Discord and Shared Accountability, plus the Influence of Collective Storytelling
In the digital age, Discord, a decentralized community platform, has emerged as a powerful tool for real-time interaction, bridging the gap between friends and groups. Beyond its utilities for group chatting, video calls, and meme sharing, Discord offers a unique solution for conveying rapid-fire exchanges, branching narratives, and asides that characterize gossip.
For many, Discord resembles the tech platform of dreams, offering a glimpse into the evolving nature of storytelling. It provides a living laboratory of collective consciousness, where individuals contribute to, and are shaped by, a larger group identity.
Authors, particularly those grappling with non-traditional points of view, find Discord a rich, observable blueprint for depicting the complexities of shared experience, distributed knowledge, and collective action. Lauren Oliver, author of What Happened to Lucy Vale, resolved the challenge of animating a unified 'we' with the fluid organic nature of individual thoughts, avoiding the creation of an unrealistic, nameless entity.
The collective 'we' in narrative form promises a panoramic view and unified emotional resonance, but risks sacrificing distinct voice, personal motivation, and nuanced progression of thought. Traditional narrative relies on internal monologues or direct dialogue between named characters to convey human interaction, while a collective 'we' must achieve this through a singular, plural voice.
Discord allows for the definition of individuals within the 'we', whose personalities and presence are defined by their contributions to the group-chat and the way that 'we' defines them. This is a significant departure from traditional narrative, where characters are often distinct and separate entities.
The literary landscape has grappled with the complexities of the 'we' point of view in narrative form. Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End and Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides are examples of successful use of this perspective. In Lucy Vale, the 'we' is not just a narrator but a participant, actively engaging in and being shaped by the unfolding drama, crucial for the element of implication, a large theme of the book.
The author redefined the group from an entire high school class to a group of students loosely linked by their position in the social hierarchy. This shift in perspective offers unique opportunities for thematic depth and communal perspective, as the 'we' becomes a reflection of the group dynamics and power structures within the narrative.
In conclusion, Discord, with its real-time, collective interaction, provides a fascinating blueprint for authors seeking to explore non-traditional narrative perspectives. It shows how a group consciousness can be both a narrator and a participant, shaping and being shaped by the events it recounts, offering a fresh perspective on the evolving landscape of storytelling.
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