Good evening and welcome to You've Been Canonized, the weekly interview segment we have here on Timelines ! Tonight, we bring you Phargle, author of
Knud Knýtling, Prince of Denmark (and other assorted tales), watch as we delve into the very thoughts of this enigmatic AARlander, I'm your host, canonized, and without further ado, lets begin!
Part I: Phargle, and other assorted tales
Meet the man behind the dynasty!
canonized - First ! It's been a long time coming , old man but you're finally on the show ! Tell us a little about yourself , please ? XD
Phargle - A little? I like chihuahuas, maintain a blog largely about what I eat, have successfully broken a nail-biting habit of 31 years, and keep kosher with varying degrees of failure.
canonized - How was it that you first came upon the Paradox forums and eventually to AARland ?
Phargle - It all happened by accident. I was in an Electronic's Boutique and saw EU1 on the shelf for a dollar, and then came to the forums to find out why rebels kept kicking my ass. From there, I found AARland and figured I could write good stories too. That idea quickly went away and I was gone for awhile after that until I started playing Crusader Kings.
canonized - One of the most notable things you've brought onto the forum is perhaps your sharp wit and engaging humour ! Does it come naturally to you or is this a culmination of something you've focused on in your life ?
Phargle - It's a defense mechanism rooted deeply in the uncomfortable feelings conflict elicit in me, and serves as kind of an avoidance tool to mute actual emotional responses. There's also a bit of conscious effort in humor, in that a happy life is a life worth living, and I like to live according to the philosophy that every day is the best day in my life. Oh, and it's also easier to be rude and say blunt truths if you do it with a smile.
canonized - Well speaking of talking bluntly , tell us your thoughts of AARland of your AARland experience , please !
Phargle - Hm. Inclusive and a bit weird, I'd say. From a creative writing perspective, AARland has created an engaging and supportive atmosphere that celebrates writing as a craft; I like that. At the same time, it sometimes goes a bit far because there is a bit of a. . . well, an atmosphere or an attitude, I guess, that criticism of any sort is be frowned upon. The only way you know as a writer that you've screwed up is when people just don't say anything, and that's not as useful in developing our talent. I like AARland and consider it a kind of sheltered, innocent place where I can indulge in some real silliness, or some real seriousness, separated from the chaos and (frankly) unkind Internet as a whole.
canonized - Part of the way you give back to AARland aside from just writing for the AARlander is also your effort as the new AARland Choice AwAARd Czar . For anyone out there who might not be familiar with it , could you tell them what the ACAs are and your thoughts on it ?
Phargle - Isn't there an official tagline for this? The AARland Choice AwAARds! AARland's only award with no nomination round! Or something like that. . . well, I'd say that the ACA is a fair, community-driven award that celebrates excellence and encourages a diverse group of artists to excel. It's available but exclusive, prestigious but democratic, elite but achievable, and coveted but shared. I kinda think it developed by accident, but we'd be hard-pressed to intentionally design an award system as good as the ACA. And I love it as if it were a part of my body, preferably a part in my swimsuit area.
canonized - Being the new manager of the system means that you'll not only be running the thread but also tallying the votes and checking if people unwittingly made votes for AARs that weren't eligible in that time period of voting , what are you feelings about taking on this task ?
Phargle - I am officially elated and completely prepared to take on the straightforward task of announcing the beginning of the ACA for 2008 Q1, nudging people to vote, nudging people again, asking people why they haven't voted, checking votes to make sure they haven't voted improperly, tallying the results, getting it wrong, doing it again, and getting the results out in time for the AARlander.
canonized - You volunteered for the task which was first spearheaded by anonymous and then tried for one quarter with coz . Is there anything you're going to do with the process that might be different from your predecessors ?
Phargle - Nothing whatsoever. I've run the ACA before and will run it just like anonymous would run it. I promise to not be a jot less crotchety, neurotic, or put-upon than my illustrious predecessor would have been. To do anything less would just be irresponsible.
Part II: Don't worry! Cliff Notes might be in the works!
Phargle, Timelines, and required reading allusions!
canonized - You're still pretty far behind , but I was curious about your possibly unique perspective on Timelines ! Any first impressions so far ?
Phargle - I am VERY far behind - somewhere in the paleolithic era before saints roamed the Earth. But I'm also a lover of alternate histories, especially sly alternate histories. Churchill's 'What If the South Failed To Win the Civil War' or whatever it was called is a favorite of mine. It posits that Churchill is writing in a world in which the South won, and asks what the world would look like otherwise, and uses that mental exercise as a clever way to critique the present. I'm also a fan of rich historical fiction, having just finished Ruled Britannia, a story that is (as far as I can tell) all about Spaniards having sex with Englishwomen, and also some poetry. The interludes present in Timelines make that history fun and help inform the angle of the authorship. At the same time, Timelines can be very daunting to a new reader. There's some thickly-woven injokes in there, and there are a bazillion comments - I'd love to analyze your comment-to-update ratio, and I swear that's not a pickup line - and the screenshot-free update theme can make it hard to skim. It can be, and is for me, a difficult AAR to get into. And yet the preponderance of awards won by Timelines make me feel like it's my civic duty to read it. So you've kind of created a . .. lemme see here, a . . .Well, you know those books you had to read in High School for English lit? That's kind of what you've done. To be an informed citizen of AARland, you have to read Timelines, but who has the, ahem, time, now that it's so enormous, with each section being not exactly snack-sized? Maybe there's a market for a Cliff's Notes of AARs. Ooo, and there's my idea for my next column, sir.
canonized - ROFL I may have to buy one of those just to keep track myself ! Any advice for anyone out there who might want to tackle large AARs such as Timelines ?
Phargle - Hmmm. Well, I was so daunted by the beginning that I just skipped to the end and read backwards about a dozen updates, and then just started trying to keep up. That seems to make it easier. Often a large AAR can have a soap opera quality to it. You can leave for months and it's still the same AAR. I don't know if Timelines is like that, having not read enough of it to be sure, but author fidelity can have that effect on AARs and I'll be sure to let you know if Timelines is the same.
canonized - Any characters you find appealing to you in your reading so far ?
Phargle - Having only read the early parts and the latter parts, I identified most happily with the guys playing Hispaña Universalis against each other and complaining about how hard it was to emulate Spain's "real-world" success.
canonized - Although Timelines is mostly action/adventure etc , we also try to lighten the mood every now and then with some comedic references and Easter Eggs , any you picked up on perchance ?
Phargle - I am crushingly lousy at getting easter eggs. I just don't get them until someone points them out. In a RPG I'm playing, I'm making a guy who is a leper, and the character traits assigned to me are leprosy, unbeliever, and white-gold wielder. I had to go online to find out what those traits meant.
canonized - Haha , in either case , we're reaching close to the end of Season II . As someone who read in an unorthodox manner , any thoughts on the tapering end of Season II ?
Phargle - I have to admit I haven't really grasped it yet, but have been trying to keep up in hopes that the seasonal split will give me a good fresh start. Now there's an idea - do you include season summaries when a new season starts? Because that could be a way for readers like me to get that level of investment you're looking for.
canonized - Not a bad idea really XD Lastly from this section ; any guesses on what the Timepiece is ?
Phargle - At this point, I'm just thrilled knowing that there IS a Timepiece and that it is somehow important to the plot! Beyond that, I'm a form-meets-function fan, and the idea that the Timepiece is some kind of meta-story narrative device in which the AAR itself is involved on a second narrative level? I may have to change my pants a second time.
Part III: I send all my problems to...
Meet the Knytlings!
canonized - I have to say that Knud Knytling is an institution in itself ! Could you tell us why you started the AAR ?
Phargle - I love being the center of attention. I'm so lonely. . . . er, I mean I wanted to create a simplistic collaboration of complicated literary themes in a visually-simple yet compelling format. Actually, I lie; it's the first answer.
canonized - Haha , Knud Knytling could perhaps be credited with creating if not maturing a genre of comedy AAR that is emulated throughout AARland . Where do you get your material for your comedy ?
Phargle - It depends. In the more routine updates, I just sort of try to produce a mishmash of juvenile crudeness that draws from the screenshots but also comes across with a sort of urbane aloofness. It's why I can tell potty jokes without coming off as a twelve year old. With the more complex stuff, like the Shakespearean play updates, I have to spend a lot more time making them work and I blatantly steal any idea that isn't nailed down. And the musical updates just relied on a talent for filking. The variety of updates requires a variety of sources for humor, and it just means I have to be nimble and hope what I toss out there sticks. Sometimes it sticks.
canonized - You mentioned adding in portions of Shakespearean play updates ; do these elements perhaps point to other genres you'd like to try your hand in or do they just happen to be what's hot in your wit at the moment ?
Phargle - They're elements of sheer desperation, canonized. When grasping at straws to come up with something, anything original and unique to make a new chapter seem funny and witty, you sometimes stick your hand in the jar and come out with sonnets. And sometimes you come out with poop. I got lucky with the bolt from the blue Shakespearean update. As it happens, I'm also a fan of epic poetry and was struggling to give myself the mental regimen necessary to do more of it, but didn't yet succeed. A lot of it is banging my head against a creative wall to see what squirts out. I'm a poet first and foremost, but I don't want to inflict that on readers overmuch.
canonized - Could you share with us perhaps some of the triumphs and challenges you've had while writing ?
Phargle - Challenges are on my mind first and foremost, and are really the motivation for the current column I'm writing. You know that swami that climbs to the top of a pole and balances there? A lot of people might ask themselves how he got up the pole, but that's not really that hard; heck, maybe somebody put him there. What we really oughtta ask ourselves is how he manages to stay balanced up there. It's hard, once you break out of the cycle of updates on top of updates, to maintain the momentum necessary to be number one - and I'm, despite all appearances, not an unproud man. I like to win, I like people to like my work, and I like to succeed. It's hard to maintain that pace, while also maintaining originality with each chapter, while ALSO maintaining the same themes that attracted readers in the first place. I've basically failed in that by growing distant from the story in the past year. I used to have a new Knýtling every two weeks, and then went a year with one king. If that doesn't make it stagant, nothing will. And it did. As far as triumphs, I am very pleased with the story and with how it progressed. I never meant it to be a character piece, but the characters have come alive in very real, distinct, and unique ways. I want to revisit them again and again. The musical numbers make me smile whenever I reread them for inspiration. The 'fins' are often a great chance for artistic twists and I love 'em. And the Shakespearean chapter is my pride and joy. It has hidden depths even I haven't quite gleaned out of it yet, so each time I read it I think: man, I did that? Me? Me?
canonized - Lastly , do you have any AARs in the future you're thinking of that you might pursue after or concurrently with Knud ?
Phargle - I've done a few already - Solomon, the pope thing, some other pope thing, and a few others I've tried but just sucked at. They say - well, I mean Joss Whedon says - if you can do comedy, you can do drama. I really want to do an intensely well-written dramatic tale. I tried it with Solomon, but he never got the readership necessary to make me want to keep going, even though I have all the screenshots ready and waiting for me to make words for. I know I can do it, and just need to do it. After Knud? I don't know. When you say that to me, it's a bit like asking me what I'll be doing after I'm dead. You just freaked me out.
canonized - Thank you very much for being on the show , phargle ! It was definitely an experience ! We thank our audience for tuning in and if you'd like to see more interviews , tune in to Timelines for an interview every week ! Please don't forget either of phargle or me in the upcoming AARland Choice AwAARds and please go out and vote ! Good fight , good night !
