/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19864786]

is telling stories the right and moral thing to do with ones life?

i've lost my motivation to write as i question weather writing stories actually brings value to the lives of other people of makes the world a better place or am i just creating distractions for people to escape having to face the problems of their lives and the problems of the world

like how people would rather watch a shit marvel movie and consume product then get exited for next product instead of evaluation if they have a positive impact on the world around them

basically i've come to the conclusion that leisure and entertainment and "having fun" is bad and should be avoided at all costs as it distracts people from the problems of the world for the sake of comfort

instead we should strive to solve said problems to make the world a less shitty place to live

[Anonymous No.19864789]

>>19864786
>morals
No true morals exist without God.

[Anonymous No.19864827]

>>19864789

This is a false, childish and fascistic view of morality because it insists on a fixed simplicity in order to avoid relativism. But no such fixity (god) exists. What is left are intersubjective norms, which obviously and necessarily change with circumstances/history/evolution, to the horror of the fixitygodbrainlet.

[Anonymous No.19864870]

>>19864827
>God doesn't exist
lol debatable

[Anonymous No.19864883]

>>19864786
Books are for being read on a beach, or in a cozy nook on a snowy/rainy day, or in a cabin with no internet

[Anonymous No.19864917]

>>19864883
fuck off, woman/frivolous homosexual.

[Anonymous No.19864924]

>>19864827
That's the way it is. There are no objective morals without God. All that's left is made up, subjective whims which are completely arbitrary.

[Anonymous No.19864949]

>>19864786
There's nothing wrong with telling stories, but your stories need to have real meaning. Writing fantasy books that have no point or morals is just escapism. It's like sticking your car engine in neutral then putting a brick on the accelerator. It's not good for the engine and achieves nothing.

I had the same crisis about TTRPGs. The answer I came up with is to rewrite the TTRPG worlds I use to be based on my personal explorations of my spiritual, political, and philosophical beliefs. That doesn't mean "le king gasses all the jews and doesn't afraid of anything", but more about asking myself as I write the setting "What is the nature of this character. What do they think is just. Why do they think it's just? What could they encounter that might change their views? Do I want to include that in the campaign?" then bury it under the surface of whatever's necessary to make the campaign palatable for people involved in it. That is, until I decide it's relevant, and pull it back into play.

Think of it like Dosto's TBK. If you don't engage with books at any level, TBK is just a murder mystery, and not a particularly good one since it wastes all this time veering off in directions irrelevant to the plot. If you can really engage with the book, you understand that Dosto is using the characters to explore his own views on Christianity, guilt, familial relationships, and the social roles adults had to navigate in Russia. It's highly deliberate, and the viewer engages with it in its own way.

[Anonymous No.19864957]

>>19864786
Yes. Without stories society would fall apart and humans would go insane.

[Anonymous No.19864960]

>>19864786
If you're not doing it for yourself, you're doing it wrong.

[Anonymous No.19865003]

>>19864786
I think your conclusion of leisure/entertainment being bad is a vast overcorrection. Even God, after creating the universe and everything in it for 6 days, rested on the 7th and made sure people got their rest from all their toil on that day. Not a bad idea, I think everyone needs a little “pressure release.”

As an aspiring writer and filmmaker, I’ve also struggled with this. “Am I making bread and circuses or do I bring something meaningful to these people’s lives which when you get down to it is not as necessary as food or water?” At the end of the day, it’s not for me to say whether an individual gets something more profound from my work other than just entertainment, but it is my duty to make it entertaining, and to pack it with my values, views, and questions with it for those who do want to get something more out of it, an *insight* into something. The audience member is giving you their time and -hopefully- money (their energy) so I better make it worth their while.

[Anonymous No.19865075]

>>19864949
>Dosto's TBK
what is that?

[Anonymous No.19865109]

>>19865075
The Brothers Karamazov

[Anonymous No.19865497]

>>19864924

Right, but they're actual. A thing is not unreal merely because it only exists for a finite period.

[Anonymous No.19865558]

>>19864786
What is the image from? Reminds me of Made in Abyss

[Anonymous No.19865570]

>>19864786
>instead we should strive to solve said problems to make the world a less shitty place to live
that sounds like a chore while making shit up is fun
why would I pick the former? not a rhetoric question btw
(hard mode: no high school-tier moralisms)

by now I'm starting to think that the only things worth doing in this world are the useless things

[Anonymous No.19865573]

>>19865558
It's a Chrono Trigger fan art.

[Anonymous No.19865669]

>>19864786
Everybody tells stories one way or another, that's just how we communicate. It's up to you if you want to communicate 'real' stories or fiction ones

Personally I think fiction stories are a good thing. Not everyone can tell a good story though, they usually neglect parts of the plot or get too focused on worldbuilding. Look at legends and myths. If it's a good story it's not escapism.

[Anonymous No.19865686]

>>19864786
>takes for granted that we have any kind of coherent perspective on what the problems of the world are or how we should go about solving them
OP, you are living proof that moral busybodies pursuing literature is a moral good, if only because it prevents them from exerting their will to power in a direct way.
Try writing some shortstories about characters pursuing the good you envision.

[Anonymous No.19865715]

>>19864870
>lol debatable
so this is the level of discourse one can expect from faith-larpers. in all seriousness, what are you doing on this website of all places? why not spam your inane non-responses on a religion subreddit, farm free upboats instead?