Topography Genera

A fractal parallax tragic multimedia plentiblog monstrosity by DJay32 and alliterator

EAT AND FIVE - DJay

A History

I joined the Fear Mythos in March 2011, one day after it launched. Everyone there wanted to write because of Internet Fiction, creepypastas and strange videos and the communal folklore that was the Slender Man. I did too, though if you want the cold truth I didn't want to spend time in horror. I wanted to scare the people who liked horror, as I believed that to be the logical extreme, the ideal horror story. I do not believe I have made that yet, though I leave up to you the suspicion of if I'm still trying.

In any case, I joined in order to make blogs. And the first two I made were designed to be deleted: Fish, Man! and Progression Enhanced were blogs in the realistic mode and, narratively, preludes to the motifs that make up EAT. One of the earliest EAT motifs I came up with was a subversion of the idea of the Slenderblog-- EAT deletes blogs that document her. EAT is, perhaps, hyperaware of observers, and the technological novelty that is the internet may be beyond our comprehension but it is not beyond hers. So, I made Fearblogs that were deleted shortly after. They had to be, otherwise they'd betray the realistic mode they claimed to be in. But this was still a narrative, and the audience needed a way to hear about these deleted blogs at all. Meanwhile, I wasn't satisfied with the realistic blogs I'd made so far-- they were bland, with default blog layouts, and trite detail, which is realistic but hardly interesting. I needed a far busier blog, kept by a character who could be realistic while still constantly producing content. The solution to both of these was the same: I had been keeping actual blogs for several years. You can't get more "realism" than nonfiction. And I had been incrementally adding content and features onto my blogs. So. I just needed to sacrifice my busiest personal blog and integrate it into this new horror story.

My personal blog was originally titled DJay32's Paper Dimension, as I went through a Paper Mario phase when I was 11 - 13. My life, uh, went through directions after that, and when I was 16 I renamed the blog to Jordan Eats Normally Now. Weirdly, I named it this in January, two months before I had come up with EAT.

Jordan Eats Normally Now

So, the synopsis goes: 16-year-old Jordan is browsing the internet as usual, he finds a blog dedicated to talking about prog albums, and he loves it. But as suddenly as he finds the blog, it is deleted without warning. But the person who ran that blog is in his area? In a house that is not quite empty and not quite inviting, Jordan brings a video camera and his brother Nathan...

JORDAN EATS NORMALLY NOW, an internet horror.

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Into the Genera

With Jordan out of the way, I wanted to try again at representing EAT in a story. This one was much more ambitious, focusing not on deleted blogs but on several active blogs overseen by framing narratives. I was assisted by a blogger role model of mine, a Fearblogger by the handle "alliterator" who had made something like 80 different blogs himself, had co-founded the Fear Mythos, and.. was altogether a very competent writer. Together, we would throw ideas around, organize a canon of Fears, and make blogs. The original plan was for a long project, with interweaving narratives gradually revealing a global corporation balancing apocalyptic conspiracies with bureaucratic realism.

That was a bit much. I didn't achieve that vision.

But that's okay. When your eyes are bigger than your belly, you eat what you can and make that your meal instead. We still made something, with that vision as a backdrop. What ended up happening was: alliterator made his side of things, and I made mine. We inspired each other and motivated each other to keep going, and I even got to write his ending, tying our stories together. His side of things was more focused, while still keeping the multimedia ambitions of my plans, while my side of things was broader and emptier (first by inexperience, then played into for aesthetic). They did, in the end, create an Internet Experience. I will be uploading both his and my blogs to this website.

TOPOGRAPHY GENERA, OR: SYMPHONY NO. 2

alliterator's side of things was framed by the blog The Supernatural Anaesthetist, and I recommend reading that first. Not just because I think it's better than mine, but also because my blogs spoil his twists, and his blogs do not spoil mine.

Worth noting: on his suggestion, I took over writing towards the end, starting at "Uncertainty Principles (8)." I followed notes he had left, but most of the contents of those endgame posts are mine. He seemed happy with the result.

The Supernatural Anaesthetist

the account of Doctor Cloud

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My side of things was framed by the blog Topography Genera Center East, and it is much more audio-heavy, and much more focused on the broad strokes of the overall canon. (Though I will admit, I'm pretty happy with how the narrative kicks in halfway through.) It is worth keeping in mind that I was not a great director of voice acting talent, was a 17-year-old who kind writers agreed to provide voices for.

I'm not just gonna put this thing down, though. There's some real fire in here. Genera meant things to me. I came to think of it as a symphony for a reason.

Topography Genera Center East

the account of Liquid Len

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The Book

About four years in, after the story had wrapped up, I started looking into self-publishing on Amazon (because I Like Books, I wanted to try making a Physical Book), and I decided to run an experiment by converting Topography Genera into a book, to see what it would look like. Obviously I had to convert or remove all of the multimedia aspects, but there's still some good chunks of prose in there. The end result was a, like, 90-page novella. So I added some short stories to the mix, and whipped up a front cover, and lo and behold:

little 3D render courtesy of Amazon

Topography Genera and Other Stories

Available on Amazon in the country of your choice (as long as it is on the list below).

US UK DE FR ES IT NL PL SE JP CA AU

Topography Genera: Rebirth

In 2017, on my birthday, I released 12 new blogs, united by the framing blog Topography Genera: Rebirth. This was a project I called "The Demo." I have not yet returned to this, vivid though its concepts be on my brain, as instead I just wanted to put out a teaser. When I am ready to return to it, that teaser will help me get back into the mood.

"But DJay," you say. "What is this project? What is it a demo for?"

I mean, obviously, the sequel to Topography Genera. But also something bigger than that. I'll talk about it more when I've fleshed out The Website beyond its current scope, as Genera alone will not provide all of the necessary context. No, instead, you're gonna need to know about Viceking's Graab.