ForumsArt, Music, and WritingGantic (Nec)Romantic - on hiatus

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Gantic
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Gantic
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Gantic Romantic offers an intimate look into Armor Games' most mysterious moderator beginning with his early writing experience, through his innovative and subversive contest entries, his subsequent inclement vignettes set in the subconscious, and his lean but pithy literary stylings and reserved humor that forever cemented his aura of mystique. In a riveting series of autobiographical interviews conducted by himself in third person, the lexophilic moderator explores his enlightening three years on Armor Games. By drawing on his past experiences and indirectly encouraging others to see beyond the word during the time he has spent in the community, the eclectic writer unknowingly shrouded himself in impenetrable sesquipedalia and Gantitudinal platitudes but in [i]Gantic Romantic[i] now seeks to cut through the clutter capitalizing characteristic incisiveness to unveil the truth. The interviews revel in his sense of wordplay and whimsical subversion of language transparent in his dialogue as both the interviewer and interviewee. While too often are writers, and other artists, too vain to recognize their own failings, this impressive collection of verbose and laconic conversations is both an inflationary and humbling commentary--on himself and the community in which he seems hermetic.

Unravel the mysteries Friday nights at 11 pm, starting June 10th.

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Xzeno
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Xzeno
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Lore essentially has 0 replies.
That hurts, G. Written Nothings was good, though I read it in... two sittings, so I think I started to slip in terms of attention near the end. ROaTNO had an issue with pacing. It seemed to flounder at points.

This isn't even a this yet.
Already too mainstream. Regardless, as you probably guessed, the primary purpose of that paragraph was to supply out of context quotes.

And people call me a hipster. I don't dress like one though,
Boy, I do. I noticed it when I explained to some girl that I purchased my leather bag at Goodwill.
Gantic
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Gantic
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Down the Rabbit Hole

The rabbit seemed like a soft and quiet soul, unassuming yet altogether remarkable sitting upon his mat of woven agave. I've known him for the whole of the three years he's been here, and though he never says much most of the time, I often thought I understood him, but right before the interview began, as I sat face-to-face with him, he was all too suddenly alien to me. We both knew this interview was coming. I brought it up the other day and he agreed to it in his deliberate manner. The rush I felt in the anticipation of demystifying one of the most mysterious users had faded.

"So where do we begin?" He chuckled.

It occurred to me why he seemed so alien. I had never looked him in the eyes and saw who he really was and what he really was about. All I had known was what I had thought I knew of him--and most of it was wrong.

The room we were in was spare albeit. He had a desk in one corner and a shelf along an adjacent wall, both stacked with roughly neat piles of books and papers. They gave the room a sense of fullness and purpose. Almost all of the books and papers were math or science-related, but he did have a copy of a dictionary and Finnegans' Wake, a book he's mentioned several times, on his desk as well as several half-filled in crosswords. "You don't have much fiction here for someone who appears to be a literate writer."

He looked over to his desk almost with amusement. "Honestly, I don't read much. The last book I picked up was the last Harry Potter and that a couple years ago. As a kid I used to read a lot, almost everyday, but they were mostly science books, because let's face it: Science is cool. How awesome is beta-carotene? Stuff could turn me orange if I wanted. Enough about that. Now, I mostly read short stories though. They're about the only thing I have a palate for. Books require too much investment." Short chopping motions he made with his front paws defined the bookends containing all the books he intended read. "Most of the time, almost always, I never read a book a second time. I don't get much out of it. Too much to wade through."

The tone of his voice changed and his deliberate pace picked up. "You don't have to put too much into reading a short story. It's there, you read it, you're done reading. With a book, you read, bookmark, repeat, or lose hours in its pages. Short stories also tend to stay with me longer. They're concise. It's like fast food. You have a burger and a drink. It's a burger and a drink. There's no appetizer and main course. It's all there. And what's all there isn't all there, because you don't see everything that's there."

His first piece of writing posted in the Art, Music, and Writing forum was also his first submission to the Weekly Poetry Competition under DragonMistress, and also became his first and only poetry merit, though he went on to win several more under Strop and ubertuna. Months later, he posted his first prosaic entry entitled "Reaching Out and Touching No One", an adventure serial set in a fictional worldsite of Armor Games. An earlier posts tells that he had been writing for several years prior to his arrival. On Armor Games.

"You can probably guess how I started." I couldn't. He didn't know exactly either. There were points in his life where things became clearer, epiphanies, that he took as new beginnings. "It started with Joyce, believe it or not. Not with Finnegans Wake but The Dubliners, 'Araby' to be specific." That wasn't what had gotten him into short stories though. It was a start, but this was the moment that he began to realize that perhaps writing was a possible avenue. "Then it was Hemingway who really caught me. Wait...." As he thought, his emotions were clear on his lapine countenance. They were more accessible than his writings. He was mildly confused and processing information. What he was processing was as much a mystery as he was. "Oh! It was Watership Down! That came first, followed by Tales from Watership Down. It is the most epic story for the rabbits!" he chuckled. "To be honest, even though I am a rabbit, I thought it was about a sinking ship or airplane that was falling. The title sounded cool and the book was cool, but it was an exciting fantasy adventure. Better than The Hobbit or the The Lord of the Rings or... well, maybe not The Silmarillion. I read those before Watership. No, wait, now I've gotten all mixed up. It did start with Joyce. But I frequently draw more inspiration from Watership Down and Middle-Earth and Hemingway than Joyce."

It was Joyce who had gotten him into writing, but it was Hemingway who had him rapt in short stories with "A Clean Well-Lighted Place". While he had always intended to read Thoreau's Walden, after reading "A Clean Well-Lighted Place", he said, "I'll never go back," with a grin. "Except for Harry Potter, of course, but I started that adventure well before Hemingway. That's what I like about reading. It's an adventure, a discovery, a new world, possibilities. I love possibilities. And there is so much possibility and discovery in short stories. We are given a small glimpse into someone else's world but from that glimpse there is so much to discover. It is like a painting. It is what it is, but when you look at it, you see beyond the subject. You see the possibilities and realities that aren't spelled out, but shown to you in subtle ways. In a way, it is also a window into the artist."

The rabbit revealed little about who he was and what he was about. With a name like Gantic, one wouldn't be able to guess anything other than perhaps a fantasy fanboy whose made-up username had no meaning other than sound kinda neat. Whether or not his username truly was an portmanteau of Kant and antic remained to be seen. Gantic had grown up in a warren, like some rabbits did. The seaside cunicular community was a quiet, safe, place for kittens to grow and nothing more was said of that beyond his love for the view of the ocean, that promises, beyond its seemingly smooth horizons, possibilities.

Next Week: "Like Trees in November"

xXKashitoXx
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xXKashitoXx
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Nomad

Gantic, wow, I never knew you can write such "High vocabulary" masterpieces. Indeed magnificent!

FallenSky
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FallenSky
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Peasant

I'm having an easier time understanding Xzeno's train of thought after reading that. Obviously, the intended narcissism makes up for something quite funny to read. While the purpose of this thread becomes clearer though, the motives are still foggy to me; is there really something more to do than to sit back and enjoy? It seems as though for now; I won't whine about Gantic's fancy however since it's one of the most interesting things I've seen here in a good while. Please pursue, with you, for us.

Gantic
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Gantic
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There are so many errors I did not catch.... Meh, that's what I get for always writing in Notepad.

That hurts, G. Written Nothings was good, though I read it in... two sittings, so I think I started to slip in terms of attention near the end. ROaTNO had an issue with pacing. It seemed to flounder at points.


If it's just you and me, that doesn't count. That was a two-person shindig attempting to write epic fantasy on the fly. Written Nothings was mostly experimental. ROaTNO was just meh, experimental, commentary, and a whole lot of other stuff that doesn't make much sense.

Already too mainstream.


... You do realize that's how all of my threads start out right? You get ~7-10 different people posting wondering what the heck is going on and then it's mostly silent the rest of the way through.

Boy, I do. I noticed it when I explained to some girl that I purchased my leather bag at Goodwill.


Makes me wanna sing.

Not caring in a hipster world
I don't care I'm a hipster girl
You know that we are not caring in a hipster world
I don't care I'm a hipster girl

Some boys like skinny pants, some boys like implants
That's not all right with me
If they can't be counter-cultural then I
Might not let them be


That didn't make much sense...

Gantic, wow, I never knew you can write such "High vocabulary" masterpieces. Indeed magnificent!


Not a clue what you're talking about.

I'm having an easier time understanding Xzeno's train of thought after reading that. Obviously, the intended narcissism makes up for something quite funny to read. While the purpose of this thread becomes clearer though, the motives are still foggy to me; is there really something more to do than to sit back and enjoy? It seems as though for now; I won't whine about Gantic's fancy however since it's one of the most interesting things I've seen here in a good while. Please pursue, with you, for us.


I don't see why there should be any other purpose than what is laid out in the opening post. I am certainly not going to imaginarily interview someone else, tongue-in-cheek.
FallenSky
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FallenSky
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I don't see why there should be any other purpose than what is laid out in the opening post. I am certainly not going to imaginarily interview someone else, tongue-in-cheek.

As I said, purpose clear, motive?
We all get where this is going, but why? For the simple lulz of it? Or is it really simply to enlighten us on yourself? The latter option would have been considered by most, but with you, it's hard to tell exactly where things are going to end up, or if you won't pull a rabbit out of a hat halfway through, thus my confusion.

Nurvana
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Nurvana
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The part with Watership Down was great. I also drew a lot of inspiration from that story (obviously), however a white and lexiphilic representation of Campion wasn't to be.

MoonFairy
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MoonFairy
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... You do realize that's how all of my threads start out right? You get ~7-10 different people posting wondering what the heck is going on and then it's mostly silent the rest of the way through.

I was one of those 7-10 people on the Gantitudinal whatever thingies. See? I prove my point.

After I realized I didn't NOT understand and re read it again, I am not AS afraid of you.
*goes back to the shadows*
Gantic
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Gantic
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As I said, purpose clear, motive?
We all get where this is going, but why? For the simple lulz of it? Or is it really simply to enlighten us on yourself? The latter option would have been considered by most, but with you, it's hard to tell exactly where things are going to end up, or if you won't pull a rabbit out of a hat halfway through, thus my confusion.


I don't see why there should be any other motive than what is laid out in the opening post. I certainly wrote a somewhat inaccurate and lightly incongruous blurb/review on an imaginary interview I did of myself, tongue-in-cheek.

The part with Watership Down was great.


Only El-ahrairah.

After I realized I didn't NOT understand and re read it again, I am not AS afraid of you.


Incessant frippery inculcates apprehension!
Gantic
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Gantic
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Perhaps some of you have been waiting for this...

Discover the meaning and inspiration behind the title, characters, and story of "Reaching Out and Touching No One". Uncover the true inspirations for the characters and the rubber ducky. Who is the Bullman? Is Stallion Man just a poorly veiled Strop? Who is the mysterious narrator? What did the Stranger really want to say when he opted instead for "...nothing. Absolutely nothing."? What does it all mean? And...

"'Reaching Out and Touching No One' might have gotten me more popular and it might be my most well-known thread, but it certainly isn't my most favorite, and it certainly wasn't my first. There was one thread before that..."

Learn about the White Rabbit's first Amwian fiction thread!

Take a look behind the scenes.
Next Time on "Gantic Romantic: Like Trees in November" Friday, June 17th @ 11:00 pm.

CommanderDude7
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CommanderDude7
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I must wait now for 4 days in breathless anticipation to once again not understand what was written.

gaboloth
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gaboloth
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Peasant

That was really interesting. It was great to discover where your rabbitness come from. Too bad I never read watership down! I'll look for it soon. I'm also looking forward to know the history behind the bullman.

Oh, and I suppose I should finish reading ROaTNO, waiting for the next part to come...

Gantic
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Gantic
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I fail so bad. I already went over what the Stranger was going to say instead.

If anyone has any specific questions about ROaTNO that they'd like answered, please post your question here by Friday, so I can fit it into the Reader's Questions section.

"I highly anticipate the coming of my greatness." -- The Bullman
"This will be the best one yet!" -- The Bullman
"I recommend this to anyone!" -- The Bullman
"Is this thread dead?" -- Crowman
"Are you sure?" -- Crowman
&quotlop" -- ploppey
"^^^^/^^^^" -- Lagless
"Not to split hares, but are these reviews even real?" -- Rainheart

slayguy8
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slayguy8
718 posts
Peasant

wow to everything... a good wow but wow

Nurvana
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Nurvana
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Farmer

A last second question from my slow mind; is there anything behind your whole 'number of cowboys' deal at the beginning of ROaTNO? Well, the whole story for the most part.

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