our favorite stories could exist. It was a comfort, in a way.
Cut to modern day and scientists have admitted to the existence of a multiverse. Comic book fans rejoice. In fact, in Spooky Action at a Distance by George Musser, he postulates that we just lack the perception to see each possible reality as our other selves experience it. Instead of being an untold distance away, it's right next to us, on the other side of... something. It's that close. Kinda makes you wonder about multiple personality disorder, doesn't it? Think about that for a moment. Different personalities coming forth to deal with various situations, interacting with the core personality's world. What if some of them are actually that same person but from a different reality? And they're all bleeding through into one, all aware of each other, all aware of their surroundings, all reacting to it. It makes my writer sense tingle.
And about that writer sense...
If you interview authors about the writing process, most will admit that the characters speak to them--somehow. The author doesn't have much control over the story because of this. Characters--in good stories at least--need to be able to stretch and grow and change organically. The story must change to accommodate them. Writers, then, are more like mediums. They write the story as the characters tell it to them, be it through auditory stimulation of hearing conversations or visual daydreams for watching scenes unfold. Sometimes it's just a burst of knowledge, a sudden flaring connection that tightens the story in the writer's mind, much like that burst of inspiration or enlightenment. Some authors have gone as far as admitting that they have little control over some stories. Stephen King, for instance, has said that he wrote the Dark Tower series from his navel, that it just poured out of him and he simply wrote everything down. And then there's the fact that Cujo was written while he was on pain killers and, consequently, he doesn't remember writing it. Yet there it is. Whole. Complete. Good. Other authors, like Sharon Creech, say they don't have a general outline for stories. They have an idea, sit at their computers (or notebooks) and start typing to see what emerges. (I heard her admit to this during a lecture in Pittsburgh a few years ago through the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Series).
Most popular authors will say that aspiring writers should write every day. It establishes a routine and habit and allows the words to flow easier as time passes. And that's probably true. But perhaps it's more than that. Perhaps the words flow easier because the writer is tapping into that stream of information passing between the multiverses. The stories carried on cosmic winds. The Jungian collective memory.
But what about editors and beta readers? So many stories reach publishing editors only to be returned with major edits and revisions, thus altering the entire story. What people may not know is that most editors start as writers. Thus they are able to tap into the same stream of knowledge, especially with a guide--a talisman, amulet, focus point--that helps to channel that specific information. They can interpret the story in a different way, they may see it clearer, and together with the author can manage to present the clearest representation of that story. Same with beta readers. That way what hits the shelves, the final product, is as close to true as possible.
And what about that revision process? Surely all that information traveling between universes won't arrive perfect and clear and pure. Have you watched TV when the satellite dish wasn't pointed in the right direction? It's all garbled, isn't it? And what about talking on the phone with someone on the other side of the world (on a lan line, of course). Distant, muted, filled with static. Point is, we're probably getting whispers of the story. And anyone who's ever played Telephone knows that the message could be easily lost in translation... and transference. We're grasping at the idea, searching for other people involved, trying to work out what happens. With editors and beta readers and revision, the image is made solid and as clear as possible. It might not be completely true, but it's close to it.
And what about authors who incorporate their lives into the story? Details from their childhood, things they hear in passing at the time, their immediate surroundings, their friends or teachers or family members or coworkers... That is our brains recognizing patterns. It's making connections in order to better understand the story. And when something in our immediate reality matches with the story, our brains have an "ah-ha!" moment and latches onto it. We incorporate it, not knowing that the elements were already part of the story.
It's nice to think about, knowing that our favorite characters or favorite stories are real somewhere. There are a lot of bad stories that we'd rather not be real, but there must be that balance, the good and the bad. We don't have control over our own world and the stories it produces, except our personal ones. We have no say in what the universe produces. But we can be sure that for every bad, there is a good. For every evil entity, there is a good one fighting it. And there are thousands of stories we can embrace, knowing that they're real. Somewhere.
