Some Thoughts On Writing, The Aether Awards, And Beyond (Introduction)
Every night for the past 10 months, I’ve had a ritual. I’d stay up late either chatting folks up on Discord, reading, streaming television, or just lie awake well past whatever time I had planned to turn in that evening. Having no physical obligation to leave my home on account of COVID, this led me to form several odd new habits as a result of this extended flexibility. Aside from leading to some endless nights and multiple skipped breakfasts, yet somehow still alert enough to prepare for the next day’s ordeal with a little help from some liquid fury, it also led to moments of eureka which in turn provided me the opportunity to ponder events in my life, and on occasion, lead me to new writing ideas.
When I first got my start here on TAY some four years ago around 2016, I had no idea what I was searching for at the time. Maybe I just wanted someone to talk to other than myself or wanted to prove I existed. Perhaps it was boredom from living a routine lifestyle or wanting to break free from whatever personal obligations I had at the time for a few moments a day. Or it simply was a whim from someone who had no direction at that specific crossroad in my life. Over the last four years, I came to meet and get acquainted with several amazing folks on both TAY and eventually AniTAY as I was brought on, perhaps for my unusual sense of dark humor and combination of personality and wit. I was privileged and got to witness multiple events, experiencing several emotions I had once long forsaken. Happiness, sorrow, passion, anger, love, hate, empathy, and most of all, meaning and understanding.
And then it all came crashing down one cold November morning when G/O Media decided to part ways with Kinja communities, reneging on their original promise to give us the full month to say goodbye.
Four years ago, I might have given you a different reason for why I started writing in the first place. I’ve been doing it for as long as I could first hold a pencil in my right hand — incorrectly, I might I add! Though I never mastered the “proper” method of holding one’s writing tool and never got around to doing anything remotely useful out in the real world beyond the bare minimum and whatever desk job I held at the time, I was a young man with many passions and dreams: a writer, a lawyer, a detective, a game designer, a rock star, an artist, and so on. As you could imagine for one with a standard level of education, none of those ever panned out as I settled for financial stability in the Tech Industry. But for every wild ambition or thought that dawned on me came across two unifying themes: I wanted to help people or provide some useful function to society and I wanted to be a storyteller.
In a roundabout way, you could say I’ve technically succeeded given my day job involves fixing other people’s technical problems and I still do a fair amount of writing (document, document, document!) on the clock, but I wanted more. As I started writing under the persona of “Dark Aether” my ambition grew to match my unending appetite for providing news, stories, opinions, criticism, and receive them in reciprocal fashion. Suddenly it became less about me and more of what can I do that will generate communication, thought, and understanding. What can I do to push the conversation forward?
Naturally, my tools of the trade grew to match this new challenge. I did music playlists and wrote reviews. I traded blows in equal parts criticism and trash talk. I wrote about the stuff that fueled my passions and stroked the flames of my ire. And I did it all through several restless nights, lying awake for the next big idea to strike. Thanks to the hard work of several individuals and admins across TAY and AniTAY, the sites live once more on new platforms. And with our newfound freedom and stability comes a new dilemma without the safety of a built-in audience through Kotaku. How do we proceed without any guarantees anyone will read our stuff?
Several years ago, I took some time off to go home and reconnect with my roots. While I was visiting, one of my oldest friends invited me to hit the town.
One of our stops involved the Museum of Death.
It was both an enlightening and shocking experience that opened my eyes and made me realize that life is too short to deal in what ifs. It doesn’t matter if people agree or disagree with you, whether they respect you as a writer or a human being, whose feelings are hurt in the process — theirs or your own — or even if they fucking hate your guts and won’t give you the time of day, much less actually read or hear what you have to say.
I think a lot about home — both the one I left behind and the one I now find myself cultivating today. My closest childhood friend played a big part in my life growing up. Sort of the brother I never had and the mentor I never thought I needed, I learned many life lessons and appreciation for the finer things in life. Art, culture, philosophy, success, failure, people, family, and brotherhood — all through the backdrop of a sunny side boulevard and a fair amount of death metal. Though we may not be as close as we once were given our physical distance, familial obligations, and settling into our respective locales along with our fading youth, I still look back fondly on those years. I can only imagine the look on his face as to what trouble I’ve been getting myself up to or what the devil possessed me to write this very article!
Why do I write?
For sport. For passion. For truth. For real world conversations for people who want to take a seat at the table or those passing by wanting to hear a funny or entertaining story with their beverage of choice. I’ve been called many things and have inherited many titles, but if there is one thing I can guarantee whenever you sit down and read any of my articles, it’s that I will never be disingenuous. I won’t patronize my audience or waste your time with an opinion that’s not 100% genuine or personal. Sure, I can get ahead of myself, write WAY too much, overanalyze, swear like a sailor, go on the offensive, call out bullshit, and tell it like it is. And if that turns people away, that’s fine. I wish you the best of luck because the world certainly won’t care for us either way.
Because words and ideas go beyond you or me. They carry meaning. They carry power. They are infinite and are not swayed or influenced by public opinion the moment they are spoken or written down. They simply exist.
Now, if that sounds right up your alley — if the idea of an uncut, unfiltered, metal AF writer giving you only the finest of what I can produce from this wooden desk as I type away vigorously at this very moment is your picturesque vision of a damn good time — then I invite you to stay a while and listen. Because I’d rather be told what I’m doing is shit and argue why my opinion sucks than to hear “good job” with no further context or comment. Want to know the difference?
The guy calling me shit actually read and understood the article. They may not agree, but they listened. Because the biggest insult you can tell a writer is not that they did a bad job — it’s that you didn’t understand or take anything away after the fact.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be showcasing my top 10 games and anime of the year across TAY2 and AniTAY Official (Medium). And since we’re on new platforms, I’m introducing the first ever Aether Awards — a direct continuation of those end of year lists I’ve been doing the last few years with a fresh coat of paint! In all seriousness, I had been planning this before Kinja went down after looking back at last year’s lists and realizing they could have used some additional fine tuning. So while the format is mostly unchanged, my goal is to keep both lists at the same level of quality in what I’m hoping will be an ongoing and dynamic platform, which will be evaluated yearly as needed.
Before I get into what’s different, let’s start with how it works. Here are the official guidelines for how I select the nominees for The Aether Awards:
Game of Year Nominee Qualifications:
- Released between January and the beginning of December (within the first two weeks) of the qualifying year
- Must have been played for a reasonable extent of time, ideally to completion or within an acceptable area of margin
- Individual games outside the norm (i.e. odd release schedule, unusually long, etc.) will be evaluated on a case by case basis or qualify for next year
Anime of Year Nominee Qualifications:
- Did not have to premiere on the year of nomination, but must have completed its run by the end of the qualifying year or end at a “logical” or satisfying break point
- Shows continuing into next year or are split up into multiple cours are ineligible unless they meet the criteria laid out in the rule above
- Movies, OVAs, and specials will be considered on a case by case basis
As I don’t start writing these until closer to the end of the month (traditionally, these lists have been posted the last week of December or first week of January), the full lists along with the overall winner of the year is a well-guarded secret. That gives me ample amount of time to rank these accordingly and evaluate each nominee individually. Unlike most outlets, I don’t do review scores; non-negotiable. It’s outdated, inflexible, and doesn’t allow one to weigh in all factors. Plus, it’s too predictable because you already know what to expect the moment you call a game or a show a “10/10.”
And let’s be honest, most outlets that still do this primarily stick to what they know — the mainstream, the top 1%, the commercial fast food and tourist attractions that they review out of obligation rather than passion. I am certainly not perfect, but I’m out here trying anyways, and I’m continuously leveling the playing field by taking the road less traveled. I’m a man that believes it takes more than cheap descriptors like “makes you feel like [redacted]” and quoting aggregate number scores to give any manner of criticism, much less a measure of quality, but I digress!
Aside from the name, the biggest change will be how I announce the nominees, as I’m sure that’s what you’re most interested in. With the advent of social media, I’ll be announcing 4 of the 10 nominees for each list, unranked, through my official Twitter @TheGrimAether. Here is the schedule:
- Game of the Year Nominee Reveals: Tuesday 12/8 to Friday, 12/11
- Anime of Year Nominee Reveals: Tuesday 12/15 to Friday, 12/18
The Aether Awards of 2020 will officially take place either on the week of 12/28/20 or 1/4/21. Details to follow.
Excited as I am to get started, all that’s left is to talk about what comes after. Kinja may be gone and with our readership severely depleted, we literally are starting from zero. As I lay awake last evening at 2 in the morning thinking about this very article, I thought about the future and what’s next for us. Though our circumstances have changed, my ideals have not. For now, I’ll keep writing whenever the mood strikes me, pending new stories to tell. In the words of Travis Touchdown of No More Heroes fame:
I wanna be number one. How’s that? Short and simple enough for you? It’s gonna be a long, hard road. But who knows? Could kick ass… Could be dangerous. Could totally suck. Whaddaya say, bro? Join me. Let’s see how far we can take this.
Let the bloodshed begin!
Dark Aether is a writer/contributor for TAY and AniTAY. You can check his previous writings at TAY2, Medium, or follow him on Twitter @TheGrimAether. Not Dead Yet.
Originally published at https://www.tay2.org on December 7, 2020.
