Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

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Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by ElementalNovel »

Well, this was a long time coming.

Hi everyone! I'm not sure where to start so I guess we'll get right into it.

Let me introduce you to the paracosm. A paracosm is a "detailed, imaginary world created inside one's mind." These worlds take all shapes and forms and vary wildly from person to person. Paracosms are usually created in childhood or adolescence and maintained for a significant period of time, being months, years, or even a lifetime.

People develop paracosms for a variety of purposes. Some occur as a coping method after a trauma, others are simply a more advanced and expensive version of an imaginary friend. The creation of a paracosm, or "worldplay," is considered by some to be a manifestation of creativity and intellect, and indeed, several famous authors are known to have been paracosmists. These include the Bronte sisters, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and several others.

I've recently begun research on the topic, having maintained a paracosm of my own for several years and having abandoned the practice a few years ago in order to focus on my real life. I spent a great deal of time believing I was not right in the head, or that I was the only person who had a world in their mind. That fear kept me from ever seeking out other paracosmists, and as such I'm only learning about how common the practice really is. I didn't even know there was a definition for what I was going through until a few weeks ago.

It feels really important that we start having a conversation about this, that we reach out to each other and explore this together. There are no networks or communities that I can find for paracosmists as of now.

So, do you now/did you ever have a paracosm? Please consider answering a few of the questions below, because I would really appreciate hearing from you and I'm sure there are others who would love to hear from you too.

Additionally, if you happen to have any resources, I would appreciate the contribution. Perhaps we can get a list of links going up here for people to read. :wave:

Discussion Questions
Spoiler
1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?


Resources:
Spoiler
Paracosm on Wikipedia, (I know, Wiki isn't a "real" source, but it's a good starting place for casual researchers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracosm

"Glimpses of Day-Dreamland," an early account of paracosms created by future writers.
https://books.google.com/books?id=-J0rA ... &q&f=false

"Origins, Authority, and Imaginary Games," discusses the role paracosms play in the creative process.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarl ... 11E84.html

"Identity, Inclination, and Imaginary Games," a response to the above essay.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarl ... height=80%

"The Islanders," another mapping of authors' paracosms.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/304877294


Bronte-specific resources:

Spoiler


Thank you for your kind attention and possible contributions. I have wanted to discuss this for a long time and have only recently had the courage to do so.
Last edited by ElementalNovel on January 17th, 2017, 12:23:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Revan »

I didn't know there was an actual name for it. Uh...okay. Well, here goes nothing...

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
Yes and yes.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
Never stopped really.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay?
About 6 years old.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
I had an abusive childhood. In short, my biological father was not a very nice man, and he kept my mother and I pretty isolated (nearest neighbor was a mile away) and there was limited access to any kind of technology, tv or otherwise, and I wasn't allowed to have friends over, so it became my way of escape.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
No name. Tended to change a lot actually. Usually based around things I was interested in at the time: certain books, games, movies. Whatever caught my attention and my mind would expand upon that existing story line.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
I typically was more an active player, not always, but usually. Ironically, two names I've used here on Magistream are names I've used in my paracosm: Nira, initially, and then later Revan. I tended to be the opposite of what I am in reality; strong, both physically and emotionally, and rather fearless, except when it comes to insects. Seems that's something my paracosm self and I still can relate with each other about.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
Not really. And I've never really talked about it with anyone. I just thought I had an overactive imagination, and having the childhood that I did, and my health problems now, I figured it was a coping method.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
Alone.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
All of the above.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
I don't believe so, though sometimes I admit I wish parts of it could be real.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
Not sure. I am a creative person, but I am not sure if my paracosm has impacted that or not. Then again, for as long as I've had it, perhaps it's made me not give up hope.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
Nope. Just now learned about them from you.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
Not personally.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Brynmala »

Wow, this is really interesting - I've never really though I could be the only one who did this, but I've never met anyone else who did... and I certainly didn't know it had a name.

Elemental, will you share your paracosm with us?

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
yes and yes

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
n/a

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
started around age 9 or 10 I would think

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
Sorry, this is going to be a bit of an essay... It started as a role play game between myself and a friend, we maintained 2 'paracosms' both based on modern world fictional characters. We lived 100 miles apart so only saw each other at holidays, but wrote letters in between (remember when people actually did that?!), including letters to our characters. One fizzled out naturally, the other lasted longer and then disappeared between each other but I maintained it myself, and mutated it into something that interested me more. I tried to make an end to it to live real life, but it was surprisingly difficult. Being an only child I had a lot of alone time, so slipping away into my own world was very easy.

In my early teens I got into a competitive hobby with a big crafting/arts element. There was one particular person who was considered to be the top artist in the field - I met her, was sh*t scared of her, but turned her into a role model... if she could do something, why shouldn't I? (10 years on my work could and did beat hers :) and i now consider her a friend, but now neither of us have time for the artwork sadly). I got into reading fantasy fiction. She had a fantasy book published* so... what she can do I can do, right? Well, wrong actually as I'm no sort of writer, but I deliberately created a world, characters etc to be the basis of one... and there I was back in a paracosm. The book never got written, but the world still exists and expands in my head, over 30 years on.

*actually a close friend of hers is an author of several fantasy and vampire novels, so I suspect that book was also a case of what she can do, I can do!

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
No name, in fact very few names in it at all other than the more major characters. It is a pre-industrial, semi-feudal world, there's two main characters who are related, but separated by about 150 years. Each have what I consider to be the main storyline of their lives, but often take side routes off the main track as something interesting occurs to me. I have to say I'm pretty mean to them, they don't have easy lives.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
I am an active player, and I can take the part of any of the characters, depending on how I feel.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
I consider it to be very personal, I don't feel guilty about it (now, I did when I was younger), but I do feel pretty stupid talking about it. I've told various parters, but have always wished I didn't. Rather surprised I'm saying all this now!

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
See above

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
daydreaming, and at night. Always when I'm alone though.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
no

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

Well it was meant to, but never did. It has been a bit of an emotional prop at times - somewhere to go when
I was getting stressed, or upset about stuff

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
No, you've just enlightened me. Like I said, I didn't think I could be the only person, but when I was younger I did wonder if I was quite right in the head... Now I don't really care - it's just part of who I am, and frankly you've just given legitimacy to the whole thing, I feel even better about it.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
Other than my friend when we were kids, no.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by ElementalNovel »

Hi, Revan and Brynmala! Thank you so much for contributing. I loved reading your answers and would really like to talk more in depth about your paracosms.

For example, both of you mentioned having characters whom you used to experience your paracosms. I'd appreciate hearing more about these characters, as well as what the world they inhabited was like.

Brynmala, for you particularly, if you don't mind me asking: How did people react when you told them you had a paracosm? I was really intrigued that you had actually told several of your partners and am curious what their reactions were.

(Since you asked, I answered my own questions under the cut. There's some information left out, perhaps selfishly, but maybe we'll get around to that at some point. :lol: )
Spoiler
1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?

Yes, I did. Its current existence is... debated.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?

I ceased worldplay in my freshman year of college, coming up on three years ago. I felt that I was relying on it as too much of an emotional crutch and thought I would grow better as a person without it. (I also had no idea that it was so common, and might have thought I was a little crazy.)

As of now, my paracosm exists in a sort of stasis; I haven't returned, but I entertain the idea of returning at some point. I miss it dearly, even as I recognize that I had to separate from it in order to better focus on reality.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

Not sure. I remember telling myself stories from a very young age. I'm pretty sure things started solidifying into a coherent universe with set characters and storylines somewhere around fourth grade, with things in full swing by seventh grade.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

Like I said, I was always telling myself stories. I sometimes took inspiration from music I heard, and music has played a large part in developing my paracosm. There isn't a triggering event or trauma that caused me to start doing it, but I was also always a pretty lonely kid and felt like I didn't have much of a voice in my life, so I have to assume that was a contributing factor.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

My paracosm was an entire world, but the main action took place in an island city-state that acted as the world capitol. This island and the world had names, as did a few other countries, but I stopped before everything got official names. The world was much like ours, only magic existed there. Every human being possessed some level of telepathy, and this set up most of the rules in society.

The storyline mostly covered a revolution in which a mentally oppressive regime was overthrown, with a solid subplot concerning the liberation of the slave caste, which consisted of half-human creatures with animal characteristics. Later on, the story mostly followed the period of reconstruction that followed the final battles of the revolution.

There were definitely characters, many of whom I still feel very fondly towards, since I spent so long "knowing" them. There was a team of half-human revolutionaries which played a major role, and there was the king of the evil regime, along with a great number of recurring minor villains and allies. I'm not going to lie, there were a few love interests thrown in there too. :t-sweat:

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

I was absolutely an active player. My "character" was named Pen, and she was sort of at the center of the storyline. She led the revolution and assumed power at the island city-state afterwards.

Pen was like a disguise and an alias I used when I was engaging in worldplay; we weren't separate people. It was a weird sort of duality in which I was self-aware of my role as world creator and was purposely choosing to take on a certain appearance and name to hide my identity.

Pen started out not looking like me, but as time went on we looked more alike. She could manifest wings made of light, had a variety of powers, and had a sword that could cut through anything. Very #marysue, now that I think about it, lol.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

I told different people select parts. I shared a few character descriptions with my sister when we were younger, later shared select parts of the storyline with a close friend under guise of wanting to write a book, and then later admitted to a priest that I had created a world in my mind, (during a fit of Catholic guilt, lol.)

Right around the time that I made this thread, I debuted a poem to my performance club about the topic and sort of subtly "came out" about it, just as an attempt to find others, very similar to the purpose of this thread. One of my fellow poets sort of hinted to me that she was in the same boat, but didn't elaborate probably for the same reasons I'm staying vague.

Those reasons being it's always been a big secret and big secrets are hard to let go. I was always very afraid of being labelled crazy, especially because my earlier searches on the concept of paracosms didn't even give me a name to label it by. Most of my family has some mental illness or another and I was very reluctant to give up my coveted "mentally healthy" status over something I could so easily continue to hide. Even now that I know it's actually very common, especially among writers, I'm holding back a little. Baby steps, I guess.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

Absolutely alone, though I always did have very imaginative games with my sister and my close friends.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

I always did it at night before I was falling asleep. I'd keep the story going as long as I could until I was suddenly awake the next morning, and then I'd pick it up the next night. "Chapters" could last as long as a few nights to a month. The full arc of my paracosm's main story, from beginning to end, lasted about nine years, and could be easily broken into about four main parts.

Daydreaming never quite did it because I was easily distracted and afraid of getting caught, and writing was too risky because someone might, (gasp!), read what I had written down.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

Not really. I once shocked myself very badly in ninth grade by remembering that although the things that happened in my paracosm had greatly shaped who I was as a person, I had ultimately just made the changes myself and constructed a kind of story around them.

It's not that I ever forgot that it was fiction; I just abruptly got really metacognitive about the fact and was upset that I hadn't thought to examine the psychological implications of what I was doing before then.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

Arguably, yes. While I never wrote any of it down, this is how I learned to tell stories. It might as well be the root of my creative process.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

I suspected that there were other people who had worlds in their minds, but all of my early research turned up nothing but symptoms of mental illness. I didn't realize that it was a widespread phenomenon with a proper name until I read an article about the Bronte siblings and their paracosms, which brought the entire situation into alarming clarity. I devoured all the information I could find, and it's been a relief.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?

Well, I suppose I know at least two others now! :wave: Between this thread and performing the poem I wrote, I'm really hoping to find a lot of other paracosmists. It's a real "find the others" kind of situation, lol. On a side note, I've always suspected that my sister had one too, but we never discussed it and I'm nervous about bringing it up.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by QueenoftheRabbits »

Oh wow I didn't know there was a name for this. I've met a lot of people with paracosms. I always find it interesting to share them (if the other person is comfortable of course) since they're such an interesting creative aspect of people's lives.
1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?

Yes!

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?

I haven't stopped, though I have gone through periods of time where I don't think about it as much, usually because of life stuff.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

I think I was pretty young when I started- around kindergarten maybe? I was around five or six.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

It was just something that I sort of did for quite a while, though I did become significantly more involved with it during a really stressful and somewhat traumatic time when I was around twelve.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

I have a few. I don't remember a lot of the first few that I made since I would only maintain them for a few months/years. I remember there was one with sea serpents when I was in elementary school, and another around the same time with dragons.

In most of middle school (11-13) I had a rather morbid one that took place in a cold, barren wasteland. The characters were involved in a war, but the government was really corrupt and most of them died from poor conditions. There were a lot of flaws in logic, but I still think that some of the characters were interesting and I've since moved a few into the one that I maintain currently.

Around the same time in middle school I briefly had a paracosm that took place in a world where people were persecuted for being/helping magical creatures. I wrote a lot of this one down, but I got tired of it quickly.

After those I have started another one that takes place in a world pretty similar to this one. There are different countries, governments, etc. but most things are pretty much the same. One of the major differences is that there is a supernatural/religious element to it. A few of the characters are gods that have come to the world in physical form to destroy it/prevent it from being destroyed. There are also wars going on, governments being built and falling apart, and other human things that happen here. This is probably the most complex paracosm that I have, since I've been thinking over it for several years now, and it has lots and lots of characters.

I also have a few others for when the one mentioned above gets too sad/dark for me to spend too much time on. There's one that takes place in a place/time period similar to rural America in the early 1900s. It mostly focuses on four main characters, and I haven't spent much time developing cultural and social aspects.

I have a few more smaller ones, but they're not really worth sharing.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

I was never really active in my paracosms. I used to control all of the characters but as they have become more complex and developed some of them have started to act on their own. It can be rather frustrating.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

I have told a few people about my paracosms. I felt weird about having one for quite a while, especially when they started. I don't really know why, I just did. After a while, I realized that they were kind of a coping mechanism, and believed that I was trying to escape from reality by focusing on a world that didn't exist, and tried to stop because I felt ashamed. Now I don't really feel bad about it as long as I'm not using it as an escape, and I'm fine with talking about them with people that I trust.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

Most of them were created alone, but I have a few that I've created with one of my friends.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

I did a little bit of everything. It started with daydreaming, then thinking about it at night, then whenever I did something repetitive (like walking or riding a bike), then writing, drawing, etc.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

Not really. A lot of them either feel "too good to be true" or too horrible for me to want them to be real.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

They definitely prompted me to start drawing. I now want to try to do art as a career, so I would say that they have played a rather important role in my creative life.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

I knew that worlds existed in peoples' minds, I just didn't know what they were called.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?

I know several people who do! The first person who told me about their's was one of my friends from camp. She and one of her friends were writing a book about one, and she had made up a separate one for fun. I think the subject came up when someone asked her what she was writing.

I have another friend who also had a paracosm, but she told me about it relatively recently, and hasn't really shared any information as to what the world or characters are like.

I've met several others in the past two years once I've started realizing that other people have them. People will usually tell me some of theirs after I mention mine. They're usually unaware (like I was) that other people do the same thing that they do, and are usually pretty happy to share.

It's so interesting to see other people discussing how their paracosms came to be and how they use them!
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Revan »

ElementalNovel wrote:Hi, Revan and Brynmala! Thank you so much for contributing. I loved reading your answers and would really like to talk more in depth about your paracosms.

For example, both of you mentioned having characters whom you used to experience your paracosms. I'd appreciate hearing more about these characters, as well as what the world they inhabited was like.
Sorry, just saw this.Was bored and browsing through the forums again when I saw this thread had replies and decided to check it out.

My character was like me but...not like me. Same color hair and eyes, but taller, slimmer, and not wearing glasses like I do in real life. Also braver. Like, my paracosm character had the strength to do things that me in reality I don't feel like I could do. Also, as dumb as it may sound, she also has magick abilities. Sounds a bit mary sue, I know, but she does have her weak moments too. She, like me, hates spiders. Also, using too much of her magick takes a lot out of her, leaving her vulnerable to threats. She, also like me, is rather anti social, and prefers her own company or the company of animals to that of other people.

Umm..world she inhabits...it's more like worlds. Think of her as a traveler of sorts. Many of my paracosms that had her were usually based around movies/shows/books/etc. that I really liked and she would sometimes observe or interact with some of the characters from those sources. Kind of like the Doctor I suppose from Doctor Who. Or Q from Star Trek. She's there, then she moves on. Kind of like my interests in things change and she'll change accordingly.


Anywho, I probably sound kinda nutty, but at least I can say it makes for some decent fanfiction ideas. :t-shrug:
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aprilflowers
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by aprilflowers »

I never knew there was a word for it! I thought I was the only one :D

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm? Yes

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop? n/a

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have? As long as I can remember

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?I always did

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.Ok so my world/universe is called Qezia (pronounced ket-zee-ah) and it is home to many different weird creatures that I have made up over the years. (mostly dragon or equine like creatures). There is a kind of storyline.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there? Mostly a passive observer, but sometimes I could go there and talk with my characters. My form was kinda like this dragon/goat thing and I guess i was some kind of god there?

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others? I told many people about it and I feel fine with having one.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends? Alone.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.) I used to go into my world at night before I fell asleep, sometimes I still do, but mostly I just draw my world/creatures.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.) Nope

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How? Yes, it has played a huge role in my creative life

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them? No, i didnt know they were an actual thing before seeing this!

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms? Nope
:^)
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Jade07 »

i do i don't have a name for it but once in a dream i saw people from a videogame me and my sister play one was dancing and trying to get the other to do the same it was weird because a few days ago i couldn't stop a dancing girl form popping into my head whenever i closed my eyes i imaged a lily pad under her once and i used to have dream about a big black talking cat witch i know think is my spirit animal i think that the imaginary world i meet her in was the one where those people were dancing so i should probable call it dancecattopia i don't know
please help them hatch or grow
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by ElementalNovel »

Hi, QueenofRabbits and aprilflowers! Thanks for stopping in and contributing! It's so exciting to meet more people who have paracosms. :wave: Sorry I didn't reply to your posts sooner; life has been wild lately.

@QueenofRabbits, your reply was especially interesting. If you happen to stop back in here, let's discuss! My paracosm focused a lot on government/war and supernatural type themes as well.

And @aprilflowers, you're the first person I've spoken to where their paracosm was primarily non-human. That's really neat! Was there any reason you did this, or was it just sort of something that happened?

On a side note, some things I've found during research that might interest everyone:

-If you're looking to get into more paracosm research yourself, the Bronte siblings are a good place to start. Some links have been added to the first post.

-After talking to so many people, here and otherwise, I've been finding that government/war themes are remarkably prevalent among young girls who practice worldplay. That's pretty intriguing and I have my theories as to why, but I'm definitely interested in discussing that particular aspect with other people if anyone's interested.
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It is always attacked and never destroyed— because "Thou mayest."
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by YunoGasai »

I'll answer eventually, but I REALLY hope you reword Question 10, which I strongly urge you to do. I feel like calling it a 'delusion' is rather like shaming people who believe in their paracosmos. Your reality is what you make it, and it is no less real for some people not being in it as opposed to the other reality often referred to as 'real life'. In the immortal words of Adam Savage from Mythbusters, "I reject your reality, and substitute my own." And yes, I am beyond the 'age of adulthood' or the age society (sort of) treats you like an adult, i.e. 21.
Last edited by YunoGasai on February 22nd, 2017, 5:04:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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