Post Date: 02/15/2019
StarScript Profile
ULYSSES MAURER
Sci-fi/Fantasy Writer, World Builder
For our current feature of Ulysses Maurer, a very talented young writer, we decided on an interview format, enjoy.
Hi Ulysses, so good to meet you. Tell us in your own words. What type of creator are you?
I’m a young Canadian writer with a flair for fantasy worldbuilding, an interest in history and a desire to stand out. I most enjoy working on high concept stories with something to say, especially when they’re told through multimedia projects and other unconventional storytelling methods. I’m enamored with grand themes and gravitate towards fantasy as a genre which allows me to delve into them, often drawing on religion, philosophy and radical politics for imagery - if not direct subject matter.
2. What or who inspires you?
Though social critics are frequently mocked in current Internet culture, I’m inspired by the classical dystopian writers who wrote about the flaws in our civilization through an emotional lens reinforced by an intellectual understanding of their systems. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was the first book that truly caught my psyche, and compelled me to not allow the world to come to such a state; George Orwell’s 1984 and Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here soon followed with similar reactions. Their messages had a great effect on how their audience saw the world, and this bestows on me the hubris to believe I could one day follow in their footsteps and accomplish the same.
3. What is your educational history?
I’m in my final year of high school, and will start attending University of Waterloo in September for the Honours Arts and Business program.
4. What are your trying to communicate to the world with your art?
Where possible, I express what I see as the most important lessons of history: authority should be viewed with perpetual suspicion, and the status quo of a given time never remains forever.
5. What sort of projects have you worked on and what are you working on now?
Much of my past experience is in private collaborative projects, from editing custom Magic: the Gathering sets with friends to advising on design for indie games which sadly lacked the budget to take off. My current creative endeavour encompasses a whole science-fantasy universe I hope to showcase on the Legends platform, but focuses for now on a subsection called Yaldev. It’s the story of a small planet driven to chaos by an overabundance of magical energy, the empire which rose to conquer it, this regime's inevitable collapse, and the new world which emerged in its wake.
6. What are, or have been, your biggest challenges on these projects?
My biggest struggles with Yaldev have been in maintaining internal consistency and growing the project to new audiences. Because I make up the story as I go and tell it through updates of art by Beeple accompanied by exposition or narratives, avoiding self-contradiction with older posts is difficult, and making each piece function as a hook for a new audience member to want to read more. I’ve tried to fix the first issue by regularly re-reading my own work and the second by improving my opening paragraphs, but the process of growth often feels like an uphill battle.
7. Are you seeking collaborators? If so, who?
Alongside Yaldev, I’ve been preparing to launch a regularly-updating blog exposing the “hidden truths” of supernatural forces at work during the First World War. I’m currently looking for visual artists adept in digital art who could make different posts look like different types of documents - A soldier’s journal entry, an ancient clay tablet, a post on a fictional social media website.
8. Identify any awards & accomplishments that you have achieved in relation to your work.
No major awards outside of a scholastic setting; my past lack of confidence often drove me away from submitting my work for competitions.
9. Have you or has your work had any recent appearances in the media?
I’m still undiscovered. This feature is my first interview about my own worldbuilding, and I’m so excited to reach out to new people! It feels like a first step towards becoming relevant, and I hope to reach further through Legends.
10. What interests you about the StarScript Legends story production platform?
While many practical applications for worldbuilding have already been made, Legends goes the extra mile in trying to become a fully-fledged worldbuilding social network. Worldbuilding is often a solitary process, with worldbuilders themselves stereotyped as absorbed in their own work. Trying to build a social network built for worldbuilders may be a futile cause - or a well of untapped potential.
On its face, the patron system isn’t that special, but the promotion of patrons being able to vote on productions is excellent for creating a real connection between a creator and their audience. In the age of manufactured authenticity, real ways to connect to an audience like this are crucial, and could take Legends a long way.
11. What Legends feature are you looking forward to most?
Creator / Patron Connection! Even without the voting aspect, I love the idea of a genuine connection between creators and audiences. Creators should be more to their audience than machines creating colorful content, and audiences should be more to a creator than a subscriber count that puts a numerical value to their merit. Direct subscriber participation and influence on the story itself can break down the anonymizing barrier that the Internet inherently puts up.
12. What feature would you like to see on a production and self-publishing application, that you feel currently is not being offered?
I don’t have enough experience with them to give a good answer.
13. What would you like to communicate to future Legends readers who might be interested in your project?
Worldbuilding has been my passion since I was a child, and my greatest wish as a worldbuilder is to see my creations have meaning to others, even if only by sparking a smile or prompting a thought. As I grew up I stopped sharing my stories, but I’ve started again because I genuinely think Yaldev is something you’ll like if you enjoy surreal science fantasy based on cool-looking art.
There we go!
Links to social media:
Subreddit - http://www.reddit.com/r/yaldev
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/yaldevproject
Tumblr - http://yaldev.tumblr.com/
Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/yaldev_project
Illustrations by: Beeple Crap
Interview: Kalix Sky
StarScript Profile
Post Date: 02/15/2019
StarScript Profile
ULYSSES MAURER
Sci-fi/Fantasy Writer, World Builder
For our current feature of Ulysses Maurer, a very talented young writer, we decided on an interview format, enjoy.
Hi Ulysses, so good to meet you. Tell us in your own words. What type of creator are you?
I’m a young Canadian writer with a flair for fantasy worldbuilding, an interest in history and a desire to stand out. I most enjoy working on high concept stories with something to say, especially when they’re told through multimedia projects and other unconventional storytelling methods. I’m enamored with grand themes and gravitate towards fantasy as a genre which allows me to delve into them, often drawing on religion, philosophy and radical politics for imagery - if not direct subject matter.
2. What or who inspires you?
Though social critics are frequently mocked in current Internet culture, I’m inspired by the classical dystopian writers who wrote about the flaws in our civilization through an emotional lens reinforced by an intellectual understanding of their systems. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was the first book that truly caught my psyche, and compelled me to not allow the world to come to such a state; George Orwell’s 1984 and Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here soon followed with similar reactions. Their messages had a great effect on how their audience saw the world, and this bestows on me the hubris to believe I could one day follow in their footsteps and accomplish the same.
3. What is your educational history?
I’m in my final year of high school, and will start attending University of Waterloo in September for the Honours Arts and Business program.
4. What are your trying to communicate to the world with your art?
Where possible, I express what I see as the most important lessons of history: authority should be viewed with perpetual suspicion, and the status quo of a given time never remains forever.
5. What sort of projects have you worked on and what are you working on now?
Much of my past experience is in private collaborative projects, from editing custom Magic: the Gathering sets with friends to advising on design for indie games which sadly lacked the budget to take off. My current creative endeavour encompasses a whole science-fantasy universe I hope to showcase on the Legends platform, but focuses for now on a subsection called Yaldev. It’s the story of a small planet driven to chaos by an overabundance of magical energy, the empire which rose to conquer it, this regime's inevitable collapse, and the new world which emerged in its wake.
6. What are, or have been, your biggest challenges on these projects?
My biggest struggles with Yaldev have been in maintaining internal consistency and growing the project to new audiences. Because I make up the story as I go and tell it through updates of art by Beeple accompanied by exposition or narratives, avoiding self-contradiction with older posts is difficult, and making each piece function as a hook for a new audience member to want to read more. I’ve tried to fix the first issue by regularly re-reading my own work and the second by improving my opening paragraphs, but the process of growth often feels like an uphill battle.
7. Are you seeking collaborators? If so, who?
Alongside Yaldev, I’ve been preparing to launch a regularly-updating blog exposing the “hidden truths” of supernatural forces at work during the First World War. I’m currently looking for visual artists adept in digital art who could make different posts look like different types of documents - A soldier’s journal entry, an ancient clay tablet, a post on a fictional social media website.
8. Identify any awards & accomplishments that you have achieved in relation to your work.
No major awards outside of a scholastic setting; my past lack of confidence often drove me away from submitting my work for competitions.
9. Have you or has your work had any recent appearances in the media?
I’m still undiscovered. This feature is my first interview about my own worldbuilding, and I’m so excited to reach out to new people! It feels like a first step towards becoming relevant, and I hope to reach further through Legends.
10. What interests you about the StarScript Legends story production platform?
While many practical applications for worldbuilding have already been made, Legends goes the extra mile in trying to become a fully-fledged worldbuilding social network. Worldbuilding is often a solitary process, with worldbuilders themselves stereotyped as absorbed in their own work. Trying to build a social network built for worldbuilders may be a futile cause - or a well of untapped potential.
On its face, the patron system isn’t that special, but the promotion of patrons being able to vote on productions is excellent for creating a real connection between a creator and their audience. In the age of manufactured authenticity, real ways to connect to an audience like this are crucial, and could take Legends a long way.
11. What Legends feature are you looking forward to most?
Creator / Patron Connection! Even without the voting aspect, I love the idea of a genuine connection between creators and audiences. Creators should be more to their audience than machines creating colorful content, and audiences should be more to a creator than a subscriber count that puts a numerical value to their merit. Direct subscriber participation and influence on the story itself can break down the anonymizing barrier that the Internet inherently puts up.
12. What feature would you like to see on a production and self-publishing application, that you feel currently is not being offered?
I don’t have enough experience with them to give a good answer.
13. What would you like to communicate to future Legends readers who might be interested in your project?
Worldbuilding has been my passion since I was a child, and my greatest wish as a worldbuilder is to see my creations have meaning to others, even if only by sparking a smile or prompting a thought. As I grew up I stopped sharing my stories, but I’ve started again because I genuinely think Yaldev is something you’ll like if you enjoy surreal science fantasy based on cool-looking art.
There we go!
Links to social media:
Subreddit - http://www.reddit.com/r/yaldev
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/yaldevproject
Tumblr - http://yaldev.tumblr.com/
Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/yaldev_project
Illustrations by: Beeple Crap
Interview: Kalix Sky
StarScript Profile
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