I've been thinking a lot about fiction as a way to process trauma and environmentally-suppressed sense of self a lot, lately.
I have some fiction that's all about this, that I hope to do something with at some point.
And magical realism in the more baroque, alien sense. The environment as a hostile entity. A black hole at the center of a place you should get away from.
@Zero_Democracy this all sounds so interesting...
@lizardsquid It's kind of all over the place as it is. There's one character who develops a fascination with cameras and film as a form of proxy intimacy, but it starts behaving in a way it isn't supposed to. The photos develop differently than how she saw the shot, but it's slightly different to everyone, so she can't pin down how or why.
@lizardsquid So the process of taking and developing a photo is borderline erotic to her while she can't manage to know how to be with someone, but it makes her feel unglued because it seriously isn't behaving right on a basic level, and there's no way to explain why.
@Zero_Democracy !!! this is great...
@lizardsquid Another character has weird sleep disorders and perceptive issues that cause him to see and progressively focus on this sort of malevolent faerie, which he becomes convinced is this external representation of his problems. So, he starts hunting around for it in the woods at night, thinking he can kill it.