The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Volume 4, Issue 22 - Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

Howdy, patrons!

Episode 23 of "Crushing The Competition" will be posted this Thursday, and I thank all of you for your extraordinary patience. I won't lie -- this bit of writer's block has been really difficult, and I wasn't able to gather the momentum I had hoped after the depressive spell broke. But I'm crossing my fingers that I'm in a better place now, and that I can actually try to work more consistently.

One of the things that had been causing me so much trouble with this serial is doing too much too fast. I have a tendency to take off like a rocket as soon as I'm not being held back by my mood or energy level, when I really need to learn how to work on things steadily. It's important to learn how to take the time to do the things that I want to, and not load up my plate just because there's space. 

With this episode, I'm still working to develop the voices of this merry band of workers while also trying to reposition Ralph into a more active and engaged character. It's always super-frustrating to me when a protagonist spends all of their time running away from the plot, even when they have good reason, and I realize this is exactly what he's been doing. It isn't because I designed him this way. It's because I'm fairly sure I was using Ralph as a cipher to work through my own thoughts about being a corporate employee as well as my shifting thoughts on macro.

As I've gotten older, I've gotten more liberal -- to the point that I think capitalism itself is an immoral system and I'm not sure we as a species are going to survive if we continue to use it as the dominant means of trade. At the same time, it's necessary for me to participate in the system if I'm going to live here in the wilds of Silicon Valley. And here's the kicker -- I love the work I do! I work for a company whose mission I believe in, and I do it with people who are curious, funny, hard-working and intelligent. It's great!

But at the same time, there's a fundamental tension that I'm wrestling with. I sincerely believe that we need to push for change on both an individual and societal level, but how far does that go? In many ways, I feel trapped by this system even though I'm lucky enough to find a niche within it that works for me. How does one deal with that, moving through an atmosphere that encourages us to value the wrong things while trying to preserve the values we actually want to hold? 

I think it's fascinating to explore where the line is -- what people are willing to do in order to make a living, and how they justify this inherent wealth inequality to themselves. The CEOs and other executives in Ralph's world have enormous power, but it has been stolen from the workers beneath them who provide it. Is it possible to have wealth and be moral in an immoral system?

The more I think about this, the more interested I become in exploring this through "Crushing The Competition". That being said, I don't want to make the subtext text -- but I do want to have characters wrestling with the idea of power, whether or not they should want it, what they do when they come into it. At the same time, I want the vast differences in power between characters to be a major engine for arousal. If giants are bad, how is it good that they're lording their size over other people?

I'm not sure there's an easy answer for this, but I'm also not sure there needs to be an answer. Maybe it's enough to just play around with the question. 

Today is #ThankYouPatrons Day, and I want all of you to know how much I've appreciated your support over the years. It means a lot to me that you've stuck with me through this incredibly haphazard release schedule, and your belief in me keeps pushing me to improve. Thank you so much!

Until next time, folks…

-Jakebe