the last person to post here wins

("...I guess I will be more here now..." remarked the goblin who had had one of his threads deleted elsewhere, saying "...but that is forumland for you, simply one posts across forumland for exactly this reason then, that nothing is safe, simply it is fate now...")

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How is it that your garbled writing makes so much sense? The other day I was sitting across from someone that was puzzling out a cursive word. Took me but a few seconds to get it, upside down. I enjoy your perspective. Be well

"...well that's probably because I can't write like you humans do, and perhaps that's what the posters actually want too, besides, where is there any anonymity where one writes on forumland as one does in dailylife now..." replied the goblin honestly enough, noting that his PM box seemed more active towards him than the forum was, adding "...you see, most people are still trying to write for that publishing world, whereas I am a livewriter from the livewriting scene, you can google my username to find the others if you like, in that a livewriter's username is traceable like an authorname, whereas the persona bit is simply that which most posters will remember you by, so one builds up a loose association with some persona here, for example slinky_bas is a kobold, jats is a chameleon, giggler is the foolish, silentxmidnight is a spirit, etc., because few people will actually remember a username like fleamailman, whereas I don't know how many times I've read something equating to "that bloody goblin again"...", "...well goblin she'll know you're mad now..." went slot's voice in the background, "...ah no, she knew that before she sent the PM, but now she knows the means behind the madness here..." replied the goblin hoping it helped her, but alas the goblin was well beyond help

repost from elsewhere, a writer who was very ill

"...life's angels are not there to be nice, they're there to help you shine in their reflection, moreover as a writer if you can't do justice to her with your pen, then dailylife has won this round I believe, and yet, if you can write even a few lines now, then I will respect you as a writer for your stance then, appreciating anything that you might post as something more powerful in sentiment than if you hadn't had this situation then..." mentioned the goblin, thinking back to seneca's line again "misfortune is the chance to show character", adding "...simply, it's not "what you write" but "if you write" that counts now, remember a writer is not what he has written, it's what he is still writing even on his death bed to his last remaining breath, that's the writer you want to be I imagine, the angel awaits your pen, shine in her reflection here..."


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"There are people out in the world are a ray of light to friend and family around them. They are like stars on a dark night or even a small light in a dark cave. It a simple kind beauty, that is rare in today's world." a dark haired woman said with a pen under her chin. She moves the pen in back and forth under her chin.

"This people show the ones around them the better side of themselfs. I think that everyone had at least one person in their life one point in their lifes. These people lifts you up, without a thought to their own moving ahead." she said with lightness in her voice. She thinks about all the people that help her move ahead, and she hopes that she can be a light in the dark for someone else.

("...how does so much time pass so quickly..." mentioned the goblin again, adding "...I love my life at the moment, I been writing a lot, and now I'm posting again...")repost from elsewhere

Quote :

hhmm, I don't think the livewriters path is necesarilly for me. Thought its exceedingly interesting reading it in convo haha.

"...nobody pushing you either, just that if you continue posting on forumland, you'll need to think out your persona at some point, I mean your readers will see you both by your books and by your posts too, meaning a loss of interest on their part if your posts don't merit much attention now, where conversely, imagine that your posts were extraordinary then, surely those readers would then rush to see if your book too, had the same pull now..." ventured the goblin, knowing that livewriting was not for everybody then, besides, he wasn't selling something here, only explaining why he already had a readership of book and was known across forumland for what he did, adding "...catch me in the game section then, interesting game is it not..."

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You raise some interesting points about forumland, fmm, sufficient to bring me briefly out of retirement. A good 95% of all forum posts are pure rubbish. What future is there for the novel, in that world?

"...ah now, no rest for the wicked novelist is there OX, any more than there is any actual retirement from forumland either... " smiled the goblin loving the question for those thoughts that it conjured within him, knowing that the pull here was this correspondence factor now that livewriters dubbed "feeding" then, so the goblin just ventured "...well we still have radio, newspapers, magazines, and the like, even after the full onslaught of the television in the last century and of the internet in this one, so I see no reason that physical books, moreover novels in this case, should not to remain much as the others have, only that we're talking about market-share here, where two things do seem evident, 1, that the reader wants to feed, and 2, that the reader has less time...", the goblin was thinking back to a linked article he had come across that showed that, although physical books sales were down, ebook sales had not as yet replaced them, leading the goblin to wonder about this vacuum, and conclude "..."so where to now the written word", but if this is the case, where 95% of it is pure rubbish as you quite correctly point out I feel, then that's reason enough for writers to see how quickly forumland could serve their purpose instead of ploughing their efforts into unseen blogs and unread books each time, simply username becomes author's name then, where you become synonymous to what you post here..."

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on a day slightly different from others, the sun almost burns ones back from its brightness, and yet, the passing view from this village minibus is of a winter's cold frost here, where the goblin too,calmly holds on his lap his workday rucksack containing the plastic urn of what was his mother, and where the feeling is serene enough, surreal in its oddness even, with that same old slideshow of passing scenery without coupled with memories from within, where together they idled away the goblin's time aimlessly enough, "...first exeter bus terminal, a quick snack, and then that long leg down to london, then finding some cheap undemanding hotel in an old haunt, and then..., ..." but the goblin broke off form wording it now as if knowing that it wasn't really like him to think things through beyond their planning side, besides, his expectations were ever "well whatever happens, happens then", continuing "...and tomorrow, it's on down to felixstowe, that beach, and her sea once more, well perhaps it'll be our sea till I sprinkle her into it, then it's just my sea after that I suppose, so "so long" mum, you were ever restless during your lifetime, guess there's no point in my uttering "rest in peace" now, but would "so long then" do as some passing note between us...", but the goblin never did know how long that "long" actually was, nor how long it would be either, where no doubt that sea would seem an ocean of tears at the time


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"...don't confuse it now, your elected governments will still come and go but the underlying system itself is slowly steering to a close here, where what with fewer births against a greater lifespan leading to a growing deathrate, simply to date no one has cared about either the aging or the depletion of resident populations because the issue was clouded by, or depended upon, immigration where those immigrants were in a seemingly endless supply here, however, subtract the newcomers from the situation and one soon notes both the general lack of confidence and the risk aversion towards creating families here...", japan is a case in point, but most other countries will suffer a population shortfall if they can't produce a system that encourages family confidence, adding "...a greying europe is not a simple problem of who will pay ones pension later, nor just one of old people being meager spenders, no the real problem is that the resulting gradual loss of law and order, where such demographic system-stall occurs, is usually followed by a system collapse and anarchy, another new dark age perhaps..."


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so here i am, late on purpose; what's the deal here

"...welcome human to this forum..." started the goblin now, adding "...let us first discard all that you have heard about this forum being a troll's site, far from it in fact, no, this forum is for those who wish to bring out their creative side, the avant grade of posting perhaps, anti-posting even...", where maybe the real joke was not so much how ludicrous the goblin's words actually sounded here, but more how often he had been proved right by them, simply most posters given a free hand in posting evolved into something immeasurably better than if they had been told to follow standard forum procedures

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But is there a way to make profit with that approach, Flea? That is, if you care about profit.

"...well I suppose if I became superknown on forumland, then I imagine I could take it from there then in the same way others writers already have now..." replied the goblin lying through his teeth because he knew he would never step out of his anonymity here, simply his writing on forumland was divorced from dailylife, meaning no fame nor fortune on the one hand, but none of that "just write like everyone else please, get it right" compromise on the other, adding "...you see, isn't it enough to know oneself by what one posts then, or is anyone seriously asking me to sell myself short in some declining publishing world only to be flavor of the month for a short while...", in fact, the goblin already had a solid readership, but he would dump it all for a couple of interesting replies, concluding "..oh yes, interesting replies, now that's something worth writing for I believe, so that's my price then, think you can pay me humans..."

Spoiler:

I started a post a while ago, but it turned into a bit more of a short story then a post.

Now I'm just going to remark on some things.
I often think how cool it would be if Alan and Bella could take over for me in situations.
Normally it is some sort of situation I think of in which a human like myself would be in trouble.
Well now I have a house full of kids aged between .3 and 3 years of age... I could not imagine Alan or Bella handling this situation...

Just a small insight into my thoughts and my characters.

(and with that the goblin knew that he didn't know, but didn't mind because this thread was for anyone to relate anything and still win by it, saying "...you are your posts, simply where others come or go, you alone remain in front of a little slot on a journey to self each time, indeed a path less traveled perhaps...")

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Queenbot laughed and said, "Oh goblin, you are so clever. But how can one exit through an entrance? It is a conundrum! But yet since the door may yet lead to some place else it could be the entrance to that place. So it is yet again a clever answer. But the real question Goblin is why can you not marry me? I have only yet begun stalking you...." said The Queen rubbing her gloved hands together, and then laughing maniacally.

"...ah no, with forumland one only ever has two choices now, that of a known wendy, or that of an unknown peter pan..." replied the goblin quite seriously about it too, explaining "...well now, wouldn't you agree that the majority of posters on writer's forum are, understandably even, wendys, that is that they crave fame and fortune enough to be willing to pay madusa's price for it, setting themselves in stone so to speak as known dated and detailed, ah but not me now, no, I am ever peter pan, where by my anonymity I remain ever unknown undated and undetailed, hidden from mudusa's glance...", not that the goblin didn't understand that that too came at a price, for all the goblin actually had was his persona now, where even his posts were dead by the time he hit the post button, explaining "...for how can anyone who is anonymous lay claim to anything I wonder without first stepping straight into mudasa's view again..."


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repost from elsewhere, someone asking the wrong goblin for an appraisal where the goblin prefers just to let posters evolve for themselves

"...reads well..." mentioned the goblin in passing now, adding "...you know, these days, writing a book is little more than "save whatever contents in pdf format and just add a link to it then", so no, and what with thousands of books out there already, your real challenge is amassing and retaining your readership now, rather than the book itself...", simply, that although most ordinary folk clearly understood that one was synonymous to what writes on forumland, most writers tried to devoice it into the two of "me" and "my works" then, where any gap, resulting from that this miscomprehension of forumland now, either betrayed their readers expectations of them , or failed to entice their readers towards them, whereupon the goblin just smiled trying to nail it, saying "...my guess is that you want to be read as a writer, don't you just, but you will have to play forumland's game at forumland's price, because things are not going back to paperbooks now, for even canute for all his sentiments is not going to turn back this rising posting tide here, but just perhaps you might learn to swim to its surface, now that would be amazing, and you would be one of its firsts to do so too..."


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"...well human..." went the goblin at least guessing that xxxxx had to be one now, adding "...a lot depends on what one posts to where then, try posting in the games section where most posters accumulate, look across their posts too, a lot comes across in their posts that will serve you well in knowing who to approach in ones aims now...", in fact, a forum often turned into a visit to the supermarket like this, where one enters intending to certainly buy one thing only to come out with more than one had originally bargained for, so the goblin just explained it, saying "...isn't there an ease at posting in the games section, where nothing is expected of one, rather than those more formal "workshop" sections now, but oddly it's just the same posters there with their hair let down..." but the goblin meant well by it, simply he befriended anyone who befriended him back but he was always alone


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It seems like people are greedy and think of themselves more now than they used to. The politicians are corrupt and so is Wall Street. We were led into war by misinformation. People gave out false information to obtain home loans, etc, that is why they lost their homes. They could not afford them. What happened to honesty? Is it vanishing? Did we used to think people were honest who were not? Is character an issue anymore and is it taught in school?

and then, as if to spoil it, the goblin showed, saying "...well, the world of adults is lying is it not anyway, trouble is that is it slowly spirals out of hand in its continuation, for today has no american dream now, nor job for life either, so people have merely become a product of a harsh reality, simply every man for himself then, compete with others and expect nothing less than to be lied to, and the need to lie back in return, for these are our "fall of empire" times are they not...", and yes, the decline is well masked, and still the fanfare continues all around too, but few see an upheaval coming until it is upon them, because the world of adults is one of lies, and of our clinging to those secure lies that we ourselves so much want to hear now


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repost from elsewhere, the goblin, the "how do you best write" thread

"...me, I write best either when I am haunted by an image of something, or when I'm fed my response here..." ventured the goblin who too, could post something subjectively from within like a writers did, or objectively from without like some poster might, adding "...so when one is livewriting, one is constantly editing ones posts in their repost across forumland, that is while building up collection of ones posts then, but one has a different criteria to someone who is writing a book now, even if those reading the posts are probably those same humans who would read books too, simply that one becomes more aware of ones persona in livewriting than in bookwriting, if only because all those readers are in one's face so to speak...", in fact, it's seemed more like "open letter" writing then


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"...glad you see it that way then queenbot..." replied the goblin, who didn't care for those set writing perimeters either, saying "...mind you, it's not that I go out of my way to be wrong either, just I borrow machiavelli's idea here, that the prince must keep his word, ah but not any price now, meaning play the part, yes but remain true to oneself where one must...", hardly any wonder that the church then banned that book for being too subversive, and with that the goblin was trying to remember how machiavelli had put it then, saying "...for the fox gets eaten by the wolves, where the lion falls into traps"was the concept then, for the prince must come across as a lion to others, that is a man of an unflinching word then, and yet he must break faith where he has to...", whereupon the goblin just laughed, saying "...well, I keep faith to those who read and write with me, but goblin's are not to be trusted now..."


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"...your best post yet, and so true too..." replied the goblin, happy to have someone smart feeding him now, continuing "...true that we think we are what we are, most probably because of how we see ourselves in the context of our dailylife then, but then again, that's exactly why too, I remain anonymous now, besides, since I can't prove anything about myself anyway, someone has yet to explain to me why I need to qualify my words here with some unprovable personal paraphernalia at this point, for here folks, both you and I are just as so many words written upon a screen, living books if you like, livewriters then...", and with that the goblin went over at the text he had written in terms of an image now, knowing how important it was to illustrate his texts, adding "...saying, well if every picture tells a story, then conversely every text must convey an image, but so what is the image of internet anonymity where it could just be anyone and anything..."


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"...actually, I remember a lot more when making a point to recollect the past, than when I don't test my memory at all..." mentioned the goblin, adding "...though admittedly whatever I did at some point past has no meaning in my today now, just that it's best to not let ones memories go unrecollected too long I suppose, and yet, when I address my past objectively like this, lots of other memories that I had forgotten come to the fore, but however much I recollect them, it all means nothing to anyone else and is of no consequence to me, as it's just gone...", and besides, the goblin had long noted that there seemed some pattern in his childhood, carried on through his youth into early adulthood and beyond, summed up by that term the path of least resistance towards ones dailylife here, where one just repeats the same routine week in week out year after year, etc, so the goblin just laughed, saying "...amazing isn't it, that one dreams of adventure here, yet everyone actually prefers that little "nine to five" dailylife of theirs, with its security and creature comforts against that big unknown, that fear of death too, whatever, simply we all shelve the big adventure for some other moment to come, mine are memories of this shelving then..."


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"...ah now, that is the world of humans for you then is it not..." went the goblin, reading xxxxx's post, thinking how important it was to render unto dailylife what was dailylife's, and unto the internet that which is more uncompromising here, adding "...when I was younger, whenever I wanted something, I would simply compromise for it, not so much as a deception towards her here, more as a delusion towards myself in believing such a compromise was at all workable in the long run, or that somehow today's gratification wouldn't come without tomorrow's consequence, simply "youth" for me was the folly of no foresight then...", where today, even if the goblin were to be given some time-machine, he couldn't really go back to his youth now, as his inner age has killed off his youth, just like his youth in its turn had killed off his childhood then, concluding "...so perhaps one day now, medicine will make one look and and feel young again, but it will never make me youthful like I was, no I would only hate myself for hurting her through compromise this time around..."


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repost from elsewhere, the "what give the state the right to exist" thread

"...since humans lean towards the comfort of an authority, which is a compromise of some sort or other, they form their family unit, or their clan, their state, their empire, etc., where any absence of authority, the state in this context, in some form or other, is a non starter in my view, since they always fall back into that comfort of this authority each time..." mentioned the goblin, adding "...however authority, being a compromise too, suffers from structural stress over time, meaning that families, clans, states right on up to empires, wax, wane, and finally collapse, just as history has so clearly shown us, even if the underlying desire for authority on the part of the individual remains constant throughout, albeit one tempered with a desire for some impossible freedom too...", simply the goblin was stating that humans were like incapable chickens in terms of that great wild outdoors, where they still aspired to those very ideals they couldn't possibly survive in, "...well goblin, why not just borrow lincoln's words then, addressing it as "a chicken-coop of the chickens, by the chickens, for the chickens"..." went the voice in the back to the goblin's mind now, not that the goblin himself would ever dare utter anything like that though


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So what’s it like on the other side? That’s the side opposite life, in case you don’t get my drift. Have you dipped your toe in, and returned? What did you experience? Have you communicated with someone on the other side? How did that communication take place? Can you recommend it as a place to go? Do you have any views on the notion that when a person dies, that person's soul returns to Earth to inhabit a new-born baby's body? And do we know we’ve been here before? If you’re wondering what I’m on about this time, I’m going under the knife in two weeks. The doc told me there’s a chance I might die. If that happens, I know you’ll breathe a collective sigh of relief and then throw a party, but in the meantime I want answers** **erm, but not from Christians. Go annoy someone else.

"...does anybody have any more life than anyone else I wonder, where tomorrow is not promised even to the most healthy amongst us..." mused the goblin, adding "...and besides, where are those you loved in life if not within you at this point, so too, by that logic then, if someone loves you in the way you yourself hold someone dear within you now, then you already know where you will be, just welcome in the their hearts...", in fact, the goblin often wondered if the heart was not some portal to a spirit-dimension then, where perhaps the afterlife was akin to our internet then, just another sea of forumland perhaps

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what do i win? and when. i'd settle for an autograph from the Goblin.

"...I guess one wins a reflection of self through one's post..." replied the goblin adding "...but if you write out my name, and then think of it as mine, that will be me then, for in truth there is no way that I can prove my identity to you..." replied the goblin as if knowing that fame and fortune were medusa's enticements to let her set one in her published stone again, like so many dead or dated authors now, adding "...well, wasn't it enough for one to have lived these thoughts here free on forumland, rather than having suffered the weight of her gaze by now..."


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Ah, but what are we being distracted from? When the South polar ice cap melts there will be no economy, we do not know if it will go bit by bit or in one hot summer, but probably sometime within the next 30 years most of the earth will be uninhabitable and the population back to bronze age levels, about 1% of the present population. Don't let them think about that too long.

the goblin liked xxxxx's reply very much for the way he fed the goblin's mind so well, replying "...oh yes and all that too, agreed, but things I fear will fall apart long before those thirty years from now then, in that simply there are too many indicators that the overall situation, both in europe and america, is unsustainable here, where simply too much liquidity chases too little productivity, and where too, too many people expect the system to support them where obviously their savings and pensions are growing steadily worthless with the rising cost of living here, and where again the gap between the haves and the have nots, the enfranchised and disenfranchised is widening steadily too...", the goblin paused, knowing that it didn't take much googling to backup this argument that the system is too severely strained at this point to be sustainable for long, saying "...there's another war coming, for they daren't let us watch/comprehend this slow decline here, this our end of empire age, so they'll offer us more distraction instead, yet another war, some royal marriage perhaps, or those london olympics then, climate change, brutal repression in faraway dictator states, etc., in fact anything to avoid us looking at directly at that fact that the economic sums don't add up nor bode well, where the cuts are coming even if no one knows how the axe will land..."

repost from elsewhere, advice of livewriting

"...liked it, but remember that anything over 12 lines is likely to go unread on forumland, where perhaps you could use bold for the line, amongst the many you have written there, that you feel most sums up your stance within it..." mentioned the goblin, adding "...anyway something worth reading twice is probably worth re'writing then, and the great thing about forumland is the way it offers you endless opportunities to do countless editions of your works in reposts, where the only thing to avoid is reposting to the same forum the same work...", in fact, the goblin was a big cheat on that account, but what of it since each forum supposedly had different readers on them anyway so did it matter if someone had read it elsewhere


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I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered this too. Have any of you ever had the experience where you get a story idea, (or any writing-related ideas; characters, world, concept, etc...) and then suddenly you begin to see things related to it everywhere? For me, I tend to come across similar characters, or specific words that hold meaning in the story. Or maybe stumble over an article that deals with the city or town I'm writing about. Television is especially good with throwing my ideas in my face--then of course my good friend will start talking about something strangely close... What about you? Any oddly close encounters with any of your book ideas?

"...ah now, it only gets worse human, for after a while they move in and stay put..." mentioned the goblin guessing that here was someone newish to writing then, continuing "...just it's the level of ones imagination within one I suppose, where if you're constantly listening out for something then you hear more, where too, if you look carefully at something then you'll see more, and where again if you eat slowly you'll taste more of it..." at which point the goblin just tried to bridge it to himself, saying "...well then, by that logic if you pass everything through the focus of your pen here, then won't that too, throw up all sorts of things that you've overlooked till now...", simply, the goblin was pointing out that writing was like all the other senses, where words are representations that effect all the other senses within one, adding "...for example if you add a picture to each post, soon sure enough these texts will project their images in the same way that some images will relate back texts to one...", "...oh, so that's why you do it goblin, and we all thought you were just plain mad now, how disappointing then..." went those muted voices in the back of the goblin's mind once more, but at least the goblin was never going to be alone it seemed, ah no he enjoyed the company of his imaginary friends within, mind you what within was not imaginary anyway


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