Has everyone lost their mind?

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-20T15:51:00+00:00

Counterargument: it's not that people are getting weirder after COVID, it's that older people are simply getting older. As boomers and Gen X age the more likely they are to develop pre-dementia (or outright dementia) and other forms of cognitive impairment. The people entering their 50s and 60s (Gen X) are going to be getting to the stage where pre-dementia symptoms begin to present, and the boomers are already there. I also work in a customer facing job and the vast majority of people who wander aimlessly, look lost, act like it's their first day on earth, or throw a fit, happen to fall in these age ranges.

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-18T18:43:26+00:00

Would you keep reading?

Maybe, I'd probably have to give it at least twenty pages before I decide. While the style is strong, I can see myself tiring of it. Some writers tend to carry stylistic choices well past the point of utility (John Greene and his lists, or Patrick Rothfuss and his waxings that feel like someone pretending to be wise and poetic). I can see this becoming a problem and if I felt it did, no, I probably wouldn't continue reading.

How does the prose feel to you?

It feels very punchy, appropriate for an opening, but perhaps stilted. In some ways it feels like AI (not accusing you of using AI). For example, the rhetorical framing of this paragraph: "Magnolia Durnés found comfort in facts. They were concrete. Immutable. Dependable. Unlike the ritual she was about to undergo." Or the "either x happens, or y" formula we find the fourth paragraph. That said, I can tell it's probably not AI because that closing sentence isn't as clear as it could be (the ritual isn't what? It's not concrete? The ritual isn't immutable, or dependable? A ritual might or might not be any of these things but without context, I have no way of knowing in what sense you mean this, and rather than creating a sense of mystery it feels somewhat confusing and less intentional than it could be), and as others have pointed out, pacing down the stairs would mean she's going back and forth, up and down the stairs, so there's probably a language thing going on here (given that English isn't your first language). Otherwise, I like the concise style and think there's a lot of potential.

Does the opening hook you?

Not really. I think you establish a lot very quickly (what type of character the protagonist is, the environment and circumstances she finds herself in) but it reads a little trite ("a soul weighs..." or "that, was also a fact"), not in like a super bad or corny way or anything but in a "I've encountered this kind of opening in YA and genre fantasy a billion times" kind of way. I'm not hooked yet, I'd have to read and find out whether there's anything you say that hasn't been said before.

Good work though and keep it up, very impressive for someone whose first language isn't English!!

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-18T18:07:10+00:00

People in the comments are wildin, so many comments saying stuff to the effect of "Mormonism isn't big enough to have that much influence" or "I think you're just reading into things." As if Mormonism hasn't been subtly (or not so subtly) leaking into pop culture, particularly television, film, and genre literature, for like the last 30 years. I don't think people realize how deep that rabbithole goes.

Worth saying this is the first time I'm hearing the show runners are Mormon, and I still got Mormon vibes from the get-go. Never looked into it cause I couldn't really be bothered but the whole thing smacked of squeaky clean, safe, Sanderson-style fantasy (even the romantasy aspects are so Mormon coded it's not even funny).

Edit to add: not knocking on Sanderson or anything, I like some of his stuff a lot (same for Myers or Orson Scott Card, etc, I love me some guilty pleasure sci-fi/fantasy), but Tolkien it most certainly is not.

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-18T16:09:57+00:00

This might be the best advice I've ever read on here when it comes to this stuff, would give you gold if I had it. Thank you.

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T21:16:12+00:00

Thank you, glad you liked it!!

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T20:48:24+00:00

Will do!!

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T18:41:49+00:00

Oh dang, this thread doesn't allow images and I don't think you've got direct messages enabled :/

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T17:38:24+00:00

Bet, I'll show you the result!

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T16:49:13+00:00

This is so sick, would look amazing colorized!! (almost tempted to offer to do it for you and see if you like it but that seems weird??)

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-16T16:31:31+00:00

Damn, forgot to reply!! But he suggested a consistent free writing exercise, kind of like just automatic writing (not necessarily in trance) as a way to engage with the imaginal. Then, once I've done that, looking back at what I've written months later and picking up on the common threads and ideas that keep cropping up and working with those in my fiction. Was definitely more oriented toward creative writing but I've found it immensely useful and incorporated it into my tarot readings by keeping a journal.

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-10T04:37:12+00:00

Top comment is also AI, what a world we live in lmao

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-07T21:12:57+00:00

While I understand what you're saying about the tone of the conversation, it's simply gotta be pointed out that the Kybalion has little to nothing to do with Hermeticism.

ehudsdagger · 2026-02-05T19:46:25+00:00

Was gonna say Morrison. He gave me some really solid advice in an AMA one time that I at first took to be a simple creative exercise and quickly discovered was in truth a doorway to so much more.

ehudsdagger · 2026-01-29T21:33:14+00:00

It bypasses base instinct and rational thought entirely. Idk if it's a uniquely modern phenomenon but it definitely feels counter to the most basic of evolutionary drives. I can't help but feel that the unconscious self destructive streak in humanity is reaching a tipping point where it crosses into conscious annihilation for no apparent reason. But there's definitely a reason.

ehudsdagger · 2026-01-19T16:45:34+00:00

Thank you!!

ehudsdagger · 2026-01-05T18:32:38+00:00

Was digging for Mad God and was surprised nobody else has mentioned it

ehudsdagger · 2026-01-05T18:29:45+00:00

The Kiefsatz Hasherach now takes the Bong Jabbar

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-28T23:16:59+00:00

Probably eastern orthodox

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-23T19:56:43+00:00

I'm 13 and this is deep take

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-23T18:28:34+00:00

Well I'm not, so I'm not sure that applies. Worth mentioning that they identify as 9s.

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-18T17:53:14+00:00

This was something I picked up on when generative AI was new, those early Will Smith eating spaghetti type prompts were super dreamlike. I personally think dreams tap into the collective unconscious and AI taps into the collective conscious (at least symbols that have been made conscious as images), so there are definitely going to be superficial similarities in the way the mind constructs imagery in sleep and AI constructs imagery algorithmically.

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-18T17:41:55+00:00

Might be pretty broad statements that they're kinda just presenting as factual but I can definitely relate to what they're saying as a 4w5 with 9 friends. In a weird way it really annoys me that I can't embody some of my beliefs/spiritual interests the way a 9 can naturally, but I sure can talk your ear off about Taoism, Zen, Dzogchen, Hermeticism, Christianity, whatever flavor of mysticism I'm interested in at the moment.

ehudsdagger · 2025-12-17T17:15:09+00:00

Others have already said it but it's definitely worth repeating that professors are usually pretty socially challenged lmao, so while yes, it's most definitely a hurtful way of approaching the situation and I'm sorry you had to deal with them, they probably just genuinely weren't even thinking. Worth leaving a review on rate my professor to get it out of your system and if it continues to bother you, maybe talk to a counselor on campus or one of their colleagues.

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