I'm not a student of literary theory. I just about know which end of a pencil makes the ideas come out and that's served me pretty well so far. As such, I couldn't tell you if Afterlife Inc. is romantic, cynical, Byronic or paradoxical. That said, I watched a really interesting video a while back that explained a theory for three-act stories that went something like this:
Act 1 - Thesis - your character and their ideology - their outlook on the world
Act 2 - Antithesis - you character encounters their opposite - their worldview is tested and made vulnerable
Act 3 - Synthesis - your character and their opposite unite, changed into something new, for better or for worse
This did an amazing job of explaining something that I'd always known on a subconscious level. Here we sit, almost at the end of "Act 2" of Afterlife Inc., and Jack's ideals have never been more tested. I didn't start out on Afterlife Inc. with a grand literary thesis in mind, but it's amazing how these patterns repeat themselves, whether intended or not. Volumes 1-3 were optimistic, brash and charming. Jack won and won and won because he had boundless energy and enthusiasm, and the world always seemed a little brighter beyond the horizon.
Volumes 4-6, really, have been about pessimism - and what happens when the world doesn't end but instead falls apart slowly, in increments - worn smooth by repetition and those little stings of disappointment. I feel for Jack here because this is where I've been these past few years. Personally, life has never been better. I'm safe, secure, loved and in love. These are luxuries that not everyone has. And yet, something has changed. I guess this is where realism creeps in to the fantasy. Jack will never die. His afterlife stretches out ahead of him into eternity. And yet he's losing little bits of himself each day, just like we all will.
I'm not a student of literary theory. I just about know which end of a pencil makes the ideas come out and that's served me pretty well so far. As such, I couldn't tell you if Afterlife Inc. is romantic, cynical, Byronic or paradoxical. That said, I watched a really interesting video a while back that explained a theory for three-act stories that went something like this:
