This is topic IGMS #12 Ask the Author: The Multiplicty Has Arrived, By Matthew S. Rotundo in forum Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show at Hatrack River Forum.
I think Scott Roberts had a great idea with his "Ask the Author" thread, so I thought I'd start one of my own.
My "story-behind-the-story" essay is now up on Side-Show Freaks. I'm happy to take any questions you might have about "The Multiplicity Has Arrived." Fire away!
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
Was having reality itself be altered always a part of the concept, or did that come later?
What led you to make the jump in the story from manipulating peoples' perspectives of reality to changing reality itself?
Posted by Matthew S. Rotundo (Member # 12062) on :
Oh, yes--the idea of actually altering reality is what got me excited to write the story.
As for what led to that particular leap--wow, that's a tough one. Let me think . . .
Well, it goes back to that comment thread I mentioned on Side-Show Freaks. There was this one commenter who just kept making insulting, inflammatory posts, riling everyone else up. And then some other commenter said something to the effect of, "This guy's a 12-year-old kid on his parents' computer."
That stopped me up short. I have no way of knowing whether the accusation was accurate, but in a heartbeat, my perception of the obnoxious commenter changed. He no longer had the power to rile and inflame. He became . . . nobody.
The Internet is so ephemeral. It's frighteningly easy to pull off an email hoax, or to adopt a radically different persona, or to start a whisper campaign. Consider the case of the girl who committed suicide after being dumped by a fictitious boyfriend she only knew through MySpace. That is perception becoming reality.
In that context, what's "real" doesn't matter at all. It's a meaningless concept. There is only is perception.