TOTLA STRING THEORY

 

It feels like this TOTLA ‘journey’ has taken ME for a ride, rather than the other way around. You know? It’s like jumping on a new bike, getting the feel for it, having a wobbly moment or two in the beginning and then settling into the wind and freedom.

TOTLA stories and characters emerged from my fictional meandering, that is indisputable. However, where the stories and characters led me was surprising, and compelling. I mentioned to my friend and collaborator, Matt, the other day, that the TOTLA Universe may be getting ‘too big’ for me. It is simply expanding at a dizzying pace.

I marvel at authors who create universes of unimaginable depth and detail. I would need a large library, many stories high, with an infinite supply of PostIt notes to even attempt something like it. So, I have settled on the metaphor of a barn with multiple horse stalls, instead. 

Truth is the Universe took another one of those weird, subatomic turns, leading me to a ranch setting outside of Bozeman Montana.

In this long barn, stall doors on one side are labeled with characters and on the other side, names of fictional companies. So, instead of horses, there are character and company storylines in each stall. It allows me to open a stall door and delve into a character or company without the distraction or disruption of other orbiting atoms in the TOTLA Universe.

It couldn’t have come together a year or three ago. The Universe was less complicated then. But, even though the ‘common thread’ that connects them all, Authenticity, has been a constant driving theme, the characters and the emergence of their fable-ized businesses have morphed and expanded and, now, dare to interact across two fictional Universes!

See what I mean? 

A BIG BANG event erupted after publishing “The Transaction” and has been expanding out in molten blobs of stories ever since. And there is no 30-second elevator speech I can think of to explain it all. 

“A guy walks into a coffee shop, is given 7 Service coins and…BOOM!” 

Now there are a fistful of TOTLA characters colliding at a business Accelerator Workshop in Bozeman, Montana dreaming up the Key West to Northwest $100 Coffee Tour?

I leave you with this; TOTLA STRING THEORY. There is this piece of string you hold in your hands, and if you follow it long enough, it will take you places you can not imagine, even on your best day. Dr. Seuss wrote a book about this. (‘Oh The Places You’ll Go’) 

In any case, my prime directive with the TOTLA Universe is to hold on to this piece of fictional string as best I am able and invite folks to join me in this epic road trip. As well, there is a connection between the Universe and where the United States is as a country. Time to tease this out!

Meanwhile, let the Universe continue to expand and hold on tight.

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