Orien and the Meta Nature of My Failed Indie Writing Career

 Orien and the Meta Nature of My Failed Indie Writing Career

By Bryan Paul

Disclaimer: This essay contains topics involving bullying and suicide which may be triggering to some readers.

Over the summer, I was taking an online class in Sociology and at one point I was reading the textbook and came across a passage that caught my attention, distracting me from concentrating on my studying. I became lost in my own thoughts, remembering a time when my inner thoughts, observations and fantasies were brought to life on paper. 

The passage that caught my attention was in a blurb on Chapter 6, pg. 151 of the textbook “An Introduction to Sociology, 3rd edition”: 

“Cyberbullying first made international headlines in 2010 when a fifteen-year-old-girl, Phoebe Prince, in South Hadley, Massachusetts committed suicide after being relentlessly bullied by girls at her school.”

I was living in South Hadley at the time when this happened. I wrote a very grim poem in response to this event, which can be found in my book Playground and also in a clip from a radio interview on YouTube. Over the years I’ve had mixed feelings about the poem and considered the possibility that the graphic imagery was too exploitative-however, I will say, in my opinion, it’s not as irresponsible as the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why which tackled similar material but I felt was more focused on shock value than raising awareness.

The bullying event also served as inspiration for the backdrop of my book Orien and the League of Artists which was meant to be a sequel to a fantasy book I previously wrote titled Orien Battles the Fog-devils. The previous book leaned heavily on fantasy tropes. In an attempt at world building, I borrowed ideas from Harry Potter and decided that there should be an evil sorcerer, similar to Voldemort lurking in the background and a fantasy creature similar to the dementors called a fog-devil.

When it came to writing the second book, I had a different idea in mind, which leaned in on the meta aspect of the main character. ‘Orien Sage’ the poet and dessert crafter from the Angeline Village was Bryan Paul the poet and sundae artist from Friendly’s in South Hadley, MA. The choice to make the book self aware was deliberate-and a bit of a problem, because it limited my readership to those who were in on the meta commentary, which made it difficult to market.

I thought that if I incorporated socially relevant topics such as bullying, suicide, substance use, social media, the fear of missing out and everything that I had taken notice of as a resident of a small town in Western Massachusetts, that I would have created something powerful, that might even get me some attention. 

I’ll admit, though it was a little shameful of me to consider my own fame and recognition as motivation for tackling topical subjects-however, I tried to approach the topic of teen bullying as observed by the protagonist Orien Sage, an older 2nd person observer, with care and kindness. My heart was in the right place as can be observed by this passage:

In Chapter II, pg. 41 of Orien and the League of Artists, Orien is listening to the radio in his quarters and stops the dial at a news program:

“She was an above average student and she was very creative and liked to draw,” said the voice of a man and Orien couldn’t help feel a connection to whomever they were talking about.

”Were you a witness to any mistreatment?” The interviewer asked.

”I’m sorry to say, I witnessed more of such than I’d like,” the man, who Orien now guessed was a teacher, said in a voice that was gravel, a very sad, serious voice…

Orien sympathizes with Neomi (the bullying victim) and later in the novel (big spoilers ahead) he identifies with a young girl who posts poetry in a webgroup known as ‘the League of Artists’, which is the Promythica equivalent of a social networking platform. The poet, Loria, is revealed to be one of Neomi’s bullies.

I was throwing everything I could at the wall with that book, to see what would stick, including using the Harry Potter tropes and creating a cult of death eater-like followers of an unseen evil sorcerer named Dasahd. There was even an attempt to go full villain at the climax of the story, essentially turning Loria into Draco Malfoy or even Tom Riddle. 

I still feel it’s a shame that this piece of work (which is not perfect and honestly more art than literature) never got its due, which is why it’s come down to me putting in the extra time and effort to analyze my own text and say: “hey you out there, reader, this is what I was trying to do…”

I like how the book opens with Orien riding his mini speeder to the steamee parlor, but part of the problem with what I was doing was that the charm and appeal I was going for was dependent on the reader knowing who I was and the fact that I was the narrator.

Chapter I, Pg. 8 reads:

The bell jingled as he let himself in. He saw many scholars sitting with books and drinks, many ladies, some of which, busy with studies, others conversing amongst friends, but no one was grasping to the paperbound book ‘Harmoni’-copies of which sat unsold on the shelf in the corner no longer in view of the customers.

The lady at the money counter had hair of pitch black and nails to match. She sat at a chair absorbed in her own reading-a worn paperbound copy of the popular romance series ‘The Nightfall Chronicles’ in which a peasant lady of a modest nature becomes romantically involved with a noctornahl, a seductive creature of the night.

Orien, as a scripter, had not the qualities of a noctornahl and its popularity suggested that a person of his type could never fully seduce a lady which was a sad thought, but he put it out of his mind.

”Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t notice you,” the lady said and she got up from her chair.

This was me commenting on the current trend of supernatural romance in fiction and media, that started with Twilight and continued to grow in popularity with The Vampire Diaries. It is also me commenting on my own insecurities, based on the ideal male image and stereotypes in the media at the time, as being represented by characters like Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

The passage above is also based on the reality of me having my poetry book Felicity on display at The Thirsty Mind Cafe in South Hadley. While I feel it is a little ‘woe is me’ to bring up what I call the ‘starving artist’ syndrome, it sets up the character of Orien Sage in a way that I hoped would endear the reader to him (and me), if not for the whole undiscovered genius aspect, than at least for the overlooked sensitive soul aspect. 

Both myself and my fictional counterpart have the same issues and complexes that are common with underground and indie artists-not just poets, but also musicians. Music and musicians play a role in the narrative as well, with Orien trying to befriend a singer from his past. Holli Belle was designed to represent my dream girl at the time-except I wanted to be realistic and have the hero not get the girl.

Holli Belle as a symbol, rather than a character, represents the music scene as a culture filled with hyper-socialized people who smoke herbs and have fleeting relationships. Other characters criticize Holli’s alleged fast lifestyle, yet, Orien doesn’t, because he remembers her as a fellow scholar from his past at Penhaven Arts school.

The closing lines of the novel are:

She may not be in his league, it would seem, but there was a time when they were both scholars at the arts school and they were not so different, when they were both part of the league of artists.

There is a play on the phrase suggesting that a person is ‘out of’ someone’s ‘league’ and also a callback to the name of the social network platform used in the book. As an extrovert, Holli, is a different personality type than the introverted Orien and runs in a different circle than he does. I ask the reader to question what it means to be part of social groups and what they represent. Musicians thrive in being part of a collective, yet writers, like Orien, fly solo. Despite their differences, they share the same goals of wanting to belong and be noticed.

WORKS CITED:

Conerly, Tonja R, et al. Introduction to Sociology 3E. OpenStax, Rice University, 2021. 

Meyer, Stephenie. The Twilight Saga. Litttle, Brown and Company, 2010

Smith, L. J. The Vampire Diaries. 1st HarperTeen pbk. ed. HarperTeen, 2007.

Paul, Bryan. Playground: A Poetry Collection. KDP publishing platform, 2012.

Paul, Bryan. Orien and the League of Artists. KDP publishing platform, 2012.

Paul, Bryan. Orien The Arts Scholar. KDP publishing platform, 2014.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter Series. Scholastic Books, 1996

Yorker, Brian (creator), Asher Jay (based on a book by). 13 Reasons Why. Netflix studios production, 2017

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ORIEN AND THE LEAGUE OF ARTISTS is available to purchase on AMAZON