User blog:EtherBot/Random Writer's Showcase: Squidmanescape

Hell, Hello, and lo behold, the time is glistening like gold,

But do be wary, though not old, and stay here as a story's told.

This story, I prefer to state, is all about Squidmanescape,

A pasta-writer, this is true, and all the things he likes to do.

BOO!

(Got you!)

--

Welcome to the Random Writer's Showcase, a series where I find a random writer and read their stuff and then showcase it. Today we'll be talking about Squidmanescape, a writer who's had an account on the site since 2015 and has in that time written six pastas, although we'll be taking a look at three of them. We will also take some time to talk about his general style, and anything else that seems relevent.

'''As per usual, we will talk about these stories in relative depth and spoil each of them. If you start reading my poorly written description and think "Hey that's kind of neat" you have a moral obligation to stop reading my dumb blog post and instead give your few minutes of freetime to somebody talented instead, yeah? Anything and everything I say beyong this point could potentially spoil the story involved.'''

(The Rock is the bad guy of Doom, and also that guy with the sister is the good guy. Kid dies.*)

Last time we had a very special showcase, which you can read here.

To Kill It
A nameless child narrates a story about his monthly routine -- brandishing a knife and entering his kid brother's room...to kill it.

Genuinely good prose and a good "child perspective" which I enjoyed. I liked how he described a knife-set holder as a 'a wooden block specifically made to hold [knives]' and seems kind of realistically burdened and upset with his circumstances in a very kid-like way. Also a pretty good, well delivered twist.

I like a story that has a creepy premise anyway but still takes the time to convince its really a different creepy premise, just so it can pull the wool out from under your eyes, or however that saying goes. A child killing his brother for what you're lead to believe are kind of twisted reasons, but in reality he's talking about a monster who hides in his brother's room. "It," the monster he's going to kill.

I'm glad he didn't go with the "my baby brother is actually a monster" and instead had a story about a little boy trying to save his little brother from a monster, but failing. I like that strong sense of duty in the protagonist, and the fact that even though he's annoyed by it, he doesn't seem to begrudge his parents for not seeing the monster he sees.

I'm not a fan of the pronoun game but it works here, if nothing else, at least because its so entertaining. A very well concieved plot twist that really does make a repeat reading completely different. Quality work.

A Good Ending
The first paragraph of this story goes like this:

''~ Once upon a time there was a little boy who no one particularly liked. His name was Jiminy, but he didn’t like people making fun of his name, and whenever someone made fun of his name, he would sock them. This led to no one bullying him or talking to him, and as he grew older, this drove him slowly insane.''

If that train of logic doesn't have you sold on whatever journey the writer has cooked up, we have too different of tastes to even converse on this topic.

Squid seems to be particularly interested in this sort of hyper-reality and usually signifies these more artificial stories with a "Once Upon a Time" opening line. It's this sort of weird logic and character study of Jiminy and the world he habitates that's interesting to me, more than any of the creepy ideas, although there are a few of those as well. This world is unbelievable and kind of tackily written but deeply personal feeling all the same, and the story's hyper-real nature succedes in making you remember it in the way the characters involved probably remember, it in past-tense.

The existence Jiminy leads is fueled by a weird exaggerated world and his frustration with it. He spent his adolescense acting out violently when buillied but then craved being bullied as soon as nobody gave him any attention. Eventually, at the height of his frustration, he takes a gun and shoots himself. "BANG!" It's so bluntly written that it feels almost fairy-tale esque.

I notice the previous story also had a mention of reacting violently to being teased with a throwaway line by the narrator of that story, and can't help but wonder how much of this is inspired by Squid's real life and how much is made up. It's that kind of personal touch that kind of puts Squid in a "Raidra -like" camp of pasta-writing to me, because even if his stories aren't necessarily all well thought out, they all feel like peices of his soul, almost being bared to the internet. Whereas Raidra seemed, (and seems), to have more confidence about her writing, Squid seems less confident. Although he's a lot better with character than Raidra, and seems to have a good understanding of psyche.

At this point the character has a conversation with some Death-like figure, who informs he he has "failed" life. This scene has a great atmosphere, and I like this kinda gross being he talks to, described as "something cut repeatedly with a hacksaw" which is pretty great.

I can't stress enough how much I really like all the main characters of Squid's work and they're relatable but believable frustrations. That's probably his greatest strength as a writer. You take the time to know Jiminy pretty well, and his sort of mask he wears at school. He has a great exchange in this scene:

''~ He was angry. “Why did you make me like that, then?”''

“I didn’t make you like that.”

“Well, then whoever did.”

“Whoever did what?”

''He grunted in exasperation. “Why did my creator make me like that? Why did my maker set me up for failure?”''

He writes broken characters with frustrations and slight personality troubles, but they feel human, even in this weird hyper-real worlds. Good dialogue and good narration with interesting circumstances and a believable heart. I'll spare you rest of the story, but it's all equally as spellbinding. A very nice comfortable story about flaws and overcoming them.

Something Weird Happens When I Use the Internet
If Squid's talent is in his believable character study and personal ideas, this might be a good story to end off on. Apparently it's a true story, for the most part, which I'll pretty happily buy. Hard to give a plot summary but its basically a short character exploration about trying to describe what internet addiction feels like. It's a nice raw commentary, kind of what I tend to do with my "Let's Talk" blogs but more structured and probably a lot more insightful.

Perhaps not "addicted" but he seems to be struggling with feeling like two different people when he's on or offline. As if when online he enters a sort of autopilot and just lets his other "him" take care of business -- "It was like I had willingly relinquished the control of my body to somebody else."

It's an interesting pasta that it worth reading, I think. Very personal and compelling, which is what this "diary pastas" should be. If you liked Raidra's more out-there work, you'd probably like this too, as well as the rest of Squid's stuff.

In Conclusion
Squid is rad. I recommend reading his work, I deliberately left his most recent story uncommented on but I recommend you read it without knowing much going it. The link is here. As you read it, consider the techniques I mentioned here, consider the themes he's used before. It's a pretty good recontextualizing of his other stuff, I really liked it.

There's almost a smaller subsection of pasta-creators, writing what I've taken to calling "diary-pastas". Very interesting, more creatively personal work. Call me a fan.

(*Not that you had any intention of ever seeing Doom)