I had this great idea for a story the other day, and it sounded a lot like Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, so I decided to read it (the original, of course) to see what the story is like. Having read it, I can definitely see why it is considered to be a classic–and how it could motivate people to build a statue in honor of it…
When I checked the book out from the BYU library, it was kind of funny because I ran into this girl who was camped out in the fairy tale section. She had books pilled all around her and was just sitting cross legged, reading them. The library is a quiet place, so I tried to look for my book without disturbing her, but then it became apparent that she was sitting right under where it was. Our conversation went kind of like this:
Me: You sure like fairy tales, don’t you?
Her: (smiles) Yeah!
Me: Do you come here a lot?
Her: Oh, yeah! Are looking for a book–am I in your way?
Me: No, it’s not a problem. I’m just looking for a copy of The Little Mermaid.
Her: (gets up and starts helping me look) Here’s a copy, and here’s another one…
Me: Yeah, but I’m looking for the original one. That’s the one where the mermaid dies in the end, isn’t it?
Her: I think so.
Me: (finds it) here we go. Are you an English major?
Her: Oh, yeah!
Me: Cool. Well, I’ll see you later!
I should have asked her if she likes to write, and then invited her to join the Quark writing group. Or maybe I should have told her my idea for a story. She seemed like a pretty cool girl. Ah, well, I’ll probably never see her again…though you never know…maybe if I post up some of those Quark fliers in the JFSB again…
So, I read The Little Mermaid today, and man! It was a really good story! So emotional! I was sucked into it! Hans Christian Anderson was definitely a master storyteller.
The story is basically about unrequited love (yeah…Disney totally rewrote it and turned it into something else). It’s also complicated because it deals with some existential issues, like what is a soul and what it means to have a soul. It’s also about hiding your pain from others, and about what it’s like when the world isn’t fair. All kinds of really cool stuff. I’d highly recommend the story to anyone–and it’s not that long, only about 12 pages or so.
It was really good to read The Little Mermaid because the story I’m thinking about writing is going to follow a similar plot line and deal with similar issues. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Turn the mermaid into an artificial intelligence, turn the prince into a CS major, turn the girl the prince marries into another student that the CS major ends up dating, and you’ve got the basic gist of the story.
This artificial intelligence is born somehow and finds herself wandering around on the BYU network. She falls in love with a CS major, and tries to get him to love her back. As she does so, she starts to grow and learn about her virtually limitless capabilities. But then, after a while, she realizes that the relationship isn’t going to work because he has needs that she can’t meet–physical needs, emotional needs, etc. He starts dating this other girl, and she gets so crushed that she ends up dying.
It needs a lot more conceptual work, but I think it could be really cool! It’ll probably work better as a short story…but I might try and expand it if I come up with some other cool ideas…hmm…
So now, to research artificial intelligences, I’m reading some Kurzweil. Crazy stuff, and I don’t think I agree with all his conclusions, but it’s pretty freaking awesome to read!
