Since the thought of my WIP being flawed is more terrifying than it should be (since it's a given that an idea is flawed and can be improved), I've taken the liberty of making fun of myself for being afraid. You're a zombie. My WIP is a barricaded house. Can you find a way in? (i.e. please ask questions, dig, pry for weaknesses, see if you can find something I've overlooked or not thought through completely, a plot hole, something that reminded you of another existing story, a contradiction, etc.) --- At it's most atomic level, the setting is "depression imagined as a plane of existence". Even more simply, "depression as some place we go to". In my WIP tentatively titled "Arago", the MC awakens naked on a beach, with a storm brewing and winds gusting on the turbulent sea. He doesn't know who he is, where he is, or how he got there. A patrol of two soldiers happen upon him, wrap him in a blanket, and lead him to a town that is a little ways up the shore, over a bluff of tall grass. When I think of this town, I imagine something resembling a small old coastal town in Normandy, France. I haven't decided on a name for it yet. The premise, so to speak, is that *nobody* knows who they are, where they are, or how they got there. As a result there is a sense that time is relative; a Bill Murray's "Groundhog Day" effect, if you will. And there is nihilism in the fact that their identities are seemingly arbitrary. This allows room for the characters, MC included, to wonder about the nature of their existence and derive differing beliefs. Of course, it would be a very boring book if that's all it was about. I wanted the conflict to stem - at least partly - from that very philosophizing of the setting. For sake of brevity, it more or less comes down to a debate: there is something beyond their little world vs. it would be better to forget the very fact that there was something forgotten. The latter view is more pragmatic, and one held by Field Marshal Morgan (name somewhat tentative), who's been defending the town (name TBD) against a dark force beyond comprehension. The town has the sea on one edge, and an extensive web of trenches and bunkers around the rest of it that are so old that some of it has fallen into disrepair, was never mapped, or has been outright forgotten. Some loose inspiration was taken from WWI in terms of time and place, such as technology, architecture, geography, clothes, and weaponry. I was struggling to figure out a way to "fight" this darkness, because it's amorphous, nebulous by design. It's preceded and engulfed by an extraordinary fog and mist. And I didn't want some weird sci-fi humanoid monsters to come out of it. Something about that option just didn't satisfy me. So this is one part that I've been getting hung up on. Just like superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy universes all have their own rules (powers, technology / science, and magic respectively), this evil darkness needs to have its own, and it needs to be combated. I don't know if I want the combat to be more practical and physical (flamethrowers, searchlights) or psychological, fought in the mind of each individual. But returning to my MC, after one too many sleepless nights, having been "enticed" by the beliefs of those who disagree with Field Marshal Morgan and see him more as a warden than as self-proclaimed protector, and in hushed voices sometimes call him "King of Nowhere and Nobody", he decides to enlist as a soldier under the command of Field Marshal Morgan. Not just to protect the residents of the town, but also to try and find a way out. A way to remember. Our MC (name TBD, but possibly Arago) has seen the effects of living indefinitely in limbo. People die. Not like with a body, but more like a spirit that has taken the form of a body. They eventually vanish. There is a scene where a young man whom he befriended at the start finally gives into his hopelessness and hangs himself. The MC sees the noose hanging from a joist in the ceiling with a chair knocked over beneath it, but there is no body, so he mistakenly believes the person who is his one and only friend will return and he can confront him and stop him. But the MC waits for hours until the town priest knocks on the door at midnight. The priest had known for sometime that this character had been having such thoughts, and had come by to check up on him, albeit too late. The motivation of the MC at first is seeking a resolution to his amnesia. The one thing he knows for certain is that there was something forgotten, and if there was something forgotten then there must have been a before, and if there was a before then there is a place to return to. A place he believes is home. But the MC has also seen the way that his vocal insistence of there being something "beyond their little world" has caused such great unrest in some of the souls. He carries a tremendous weight of guilt on his shoulders when his friend commits suicide. It's worth mentioning that not all of this is going to be explicitly explored in the story. There may be some circumlocution throughout the novel, in private thoughts or in dialogue, but I need the story to be carried by action. I know that the MC needs to have a goal. Field Marshal Morgan has his own goals and intentions, a mixture of good and bad. As interesting as this fictional world could be, it needs to be brought to life by good characters, and I would say this is the major point I struggle with. Regarding characters - and also bringing back the discussion about the darkness - I was inspired by Nietzsche's quote about the abyss. "He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." A major problem that Field Marshal Morgan faces is that those who enlist in his ranks and come face to face with "The Horror" start to lose their sanity. They have nightmares. Either they wander into the mist and become lost souls, never to return, or they're so broken that they become a danger to themselves and others. Another struggle Field Marshal Morgan faces is that it's hard to protect people when they're disturbed by thoughts of escaping, which he acknowledges forces him to put more effort into containing those he wishes to save. On the contrary, when he actually thinks about it, he doesn't know what "save" means. Secretly, he too is withering away in hopelessness, and when it's his time to go, he worries that this will ultimately be in vain. Of course, the paradox I'm setting up (hence the name of the WIP) is that the darkness holds the answers. However, none who have entered the darkness have ever returned. --- I understand that this is all over the place. I wrote this at 3-4 AM, so please forgive me. If you have questions or don't understand something or understand where this is going, that's the point. I actually hope for that. I would like an opportunity to work through these ideas with people who can provide good insight and feedback. All I ask is that it's constructive with the objective of making it work.
I'm not sure I can help, but I can say I'd be interested in reading the story! Have you seen the Netflix movie 'Annihilation' (2018)? The darkness in your story reminds me somewhat of 'The Shimmer' in that movie, perhaps there is some additional inspiration you can take from that. Additional thought - Perhaps Field Marshall Morgan is the 'big bad' and the darkness everyone fears is really a means of escape, but no-one realises it. Cliché perhaps, just an idea.
I've got nothing of real value to add. The plot seems solid. The only thing I might relate with is writing characters for this setting. I would find it hard differentiating the characters from one another when they all share such an intense affliction. Depression as a place we go. Everyone will be struggling with the same hopelessness. The pessimist and the cynic will be on every other street corner. Although it serves as a catalyst for the enlistment against the darkness by the field marshal. People are looking for something to fight for. They want meaning in their otherwise meaningless existence. The real challenge would be finding a satisfying villain in the darkness itself. I've just had a thought of a movie I watched recently called the ritual. Without giving too much away, everyone struggled with their own demons. The nightmare is theirs alone to a degree. You might experiment with souls. All very cliche and probably already thought of suggestions but that's all I got. I got really excited reading about this. If you ever have a few chapters done I wouldn't mind a free look. If this was a book I would buy it. Edit: I just remembered why this felt so familiar. You might also want to take a look into the Silent Hill series.
This is similar to the route I was going. It can be cliche, but for me it's a belief that comes from a lot of soul searching. In life we define and know things by their opposites. Normally we would think of this as "where there is light there must be darkness". The MC meets a man who suggests that they are suffering because deep down they secretly know there is a way out. This man says that if they'd never known something other than the current suffering they were experiencing, they would be content with their present state of affairs. I first thought of the symbol of a campfire, and how it paradoxically protects as well as leaves us vulnerable. I thought about how it creates the darkness around it. This was something that helped me struggle with my own depression. The understanding that I wasn't depressed for "no reason". In short, I needed to find the reason, and I had to "look into the abyss", because in the darkness the light will be found. It wasn't until later that I learned about the 'Arago spot' from a YouTube video, which I thought was a neat little science experiment that coincidentally symbolized what I was getting at. I'll definitely check out Annihilation. I know exactly what movie you're talking about, I just never got around to seeing it. And it came out a little while before I really had this idea formulated, at which point I'd totally forgotten about the movie. --- @Magus I'm running late for work but I'll reply when I get home tonight.
@Foxxx I can honestly say that to me this is just one of those "I wish I'd thought of that" ideas. If executed well this could be really, incredibly profound. One of the most important things to this story is undoubtedly going to be the setting (I know it's going to be largely character driven and that you're going to need to do some real exploring into that) but the setting you've chosen seems perfect. The wartime feel, the "plucked out of time" atmosphere, and a coast town kind of thing... Love it. If I had any suggestions, the first would be that your "King of Nowhere and Nobody" title could be a little neater. Either "King of Nowhere" or "King of Nobody" works just fine. "King of Nothing" if you want another one. My personal suggestion: call him the "King of What?". Expanding on a point raised above, you definitely need variety in your characters. If you're not going to be completely explicit in telling the reader what your setting means and why everybody's there, then give them enough material to figure it out. Clues, like the disappearing body etc etc and, I'm assuming, whatever waits for our MC once he escapes - but other clues could lie in your characters and their personalities. You could have a mutilated soldier who just sits at the edge of the town, head lolled back, legs torn off - his particular depression comes from PTSD, and you can explore this with the way his character behaves and talks. If you want things to get interesting, you could have a "Janus" kind of character - somebody with a depression stemming from bipolar disorder. When they "arrive" at your little plane of existence, they split into two twins, or an abomination with two heads. They're always fighting, this adds to the conflict - maybe one ends up killing the other, how would that escalate the situation? Would the "killer" disappear back into the real world, no longer burdened by his other half? Of course, it goes without saying that if you're going to do anything like real exploration into depression, whatever form it takes, make sure you do your research. Whether it's talking to people who suffer, drawing on experience or just asking the right questions online, don't play safe, play well. Whether this helps you or not, I wish you the best of luck writing this, it sounds incredible!
I'm at work, so I could only skim your premise and I have no feedback yet (except that I am intrigued). But you HAVE to read "The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil" by Stephen Collins. It's a graphic novel with some striking similarities to your setting and tone. It's quite different too, so no worries there, but it's similar enough that I think you might find some inspiration, especially about how to combat the evil. In that book it's done by pointedly ignoring it and hoping it goes away. It doesn't. It's good so I'd recommend it anyway, but it was so similar I thought of it immediately and I think it might help to see how someone else approached something kind of similar.
As with Dark Souls, I actually drew some inspiration from the Silent Hill games in terms of the mood, setting, and themes I'm going for. Never played the games myself, but I enjoy watching a guy named CarcinogenSDA on YouTube do no-damage speedruns on the highest difficulty for those games. The story is actually really interesting. I hope they reboot it with the same level of quality that they did for the newest Resident Evil. That was one thing another person had warned me about in the past. Don't make it unreadable. Yeah, it's pessimistic, hopeless, dark, *depressing*, but there at least has to be some goal that the MC is trying to reach. I want to be careful about phrases like "needs to" or "has to" or words like "must", but I guess that doesn't matter because in my personal opinion hope is what I want for this story. It isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but there will be some prisms of color amidst the nonstop rain, and there will always be a sun behind that overcast sky. I just need to figure out how to sneak that in and build toward it. Part of that is exactly what you describe. There's something to fight for. What exactly is being fought for, and how it's being fought for, is a more complex matter. "The Harrow", the darkness, however it's referred to, will become less of an antagonist and more of a force-of-nature as the story progresses. At least, that's what I have planned at the moment. There comes a point in the story where the MC realizes it cannot be destroyed without destroying everything else. His own shadow couldn't be erased unless he destroyed himself, and the Harrow is no different. I'll look into The Ritual. From what you describe, I may be able to find something useful to take away.
I'm glad people are so interested in this. I think you're right about the nickname for Morgan; "King of Nothing" reminded me a lot of a lyric from a Metallica song, but I think it's better. Less wordy. I don't know if I'd go with "King of What?", but I could take that and turn it into a sort of inside joke. Make his title the punchline. "King of what?" "King of Nothing." Yes, I agree, the MC and the side characters at the fore all need to have a reason for being there. It will be an inherent part of their inner struggle. I definitely want to have fun with the characters and explore the vast range of possibilities, and the different dynamics that will come thereof. Some of this is based off of my personal experience, but I do want to do some research and take a look at the experiences of others. I have a particularly vicious idea, a horrible take on the "virgin Mary" where the child is stillborn. It was supposed to have been a miracle, especially given that as far as anybody knew the only way to come into their world was to wash up somewhere on shore. I would be incredibly surprised if nobody could point me to this already having been done in an existing work. I've seen plenty of similar things in horror movies where the virgin Mary gives birth to Satan or whatever, but I've never heard of a stillborn. Another idea for character, or characters, was to have a massive ancient library that scribes have been searching, trying to find answers. I haven't quite figured out a way to make this work though. Would the books be illegible, for one reason or another (written in some unknown language)? Would the books be blank? Anyway, the intended message here would be that the answer is not found outside, but within. It's a touchy subject, yet I also wanted to metaphorically explore medication and substances. But I've barely a clue as to how I'd tackle this in a way that could tie into the story. Hallucinogens? Literal mustard gas? "Escape" into alcoholism? Given the war aspect, PTSD is another thing I could look into. I also like your idea about bipolar. Depression comes in many different guises and with many different causes. I'll also have to look more deeply into Janus. The Asphodel Meadows from the Greeks greatly influenced my ideas and thought process, and Janus from Roman mythology seems to be right up my alley, given that I want to closely examine the duality of things. The big hang-up I'm at right now is the ending. I don't need, nor do I want, to have everything planned out before I even start. But I like to be able to do a full test run in my head. I haven't much of a clue as to how it'll end. I think this is largely because I'm still figuring out why the main character is there in the first place. I'm just glad nobody has said that it sounds like the TV show "Lost". Thank-you for the recommendation, I'll check it out! EDIT: Speaking of graphic novels, I'd love if this were turned into a manga or anime. I'd be more excited about that than most movie deals.
I've often thought about depression/mental health problems in a left field kinda way - for a story. What if.... depression was your own minds way of telling you that your not fulfilling your potential, and need to make a change. Perhaps its why its so rife in this busy modern age, people are stuck in soul-less jobs or loveless relationships and their minds are now fighting back saying "You are more than this!" Not sure I've explained that particularly well :/
I encourage limited and careful use of medication (it helped me, for what it's worth!), but I belong to the school of thought that appears to be what you're getting at... That there are real, quantifiable reasons for why one's "brain chemicals" can get out of whack, and that to artificially bring those chemicals back into alignment won't solve the problem. At best you'll reach a balancing point where as long as you remember to take your medication, you'll survive. That's obviously much more preferable than somebody taking their own life, and by no means should we take it for granted. But there's good reason for why medication is - practically without exception - coupled with behavioral therapy or psychoanalysis. And that's because nobody should have to just "get by" their whole life. The ideal is that people should get to live it, but they won't get to if they're barred from growing by good intentions. Returning to the topic for a moment, this is the approach I'm taking with the characters of my story. The nature of their affliction must be made tangible to the reader. The death of a loved one, the suffocation of failing to meet one's potential, misadventures in love, betrayal, guilt, fears and anxiety, unhealthy expectations and standards, or getting stuck in a soul-less job and lacking fulfillment as you pointed out. In other words, if there were to be a character resembling bipolar, the character would be bipolar for reasons that are hopefully a lot more convincing than "it was genetics and brain chemistry", which is only half the story. So yes, we seem to agree that depression can be viewed as an emergency signal to indicate that something is going very, very wrong in our lives. If we're suffering so bad that it's more tempting to end the suffering by ceasing to exist completely, it's safe to say we really lost the plot somewhere along the way, and need to find it again at all costs. Now, the tricky thing is that that conclusion - "we need to find the plot again" - is in itself a pre-supposition. Other people answer that question differently because of perpetual questioning and unlimited doubt. It turns out that the only thing meaningful about post-modern deconstruction is the annihilation of meaning and reason, which leaves one feeling meaningless and nihilistic. Who'd've thunk.
I mentioned that only as a thought not as opinion. My actual opinion is that medication treats symptoms, not cause - but that's a whole other topic You have some excellent insights for this story, I look forward to hopefully reading an excerpt some time in the not too distant future!
The premise sounds fascinating. I agree with you, you're lacking a solid plot. You have a premise, but no plot. I can say if this was a book, I'd probably read it though - it really sounds, well, fascinating. Ok, onto the questions... You say depression is a place you go. So is Arago that place? Or is it the mist that symbolises depression? Is it by being in the place that their sanity deteriorates, or is it because of the presence of the mist? If it is because of the mist, does this mist become stronger, thicker, more persistent as the story goes - symbolising that the depression is deepening? Morgan might be the only character who actually has the will to live. Is there an interesting contradiction to explore here - in fighting to "save" others, whatever that might mean, he holds on to his will to live. Isn't that, ultimately, the opposite to depression? Giving up, in this sense, would mean giving in to depression. In a way, the paradox sounds like, in trying to stay in the town, Morgan keeps himself safe. Your MC in trying to get out of the town, it is unknown whether that's safe. You may have an interesting dilemma here between people who refuse to help themselves when depressed, and those who take action and fight it. Or is depression really in the fact that we are not content with where we are in this world (in this town) and constantly seek (to no avail) to transcend it, yet knowing we're forever trapped? Eg. is being content in the town symbolic of happiness and the need to escape it depression, or is the contentedness to remain in the town the symbol for depression, while trying to escape it is symbolic of a depressed person seeking help to recover? In what way does the town and its inhabitants exhibit signs of depression? How does this affect their choices? Have you thought about making your Morgan your MC instead, but having him observed through the eyes of your current MC? Morgan has a clear goal, whereas current MC's drive could be in figuring out just what drives Morgan. Given your premise, I think psychological warfare would be far better, far subtler. Surely the monsters are their deteriorating minds? I think once you find out what remaining and leaving the town is symbolic of, then you can figure out an appropriate conflict. Ultimately, I think you've got your final question already: What's beyond the mist? Do you know, as the author? Because you should. Why do those who enter the mist never return? Reading your premise, I'm reminded of Christians actually - this idea that this life we have now, this world, is temporary and there's something greater beyond. Then you die, cross the ether and never return, and no one knows for sure what's "beyond". You may be able to draw inspiration from religion there.
Hey there Mckk, thank-you so much for your response and asking me such great questions, many of which I hadn't thought to ask! 1. Is Arago that place? I'm thinking that this will be the name of the town. However, I'm still tentative because I know this will - as a matter of course - carry with it certain symbolic and metaphorical implications which I would do well to abide by. Of course, such a decision might be the very thing I need to provide me with the foundation to build on. Of course, while the focus is on the town and its immediate surroundings, I don't want to forget that this is a "plane" of existence. This isn't "our world" as we know it. I'm sure this will be easy enough to get across, but it's important, because the physical nature is just a manifestation of the psychological, philosophical, and spiritual ideas I want to explore. For the sake of simplicity - and having given it some thought - yes, Arago is "that place". It will be the name of the town. 2. Regarding the Harrow (the mist, the darkness, etc.): I can say for certain that it does not worsen, so long as it is held it bay. The tricky thing I'm dealing with is that this is not a strictly personal and psychological "Hell" for the MC, in which case I would say without second thoughts. The reason why this is tricky is because if the mist were to thicken as the depression deepens, it would be happening for everybody. I guess what I'm saying is that whatever rules I decide, the rules can't be applied for all except so-and-so, or for these people but not those people. It'd present way too many problems. If the mist deepens and the depression worsens then it has to impact everyone, and I'd need to figure out what the implications of that would be. It's not that either yes or no are wrong in terms of answering your question. Both can work. I just need to figure out which one I want the answer to be, and what my answer would mean for how the story is going to work. I don't want to write an essay here, but I would like to mention that I was inspired by the way Hell is handled in Dante's Divine Comedy. I wanted to take the reader on a trip "through depression". So the setting is "depression as a place we go", and the "we" can be thought of as a combination of soul and mind. I think there's terminology or phrasing that would better explain this, but I'm sure you understand regardless. 3. This segues relatively well into your inquiries about the characters, motivations and goals. The MC's journey was intended as a... what would you say... stumbling through depression. So more specifically, the journey of the MC is one that involves faith, hope, belief. Facing what one fears; courage, for short. Selflessness, love, forgiveness. The universal amnesia is partly a way of representing psychological repression. The Christian vibes you mention at the end of your response were not an accident, as you're likely starting to realize. I don't want to get too tangled up in religion, but it definitely greatly influenced my thinking and the formulation of my WIP. The message is NOT that one needs religion, or a specific religion; the message is about the ideas, virtues, whatever you want to call them, and whether or not they're couched into any religions IRL is of no concern to me. Christianity provides useful tools and an excellent framework for doing that. It's a vehicle but not the point. Does that make sense? 4. I hadn't considered making Morgan thee MC, but he's certainly ah main character. In my head he's always been a very tragic figure. It sounds ridiculous and corny but the closest example I can think is the meme-of-a-story "Darth Plagueis the Wise" from Star Wars, best encapsulated in the quote, "He could save others from death, but not himself." I intended for his inability to surrender to be the very thing that keeps him there. It's why I chose the name Morgan. To be honest, he's a bigger hero in the story than the MC is, but he's misunderstood and misguided. He's misguided because he's bent on fighting to a fault. He can't interface with the Harrow. As Alan Watts would say (paraphrasing), "It's beating a drum while in search of a fugitive." This comes from the way I conceptualize depression as a Chinese finger trap, or quicksand. It isn't a perfect representation, but I've found it to be one of the many ways depression plays a trick on you. One becomes so invested in fighting it that you don't realize you're fighting yourself. Or fighting your own shadow, if you want a punny way of putting it that Carl Jung might've appreciated. There is another character, yet to be named, who is the human-form of the mist and at some point(s) communicates with the MC, but this isn't set in stone. 5. I agree with you. For the most part, the warfare will be "psychological", fought in the minds of each character in unique ways. It will be grounded physically in the use of flamethrowers, spotlights and something approximating mustard gas. It would also manifest itself between characters, especially when one goes off the deep-end, or in the conflict we've already been discussing to some extent between those who would like to "forget that there was something forgotten" and those who believe there's "something greater", which plays a big part in the conflict between Morgan and the MC. It becomes evident as the story progresses that the mist is more akin to a force of nature. Not malevolent. There were a few questions I did not answer because I really need to go to freaking bed. I don't know why I do this to myself lol. But I will come back to them when I have time after work tomorrow.
@Foxxx hey you might enjoy Of Mist and Bees: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bees-Mist-Erick-Setiawan/dp/0755348559 It's magical realism I think, but things happen literally according to a character's emotions. So when a marriage broke down, the husband literally froze inside a block of ice. When a minor character lost the will to live, she literally gradually began to fade until she disappeared altogether. It's very interesting, but the whole thing is actually about coming of age and marriage and marital issues with in-laws. Very, very unique. I know it isn't about depression, but it sounds like a very similar approach of exploring some deeper, real situations through magic and fantasy.
I may have indirectly answered some of this already. In short, I don't think it's any one of those things, but a combination of all those things. To some extent each of those is true. I think it will be worth exploring these differing perspectives in my story. Those who come to accept their present state of affairs, versus those who resign themselves to what they believe to be their fate. The first is akin to stoicism, or some Eastern religion / philosophy. The second is fatalistic. The perspectives you present in your questions would all make for excellent points of conflict, and could make the story and characters more dynamic and interesting. I'll admit, I don't know if it's because it's 3:00 AM but I'm struggling here. There are two routes that I can see: show vs. tell The preferable route is show. Tell would predominantly come from dialogue, and would be supplementary. I'm tempted to look at word choice first, but that doesn't answer your question. That has more to do with mechanics. The weather is always stormy or overcast. Bleak color palette. People stay indoors often, and many stick to themselves most of the time, some rarely ever being seen. Perhaps more accurately, some progressively are seen less and less as a result of their worsening state of mind. I'd imagine unfinished work. Things neglected in general, left to rust, fall apart, die, rot, left a mess, etc. Things isn't very specific; maybe an overgrown garden, or a pile of dirty dishes here, a dead vase of flowers there, a lively willow tree whereas all the other trees tend to be pathetic and sickly at best, dead and barren otherwise. A small apple orchard, its apples left to fall to the ground and decay. Song birds that don't sing. I'd like to invoke a sense of living the same day over and over, the feeling of being stuck. It isn't really the same day on repeat, but the attitude of: "What difference does it make? It might as well be the same day." Alcohol is more popular than the church. A dog roams the streets because its owner became disillusioned, coming to the cynical conclusion that dogs aren't really man's best friend. That dog's don't have masters, but pawns for obtaining food. Morgan and his sense of duty is the large driver in action, besides the journey of the MC and a couple other characters. The mist obviously plays a role. I don't really see it as detached from the town, but I assume your question was implying "besides that". If you have any suggestions or ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for mentioning "Of Bees and Mist". Maybe that will give me some inspiration as well. The answer to this question was one I got from the movie Walter Mitty. I remember a character asks Walter something like, "Where do you go? When you... do that?" It was right after one of his little day dreaming episodes. I don't know how I'm going to end it, exactly. But I don't want to suggest to readers that depression is some place that one necessarily leaves forever, in the same way that I don't want to accidentally suggest you're stuck there. It can be transient. To actually answer your question directly, what's beyond is what we call reality. It's wherever you are when you suddenly break out of a depressive spell. Alone, awakening in bed when the sun comes up. In the company of a friend. In the arms of a brother, a sister, or our romantic other. Or as your newborn rests in your arms for the first time. Wherever that is, is what's beyond the mist.
@Foxxx so what if the plot was your MC trying to get into the mist and somehow being stopped by Morgan? And the ending would be he goes through the mist and wakes up in bed, with the sun shining - something utterly normal and mundane that is in stark contrast with your Arago town that gives a vivid and strong message that he's "on the other side" - but without confirming this? And that somehow the mist is always there, even on this side? It may be interesting that all the same characters are there on the other side of the mist - but those who had "never returned to Arago" act like your MC and people like Morgan and those whom we know never entered the mist act like they're not really there, the way we would perceive those who are depressed in real life?
