And you're right, it is important to be careful with oft-told stories, to try and make sure you're actually adding something new. What I had wanted to do was explore the idea of denying someone something "for their own good", which I had Lucifer being critical of God for doing with the tree, but at the same time doing himself, by contriving to get them cast out of the garden on the basis that it would be better for them. So there was meant to be a touch of hypocrisy there. And then the other major theme I had in mind was that the idea that it's better not to have something can easily be an exercise in sour grapes - "I can't have X, but that's OK because I didn't want it anyway! So there!" And be a way of covering that maybe you really did want that thing, with all your heart...
So what I'd wanted to convey was that he thought, or at least had convinced himself, was that being cast out of Paradise had been good for him and would therefore be good for them, but that he didn't really entirely believe it. But trying to write in the voice of an unreliable narrator, and convey that they don't always actually mean what they're saying, can be tricky, and I don't think I managed it all that well this time.
And you're right, it is important to be careful with oft-told stories, to try and make sure you're actually adding something new. What I had wanted to do was explore the idea of denying someone something "for their own good", which I had Lucifer being critical of God for doing with the tree, but at the same time doing himself, by contriving to get them cast out of the garden on the basis that it would be better for them. So there was meant to be a touch of hypocrisy there. And then the other major theme I had in mind was that the idea that it's better not to have something can easily be an exercise in sour grapes - "I can't have X, but that's OK because I didn't want it anyway! So there!" And be a way of covering that maybe you really did want that thing, with all your heart...
So what I'd wanted to convey was that he thought, or at least had convinced himself, was that being cast out of Paradise had been good for him and would therefore be good for them, but that he didn't really entirely believe it. But trying to write in the voice of an unreliable narrator, and convey that they don't always actually mean what they're saying, can be tricky, and I don't think I managed it all that well this time.
Reply
Leave a comment