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 together without a single false note. Again, the new world is real if it is shaped in a perfect form.

We always recognize a false note when it is played; we always notice when a painter makes a wrong stroke; in general, we feel it when an author breaks the rules of the world he has created. That is, we can always feel it when an aesthetic form is broken, when its perfection is undermined. I remember a very compelling example—The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It happened when, I think, Lewis started to worry that his message of Christian love was not clear, so he turned to direct preaching. In my view, he destroyed the beautiful world he created; he effectively broke away from its aesthetic form for the sake of religion and morality. What should Lewis have done to keep Narnia alive? He should have followed her rules. He should not have preached directly but instead kept Narnia’s form unspoiled.

This may seem contrary to the idea that authors’ feelings dictate form, but it is not. That form must represent the author’s feeling. It follows then that the virtual world should be free to dictate its own rules. The more talented an author, the better he is able to follow the rules of the world of his creation. We can even put it this way: the more talented an author is, the more independently his creation acts. If we agree that an imagined world is, in a sense, a living one, then we see it as independent—independently acting and independently developing. In short, the main rule for a creator is paradoxical: be free to follow your creation!

Creating as Dialogue All right, a talented author allows his creation to live according to its own laws. Now, let us recall that a piece of art is a message. Thus, the talent of a creator consists in allowing his creation to speak for itself. This illustrates and highlights another side of the real logic and psychology of the creative process.

The author relates a message when creating, and this means the author is talking to somebody while creating. From the outside, it might seem like the author is talking to himself. But what is happening on the inside? That is the same thing that happens to all of us while