The version I heard is, A Freudian slip is when you mean one thing, but say your mother.
Author: This story is about a couple who got too many pairs of baby shoes from relatives, and needed some money to start saving for their kid’s college fund.
But on the other hand I detest the name Jason becaause except for 2, every Jason I have ever met has been a jerk. So if I wrote a book and named the villain Jason I’m sure someone could come up with a whole thing on a villain whose name means healer but the reality is I just hate the name.
An interesting example.
AL: There’s a critical essay out there that compares Ringworld to The Wizard of Oz. Are these comparisons accurate or intended? Was Oz an influence for you?
LN: That critic convinced me completely. Yes, I loved the OZ books when I was in grade school, but I didn’t realize I was using the plot line. It just felt right.
A critic identified an influence on the author that the author was not consciously aware of.
I haven’t been able to find the essay, but I recall Harlan Ellison writing about encountering a theologian who claimed that “ I have no mouth and I must scream “ was about the relationship between man and God. Harlan disagreed vigorously, but the theologian persisted, using some of the arguments discussed above. Harlan the won the argument by pointing out that the theologian had missed the fact that one of the characters was Black; How, asked Harlan, can you judge the subtext when you can’t even master the text?
A fair point. If the critic hasn’t gotten the details right, his conclusions can’t be trusted.
That being said, I certainly can see why someone might think “I have no mouth and I must scream” has theological content.
One of these days I have to read that story- not because of the reputation of the writer or of the story, but so I can write a parody titled I Have No Mouth And I Must Yodel.
Why haven’t you read it yet? It’s only 5809 words long. It’s available online.
Largely anhedonia (not the poster but the condition of not feeling pleasure). I have a long list of things (some in real space in dead tree form) I’ve been meaning to read.
ETA I still buy books I want. I just never get around to reading them. I’ve wanted a copy of D’Aulaire’s Book Of Norse Myths since literally before I could read. I finally found a copy this year. I never got around to reading it. Depression is a horrible, grey, numb thing.
Once you put something out into the world…it no longer solely belongs to you.
Clive Barker said the same thing. IIRC He also hates people calling the Hell Priest “Pinhead” but recognizes there’s nothing he can do about it.
I started writing the story as being about Odysseus returning to Ithaca with a pair of baby shoes that he picked up in Aulis (he expected the war to be basically a milk run, he’d be back to give them to Telemachus while he was still small enough to wear them).
I never finished it. I got distracted.
Odysseus was probably the only king who knew exactly what he was getting into. That’s why he tried so hard to weasel out of going along.
OTOH, he definitely had enough of an ego to be like, “You know what? Maybe I’m looking at this wrong. I bet I can get this whole thing wrapped up inside of six months.”