Maps and The Value Of Being Lost In The Act Of Creation

Also: ATLA Live Action Review, Generative AI and Wonka's The Unknown, and 2006 Electro-House

Have you ever played a game that gives you a map and find that it actually existing is frustrating to the gameplay? It usually happens when the game punishes you for veering off-course and/or the map being useful BUT it’s hidden behind a few menus. The latter causes you to lose track and break the escapism of the game.

I found that games like Tears of the Kingdom do it well.

Why? Because, the mini-map always has relevant nearby information, doesn’t take you out of the game, and the world is designed to allow you to see the landmarks its shows on the map. In addition, veering off-path is always interesting and the game doesn’t punish you for it.

It thus keeps you in the game instead of playing the game through the map.

Thus, the value of the map is that it grounds you in your context. Playing the game completely without a map will be frustrating. Playing the game by constantly having to use the map is equally frustrating. The best balance is when a map keeps you in the game. It keeps you exploring and adventuring without the player getting frustrated about being lost and the player not getting frustrated because they spend most of their time in the map itself.

I find that in life we’re always carrying some mental map around with us. Our habits, our culture, our past, our experiences, and the lessons we learn is that map. We can either over-use it or in some cases we don’t have a map at all.

In the former, it means approaching life only from what’s already been mapped. It’s to think that life can only be approached by learning about it in textbooks and the guardrails set up by society. It’s to live by constantly looking down at the map in front of you. You miss the views.

In the latter, when we don’t or can’t access our map, life will decide its course for us. You will feel lost, anxious, and uncertain of where you are in it.

I’m writing again, working on my new novel and I stumbled onto this map metaphor. Too much map and you don’t see the story and the characters in front of you. It’s overplotting and staying in the Hero’s Journey. It’s when you get stuck and you immediately wonder: “what’s supposed to happen now?” Too little map and you write so much that the world and the story feel like it might melt away and drain through the plot’s grid. You’re always frustrated and it doesn’t feel like you are making any progress.

In writing this week, when I felt a bit stuck, I wanted to reach back to all the writing on writing I had read. When Google fails, maybe even have a conversation with an AI about human nature. But, the problem of always pulling out your maps when you explore is that you end up in the map itself. So, I had to let go of that nerve and that habit to pull up a map. Instead, I had to look up and at the characters and the story and be okay with getting lost a bit. Exploring after all is just getting lost when you already have the map.

That’s ultimately what it feels like when you keep creating. The maps were initially all in off-screen menus and the creative world punished you for veering off-course. But as you create more and more, the map becomes a mini-map that keeps you in exploration mode. The trick is to make sure that the mini-map stays a mini-map. Flow state and being in the zone means that the map stays in your periphery and you remain unencumbered.

May you all develop the right mini-map in your creative life!

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Bonus Content!

Yep, as it says above. I’m writing again and it’s been really great. Mostly because for the first time in a long while, I don’t have much else holding me up. On Friday I went for a long walk writing in my head as the first signs of spring reared its head and the combination was blissful.

Other than that, running my next half marathon in 2 weeks! Feeling good, but picked up a bit of an issue with my one quad. Uncertain how I’ll do on the day, but still hoping to do sub 2hr half marathon. However, with my quad giving me issues, I don’t know. Instead of pushing myself, I’ve opted to just do maintenance runs instead of pushing myself more. I have to enjoy it first. There’s always another race. :)

Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Review

I adored the ATLA original. One of my favourite shows and so I was keen to watch the Netflix adaptation. I had reasonably high hopes after enjoying the One Piece Live Action.

In general, I’m less sentimental towards putting originals on high pedestals. I think adaptations are good and they act like mythic storytelling. Each retelling adds to the context of the story. So, I want them to be transgressive and opinionated and even perhaps make choices that could change things I enjoyed about the original.

In that sense, I enjoyed this adaptation. It was similar enough but different enough to breathe a fresh (bending of) air onto ATLA. Some changes that I enjoy is that the pacing in some parts is better and the editing overall is tighter. The action scenes and the sense of scale and epicness is amazing in the adaptation. Definitely some goosebumps in some scenes. The bending was really well done. Sokka & Zuko were stand-outs for me.

My biggest gripe is that the adaptation really lays the exposition on really thick. It feels excessive. When I went back to watch parts of the original to compare, it’s not just that they do more exposition than normal, but writing and directorial choices make the exposition poorer. It *was* a kids cartoon show and thus you can expect heavy exposition to be a part of it. But, there are ways to do it well (or better). It’s something I’m thinking about a lot lately as I’m writing.

As a writer I ask myself the question: “What risk is worse? The risk that my reader doesn’t understand what’s going on, OR, that I risk pulling them out of the story through excessive exposition?” I think leaving room for interpretation is good. What sometimes draws you into a story is that you seek to understand the characters. Their actions will tell you who they are, not what they think. It’s the classic cliche of show vs tell. A part of the value of showing is that it’s not perfect as telling will be and thus leaves room for the reader to stay curious about the story and its characters.

All in all, a fun outing and adaptation and looking forward to more of it.

Wonka’s The Unknown and Generative AI

If you were online this week you probably saw the attempt at building a Wonka experience in Glasgow. It was hilariously bad, but the interesting part was that the creators used generative AI all over the place in producing it.

The one part that went super viral was the character “The Unknown”, a supposed evil chocolate maker that lives in the walls.

It’s interesting because, well, people are enjoying a character generated by AI. The context matters, of course. It’s hilarious badness is a part of the viral appeal, but it still made me wonder if a part of the appeal of generative AI is exactly when it goes weird (as I wrote about Manglecore here).

Like would’ve it been as funny if a human wrote this script and wrote this character? Maybe, but it’s way funnier that the producers generated a script by AI and just ran with it.

I don’t think this is a point towards saying that we’ll all be watching and enjoying generative media, but it proves that in the right context that generative AI can find viral appeal. The question is whether it eventually extends beyond this context. In a sense, for now, it’s like the uncanny valley of films like “The Room”. It’s good in its badness.

The appeal of “trash cinema” is its transgressive subversion of mainstream standards. If there were adults in the room, no one would’ve signed off on “The Unknown” and that’s perhaps the point. It could perhaps lead to a genre of media that’s simply one-shot generative AI with the express purpose of seeing it fail and flounder and actually not be that good.

Kevin would agree.

8 Ways To Makes Cities Better

Great article from

Brad Hargreaves

specifically on ways to make American cities more family and child friendly. All good ideas.

8 Ways to Make Cities (and Buildings) Better for Families

Finding Books

I enjoyed this post from

Daniel Roberts

on where he finds books to read.

"Where do you hear about books?"

Thanks also for the mention!

Bodyrox - Yeah Yeah (D Ramirez Instrumental)

Found this TikToker that is deep into 90/2000s dance tracks. He recently shared again this track from Bodyrox. An era of electro-house that also recently saw resurgence due to Mason’s Exceeder being in Saltburn.

I’m a sucker for this kind of electro-house tbh. I need to dive deeper into the genre.

Thanks for reading friends! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please subscribe, share it, and hope you get to enjoy a sunset!

Simon