The only tree in the forest
There is a story told about a famous French writer…I think is was Victor Hugo. Someone came to him wanting to be an apprentice. Victor Hugo lived by a forest. He told the aspiring writer to go into the forest, choose a specific tree and describe it in writing. If Hugo couldn’t walk into the forest and find the tree that person would not be his apprentice.
It may seem surprising but it’s hard to be both original and true to your story at the same time. It can happen, and when it does it can be brilliant. In a similar way, the style and the content of a story can work perfectly together and become a masterpiece. That can be wonderful but rare. If an author can create a meaningful work that is exciting to read, he or she has probably grappled successfully with that only tree in the woods.
It’s time to move ahead with “Sentient Spring” after leaving it alone for several months. It’s a serial that is appearing on my website. The story is not entirely original (I don’t even know it that’s possible) since it falls somewhat desperately into a genre, but to some extent even a special tree is still a tree. “Sentient Spring” is set in the distant future but it’s essentially about who we are now. There’s a phrase I heard, I think it was Sigmund Freud who said it (or he may have been quoting someone else) that seems true: “those who neglect the past are destined to relive it.” It’s not certain if that applies to our era or not; we may not even know until we’re able to look back on it. There’s another phrase that applies to “Sentient Spring” which I know is attributed to Albert Einstein. He said, “I know not what weapons may be used in the Third World War, but the fourth world war will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Hopefully, if you read it, you’ll find “Sentient Spring” a story worthy of a good forest.