#MicroEssay
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julie.radiantarray.io
i didn't have a lot to do today so in response to a very reasonable, straightforward question i wrote a microessay that functions as a close reading of the narrative voice in the item descriptions of dark souls.
julie.radiantarray.io julie muncy @julie.radiantarray.io · 7d
yeah, no, fair. and i know you're not being an asshole. but my answer is, uh, well, it's longer than i can fit so here's what you're getting, because i think you're asking an interesting question and i appreciate this
1/4: well, no-- i don't think you're supposed to assume that the information is diegetic as such (that is, that it exists *in the game world*.) but that to me raises some interesting questions about its role in the narrative of these games, though i will grant that not a lot of them take advantage of those questions. my example of the original dark souls, though, is one that i think *does.* so, we assume it's non diagetic. great. that means it's being imposed upon the game world from outside, presumably for an outside observer-- us, the player. so what, narratively, does this extra-diagetic intrusion signify? i think the generally assumed answer for games is that it's intended to either 1) represent what the player character knows but the *player* would not (ie, in-universe knowledge) or 2) it represents diagetic knowledge translated into a non-diagetic form-- ie, procedural knowledge, things like tutorials-- how to jump, how to run, how to drink the sunny delight. 2/4: but what's interesting to me is that the voice of these descriptions-- as you point out-- does not seem to neatly map to either of those assumptions. as you say, Hollows are ignorant as fact of biology, and forgetfulness is a fundamental part of their whole deal. What's more, these item descriptions seem to operate from an unstable place of knowledge where they, at times, know basic facts about the world and setting that even most *informed* people in it would not know-- like there are a couple item descriptions that spoil the twist regarding Gwynevere and Anor Londo, extremely privileged knowledge. Yet the voice or voices of these descriptions don't seem to *always* know these things. They ask questions they don't have answers to. The knowledge being drawn from is not a stable, unmoving thing. Likewise, they don't neatly graft into the second assumed role, either, as they are, as many people will gladly point out, often *extremely unhelpful for the player.* Lore without context, questions without answers, snapshots of history with no heuristics with which to understand them. People have spent their entire careers as critics and entertainers trying to turn these disparate, barely useful scraps of information into a traditional plot or world, with clear diminishing returns-- gaps that are entirely unfillable. if these are tutorials, they're bad tutorials. and if these are histories, they're written by a maniac. 3/4: so, then, we have text that 1) is not meant to represent the player character's perspective, 2) *does* however seem to largely graft to an in-universe perspective, albeit an unstable one and 3) does not serve a clear utility. a literary reading of this brings us to the idea of something like what some James Joyce scholars call the Arranger in the novel Ulysses-- an unexplained presence, that seems to exist simultaneously inside and outside the story, which regularly intrudes upon the surface level narrative. Sometimes to provide local color, sometimes to provide gameplay hints, sometimes to casually drop massive secrets about the true order of the fictional world. But never in a manner that is easily explicated. was this intended? Hell if i know. But I do think-- at least in this specific text-- it is an incredibly clever and interesting thing. It further enforces the sense of Lordran's instability, both as a place within a fictional world that is falling apart and in its role *as a fiction itself.* As a story, told to us the player, and also perpetuated by systems that exist within the diegetic world. 4/4: and from there, that's a reading you can take to a lot of places. to thinking about the historiography of dark souls' world, to the story's themes of reproduction & rebirth as a fundamentally degenerative process, to a wacky deconstructive reading about the ability of game worlds to create meaning at all. and that's why i'm inclined to define the method as epistolary fiction, at least in this specific instance-- because if you take it seriously as a thing the text is doing, you find a surprising amount of meat on those bones.
November 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
raymonds-towers.bsky.social
"Pocket Philosophies"

Microessays by Raymond B. Steinmetz©

#microessay #amwriting #WritingCommunity #readersoftwitter #poetrycommunity #reading #poetry #writing

raymondstowers.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/p...
Pocket Philosophies – Microessays
Microessays by Raymond Bevilacqua Steinmetz© September 16, 2024 Welcome to “Pocket Philosophies – Microessays,” a collection that embodies the essence of brevity while delivering …
raymondstowers.wordpress.com
January 7, 2025 at 3:23 PM
slow-lens.bsky.social
Lingering in the blur before meaning appears.

#slowlens #poetry #slowliving #quietude #microessay
May 31, 2025 at 8:24 AM
stormcellar.bsky.social
Hey, it's a #flash #contest: CNF, fiction, hybrids, experiments, wild things! $500 in prizes, entry $6 (no fee option in guidelines). #nonfiction #fiction #flashfiction #flashCNF #microessay #experimentalwriting #illustrated #hybrid #callforsubmissions stormcellar.submittable.com/submit/72759...
Poster for the 2024 Force Majeure Flash Contest. Background image "Everything That's Magic Happens Here," by Sharon Sayegh. Contest held by Storm Cellar at stormcellar dot org slash contest. "Ends April 30. Flash is: short and inventive (formally, linguistically, affectively) fiction, nonfiction, hybrid, experiments, fragments, wild things. $500 in prizes. stormcellar dot submittable dot com."
March 7, 2024 at 8:59 PM
manicpixie.dickgirl.pro
the weird fashy microessay abt christendom and islam? id be more disappointed if everything she's recorded since aesthetica didn't suck ass, but it sure was something 😬
June 5, 2024 at 5:07 PM
mockingowls.bsky.social
"Wearing boots? What did that have to do with Nashville? I don’t wear boots now. My location wasn’t going to change that. And I sure as hell wasn’t ever going to carry a Rebel flag..."

Read the #microessay at the #MockingOwlRoost - Writing Memories.
shorturl.at/o32Zp
woman sitting on stool, playing guitar in front of a mic, wearing studded boots - TEXT: Thank You, God - I'm Leaving Here - writing memories, anonymous
April 10, 2025 at 6:55 PM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨“In the lake on summer evenings at dusk, after the lifeguards have blown their last shrill decree and the children have trudged home with floaties nipping at their heels, I go for a swim.”
-from “The Art of Submersion,” this week’s Beautiful Things essay by Courtney Langdell

#MicroEssay #Submit
November 3, 2025 at 3:04 PM
raymonds-towers.bsky.social
"The Silent Connection"
A Plea for Empathy in a World of Quiet Struggles

MicroEssay by Raymond B. Steinmetz©

#reading #microessay #amwriting #writerscommunity #readingcommunity #essaywriting #relaxation #writingCommunity
The Silent Connection
A Plea for Empathy in a World of Quiet Struggles
medium.com
November 22, 2024 at 10:40 PM
lambhoot.bsky.social
🍅 Food for Thought 🧀 MicroEssay Mixtape Vol.6 📼

(^ ça ne se traduit pas, ça)

…est LIVE! Ce groupe de créateurs se sont forcés hors de leurs zones de confort et l’ont clenché! 🔥

Mixtape complet : youtu.be/5Votljeybfg
December 15, 2023 at 10:04 PM
positivelaser.bsky.social
MICROESSAY

1) If open world game offers horse, I do not take.
2) if open world game offers car, I do

Horse-Games you can miss things zooming by. Car-Games you get a radio & can hit sweet jumps.

Car-games add value when moving fast, horse-games take it away.

/MICROESSAY
July 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
fluffyenderpug.bsky.social
This was a micro-essay I made about "The Fall Fair Suite" from Ride the Cyclone for one of @theessaylibrary.com's collaborations
youtu.be/mhiKaLNJ8Ss

#videoessay #microessay #thefallfairsuite #ridethecyclone #musical #theater #theessaylibrary #youtube #musicaltheater
The Quiet Sadness of "The Fall Fair Suite" in Ride the Cyclone - A Mini Video Essay
YouTube video by The Cowardly Valiant
youtu.be
January 28, 2025 at 6:50 AM
riverteeth.bsky.social
✨Submissions for Beautiful Things are still open!

✨Want to challenge yourself this weekend? Write a Beautiful Thing and submit through the Submittable portal.

#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #BeautifulThings #MicroEssay #OnlineLitMag #WritingCommunity #GetPublished #Submit
October 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
audreytcarroll.bsky.social
Read my new microessay "Define Neurodivergent" in @themerseyreview.bsky.social!

www.themerseyreview.com/issues/6/def...
Define Neurodivergent — The Mersey Review
'Define Neurodivergent' by Audrey T. Carroll
www.themerseyreview.com
April 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
rowanglassworks.bsky.social
#FlashGlass is back again with another @kevinbrownwrites.bsky.social micro essay! "Dear Kelley" takes a look back on past regrets and decisions made in youth.

Read now: www.rowanglassworks.org/flash-glass-...

#WritingKicksGlass #MicroEssay #AmReading #LitMag #Flash
February 23, 2025 at 12:21 AM
raymonds-towers.bsky.social
"Bridging the Advice Gap"

MicroEssay by Raymond B. Steinmetz©

#reading #microessay #amwriting #writersoftwitter #writerscommunity #readingcommunity #readersoftwitter #essaywriting #relaxation
Bridging the Advice Gap
Aligning What We Say with What We Do
medium.com
November 19, 2024 at 2:42 PM
cosettefiles.bsky.social
I wish I wasn't braindead from exhaustion right now because this is the most "yep yep yep 100% 1000%" microessay I've seen in a LONG time
November 10, 2024 at 10:37 AM
rebecca-altman.bsky.social
Plastic No. 5 PP • Polypropylene posted at <a href="http://Instagram.com/rebecca_altman" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">http://Instagram.com/rebecca_altman — Thx to all who’ve support this microessay investigation into the histories, legacies of the #plastics in my immediate surrounds. #TheResinCodes #planetorplastic #plasticpollution
November 19, 2024 at 5:52 PM
ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Here's another of Sophie Poe's beautifully written and photographed snapshots of museums I don't expect to visit...

in this case the House Museum of Kamol Khujandi in Tajikistan...

which includes a thoughtful microessay on the concept of home […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]
Room with a large loom-like structure on colorful rugs, in front of white decorated walls and below a wooden ceiling whose beams are also decorated. Photo by Sophie Poe, in the House Museum of Kamol Khujandi in Khujand, Tajikistan.
September 27, 2025 at 7:27 PM
eris.anarchogoth.rip
I wrote I microessay, which might help you understand wtf is happening with this bullshit.
eris.anarchogoth.rip Samsara Final Girl @eris.anarchogoth.rip · Jun 23
refining this thought for those who've not participated in either:

a psyop is telic, it has a goal, a party line, a purpose that the orchestrator requires their agents to follow, which is difficult bc no plan survives contact with the enemy. a story has to be stuck to in order to achieve this end.
June 23, 2024 at 9:20 AM
slow-lens.bsky.social
Slowlensing may not be about receiving or letting go, but about drifting somewhere in between.

#slowlens #poetry #slowliving #quietude #microessay
June 1, 2025 at 4:01 AM
dorianhartwood.bsky.social
The Wisdom of Worn Paths

#Sustainability #SlowLiving #IntentionalLiving #WalkingWithPurpose #WornPaths #MicroEssay #SmallActsBigImpact
June 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
andydibble.bsky.social
My microessay "Orality and Respawn" about how oral traditions can address a problem in game storytelling is out in @crepuscularmag.bsky.social. It's one of the few works I've had two absolutely bomb titles for, the other being "Retold and Replayed"

www.patreon.com/posts/microe...
Microessay: Andy Dibble | Crepuscular Magazine
Get more from Crepuscular Magazine on Patreon
www.patreon.com
June 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM
reachyourapex.bsky.social
You've heard of flash fiction. Well, here's a microessay, "A writing exercise (or, how I wrote my story)," that packs more craft info into a few hundred words than many do using thousands.
Microessay: Sam Ruhmkorff | Crepuscular Magazine
Get more from Crepuscular Magazine on Patreon
www.patreon.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
angelaliu.bsky.social
“Festival” broke my heart 🥲

And this line: “Houses know when they’re being left behind” 😭

Loved the looming terror against the backdrop of mundane house repairs in the microessay (always love when the everyday gets twisted!)
September 18, 2024 at 8:40 PM
escribescribe.bsky.social
This microessay by Ocean Vuong always hits me hard. And my students!
www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
Immigrating Into English
“The trouble began when I decided to be dangerously ambitious. Which is to say, I decided to write a poem.”
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2024 at 12:17 AM