Final Post for BAWRT-2004—Authors in the Age of Digital Reproduction

This week's prompt required a selection of one writer out of a list of four available. The purpose of this discussion is to take a look at the writer chosen via their website and glean information regarding their progress to date. After a quick look over the options my eyes were drawn to a statement on Sean Williams’ website that reads: ‘Bestselling author of over fifty short stories and fifty award winning books.’ Until recently I had not heard of Sean Williams, but with credentials such as those mentioned my curiosity piqued and I simply had to find out more...

 

Websites can contain a treasure trove of information or they can leave a person asking more questions than they started out with. Fortunately the Sean Williams website is a platform rich in detail, replete with vast amounts of tidings in relation to the accomplishments of this author. What seems obvious is that Williams takes his profession seriously as evidenced by such a polished and detail-rich website.

 

Ostensibly Sean Williams writes in the fiction/sci-fi/fantasy genre, but even then he has proven that writing comes in many guises as he is also noted for writing a ‘polished poem’ and a recipe titled Big Bang Brussels Sprouts. Williams truly is a writer who wears many hats! However, something struck me while trawling through his website, and (recipes aside) I got an uncanny feeling the style of this author was reminiscent of John Wyndham, an author of science-fiction stories--long and short--who lived in the 20th century. In the past I enjoyed reading John Wyndham books for the pure fantasy the genre offered. It would be interesting to follow up this post at some latter time after exploring one of Williams’ books. At this point it almost seems fitting to borrow a one-word-saying from a well known, rather 'pointed' character in the world of sci-fi television/movies: ‘fascinating!’

Websites help provide an avenue for readers to explore more information about a writer. Before websites, finding information about a writer was often restricted to the odd condensed review on the back of a book. Writing in a digital world has changed so much. ‘The author website is an increasingly valuable tool for making writers visible as authors in online environments’ (Maguire, 2014). Realistically though, having a website is really just the beginning. In addition, social media platforms also help drive the type of branding the author is trying to achieve. Further investigation of Williams’ website shows this also to be true. His list of social media platforms is vast, to say the least! Kirstie Taylor agrees that ‘[c]reating an established presence on sites like Medium, Twitter, Instagram, etc. allows you to reach a more targeted audience’ (Taylor, n.d.). When it comes to social media platforms, Taylor recommends 1 to 2 platforms. She says ‘You want to focus on one or two platforms at the most. Post on them often. Do those two well’ (Taylor, n.d.). Sean Williams on the other hand uses far more than 2 platforms which the following list attests.

Social media platforms Sean Williams subscribes to:

• Facebook: seanwilliamsauthor
• Instagram: adelaidesean
• Twitter: adelaidesean
• Soundcloud: adelaidesean
• Spotify: adelaidesean
• Bandcamp
• Pinterest: adelaidesean
• Storify: adelaidesean
• Wattpad: adelaidesean
• NaNoWriMo: adelaidesean
• Tumblr: adelaidesean
• LinkedIn: adelaidesean
• Dreamwidth: adelaidesean (a copy of my old LiveJournal)
• academia.edu: SeanWilliams
  

In addition to the above list of social platforms, Williams also has a blog site attached to his website which he interacts with while receiving feedback from readers. This writer is no stranger to automediality but I just wonder where he finds the time to do everything? Some might argue that it’s better to do one or two things really well, rather than spreading yourself too thin. However it also depends on the writer and how much they want to contribute, after all it’s their prerogative. Personally, my favourite author came along by happen chance while rummaging around a second hand book store, but the discovery of that particular author I put down to fatalism--choices some people believe are beyond earthly control. Sean Williams, however, is leaving nothing to chance and appears to have an agenda which clearly rewards effort.

A list of achievements of those efforts along the way puts to rest any suspicion regarding writer credibility. At 53 years of age, the passing of time has been kind to Williams which shows indeed that hard work and dedication to one’s craft pays dividends. The following is a  list of awards this writer has received, courtesy Wikipedia:

 

• Winner, Best Long Fiction, 2001
• Winner, Best Science Fiction Novel, 2001
• Winner, Best Fantasy Novel, 2002
• Winner, Best Australian Novel, 2002
• Winner, Best Novel, 2004 & Winner, Best Fantasy Novel, 2004
• Winner, Best Novel, 2005
• Winner, Best Novel, 2008

The above list is far from complete with a number of other accolades earned but not included here, in which has been so far a prestigious career that arguably still has a long way to go!

If you think this is an author who might be worth looking into, further information can be accessed via the Sean Williams website here: http://seanwilliams.com/

 

 

Works Cited

Maguire, E. (2014). Home, About, Shop, Contact: Constructing an Authorial Persona via the Author Website. Media and Culture, 17(3).

Taylor, K. (n.d.). Why It’s Important To Build A Personal Brand As A Writer. Retrieved from The Writing Cooperative: https://writingcooperative.com/why-its-important-to-build-a-personal-brand-as-a-writer-170c9daa762c

Week 9—Empathy Games

Arguably a person hasn’t really lived until they’ve experienced any number of the many iterations described as pain. But how a person deals with, and also shares, their pain, it turns out, is the subject of this week’s topic; and, for some, looks at how they dealt with their pain through the creation of playable digital games.

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/despair-depression-sadness-alone-5066237/

It is always very sad when a parent(s) loses a child. My biggest hope for any parent, including myself, is to never experience such a loss. My grandmother survived my father, and even though he was 65 when he died I can still imagine the grief she must have felt as something very upsetting. At the time I remember thinking that her son had died before her. I also thought about how her husband (my Pop) also died at a similar age, which my grandmother also had to bear some 20 odd years earlier. Nan lived well into her 90s which just goes to show that a long life can include its full share of adversity. My parents are both gone, now, so at the very least I know they will never experience such a loss; and now at 56, with a legacy left by my forefathers of dying at a relatively early age of around 65 years means the percentages of seeing any of my children go before me is slim—God willing.

 

This was not the case, however, for the young family of the late Joel Green. A spirited young fellow who bravely fought that often described ‘unwinnable fight’ with cancer. Especially considering his resistance never even got a chance to get started. You see, Joel was only 1 year old when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour that the doctors said was terminal. Joel underwent extensive rounds of chemotherapy, only for the parents to be told the tumour had returned and the prognosis was he would unlikely see another 4 months. Those 4 months turned into a 3 year battle, until finally coming to an end with his death (Green, 2017).

https://ctrl500.com/developers-corner/empathy-games-%E2%80%A2-fighting-tears/

To help put into perspective what it was the things the Greens were dealing with, in those ensuing, and arguably very short, 3 years the family had with their son, an idea came about to document that period of time with the creation of a digital game titled That Dragon, Cancer. The game can be played in full or watched as a video walk-through—which is basically a recording of someone else playing the game and recorded as a video.

There is a saying that goes, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ I disagree with that aphorism, and I think Marie Curie would, too, whose pioneering work in the field of radioactivity meant she was exposed to so much radiation that it resulted in her death. What I do think, however, is that what doesn’t kill you ends up shaping you. All of life’s experiences are what shape the people we end up becoming. For some, their life experiences can be cathartic; they become stronger and better for having gone through something that no doubt was a difficult-time in their life, but after having made it through, they end up feeling like they have grown and matured. They feel the experience has made them a better person. And in the case of Marie Curie, her life's work opened up areas in science for more than just the study of radiation; it also opened up an otherwise male dominated industry for women.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216569.Marie_Curie

On the other hand, there are those people that seem to struggle with their life-experience. They come out the other side bitter, confused, or even worse they don’t come out the other side at all. In some cases these are the people that ridicule others like the Greens and their struggle to come to term with a loss. Some people don’t seem to understand all the fuss. To me, these people are the ones that haven’t found a way to deal with their own pain. Often they just bottle it up inside. This can lead to any number of psychological disorders such as alcohol and drug abuse, to mental health issues that can reduce their effectiveness as social citizens. Dealing with grief can be difficult. Fortunately, there are real people with empathy that care enough to want to help; these are the people that say things like ‘a problem shared is a problem halved.’

 

People who create a digital game to help describe what it is a person is going through, just as in other mediums, can help them to share and metaphorically halve their problem and reduce the load. It's like opening up a kind of dialogue to help show others what the person is going through. Some might think this exposes them to further pain, but often it can mean that ‘when you are vulnerable, the first step to a problems’ solution is to empathise’ (Bartelson, n.d.). It shouldn’t matter whether you are the one creating a game, or playing games others have written, if the results are worth the effort, anything considered therapeutical must be a good thing. Therefore, I have no problem with people making games to help them deal with their grief. I understand pain, too, which has helped me understand the meaning of empathy.

 

In times of great stress, or life changing moments, to help get through those times, sometimes people need to bring something big into their lives to help put things into perspective. I’m sure the things people do is countless. It might be losing a huge amount of weight because of a driving need to do a lot of walking, which is great for soul searching; or it might be writing a book that you always thought was in you, but didn’t think would ever happen. It might be giving away a multi-million dollar fortune because you’ve found that money is not the key to a happy life; and endless other reasons for doing the things people do, who find they are experiencing extreme levels of stress and anxiety brought on by a major loss, and need something just as big to help keep their world in balance.

 

But for those people on the outside looking in (at those suffering) who don’t understand what the fuss is all about, arguably, their level of empathy doesn’t allow them to understand what the other person needs. Life has shown me that, in some cases, people who lack empathy are the ones that say things like ‘build a bridge over your problem’, or, ‘toughen up princess’, and many more short one-line sentences used to ineffectually offer a semblance of support. But I think sayings like that don’t always do any good. At best they only offer an insight into the true nature of a friendship which is too often one-sided. Arguably, being empathetic requires some form of effort. According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology titled: Contagious Yawing, Empathy, and Their Relation to Prosocial Behavior, there is evidence of literature suggesting ‘that mimicry [by humans], be it conscious of unconscious, facilitates social cohesion…’ and that ‘subjects who were instructed to mimic others also have higher levels of empathy for the imitated person’ (Franzen, Mader, & Winter, 2018).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/prabakarant/19513427634

In conclusion, life is about the experience of living day to day. There are times when the journey seems to take on a different dimension; when the pain of living becomes too unbearable and the proverbial wheels fall off the cart. But like every journey, with each milestone a new perspective comes into view. New people appear on the horizon that recognise our struggle and offer to lend a hand to help get us back on track.

 

Works Cited

Bartelson, E. (n.d.). Empathy Games: birth of a genre? Retrieved from Control500: https://ctrl500.com/developers-corner/empathy-games-%E2%80%A2-fighting-tears/

Franzen, A., Mader, S., & Winter, F. (2018). Contagious Yanwing, Empathy, and Their Relation to Prosocial Behavior. Journal of Experimental Pschology: General, 147(12), 1950-1958.

Green, A. (2017, May 17). A video game to cope with grief | Amy Green (Ted Talks). Retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/vWJwa7lntTs