What made me unhappy today ?

[Pik]

You make it sound like you're the ones in trouble, I still have a job and still got no answer from famous authors but I'd say I need to do something about my life/work situation too.

 

[Pik]

To be completely honest, some of my colleagues just had luck with some of my mentors telling them what to do or where to go. I'm assuming I broadcast the energy of a conflicted person who doesn't need to be told what to do but I was hurt by seeing some of my favorite mentors letting me "go with the flow". I will eventually go there but I can't be coming back. If in thirty years the roles are reversed I will try to do better.

 

[Pik]

I need to be at work in cca five hours, not saying that I'm not grateful but if anyone asked me I would always say you don't have to put up with anything, go and find what you're looking for if you're not happy, and I'm half happy. I'm off to sleep, thanks for listening!

 

[Catrin Lewis]

Not so much unhappy as rolling on the floor laughing.

So I posted a story, I shall not say where, to see what critique it would receive. It was the opening of a psychopomp story, about a guy who tries to commit suicide, arrives at the gates to the afterlife and the psychopomp helping him to terms with a past trauma and moving forwards before returning to the living world. Tragedy, elegiac, and all that. So far, fine, right?

So this guy read it, and some of his first questions were: "Where is hell? Did the psychopomp get there illegally?" I answered with "Somewhere, and I have no idea how someone gets to hell illegally". He answered with:

"Well maybe she could have been kidnapped by a zombie or a very dangerous person that works for this made up concept of hell. Hell could really be a place for all the undead. And maybe the person who kidnapped her gets poetic justice at the end of the story. While she changes her world view."

Now, I should not criticise critiquers. They took the time to read it and critique it. But... hot damned. I'm pretty sure I didn't lead the readers down that garden path. (if I did, I deny all responsibility)

"Psychopomp." You've taught me a new word. I'm shocked I didn't know it before.

But why would your critiquer talk about hell, when it looks like you're dealing with a Greco-Roman view of the afterlife? And where did he get this question about the psychopomp getting there illegally? Isn't going back and forth between the living world and the world of shades his or her job?

Note, both those questions are rhetorical. I expect your guy couldn't get his mind around concepts different from what he's used to. Not Your Audience.

 

[Pik]

Modern interpretation of the afterlife is a bit like this

 

[Pik]

And the circle of life