Coming up with stories and all their background is a process that sometimes happens on its own. Those who know me know that I really like the anecdotal component behind my stories and tales.
It is not that I lead a super extreme life full of anecdotes, but always behind every story (good or bad), there is a puzzle that was assembled little by little. A labyrinth that you go through with patience, and sometimes without knowing it.
NeuroBar is no exception. Like some of my favorite stories, this book was born out of a jumble of ideas that I kept having. All of which, oddly enough, fit together perfectly.
Eric Miller
One of the fundamental elements of NeuroBar is its protagonist, Eric Miller. And yes, that may sound obvious. I mean, what protagonist is not fundamental to a story?
But while you’re there judging me ahead of time, let me explain: Eric was a character that emerged for a totally different project. He landed in NeuroBar by pure chance, as if he had always been intended for this book.
“Why not trust Eric Miller” was the title of that failed project that died before it was born. My idea was to contact all the illustrators I knew and make a joint work with all of them.
As part of a series of unitary stories, each episode was to consist of a free drawing by each artist, whose only tagline was “Eric Miller is a person who cannot be trusted”.
Then, according to each illustration, I would write a short story. That is, instead of asking the artists to draw my story, I would tell their drawing.
The project mutated little by little; coming up with stories and narratives is always like that. At one point, it was going to be a joint story with Skart, a colleague and friend who gave me the gift of my time as a content writer at Inferno.
Unfortunately, as I told you, the project died before it was born. Well, “unfortunately”, no. If it had come to light, I would never have had Miller available for inclusion in NeuroBar.
However, “Why Not to Trust Eric Miller” not only gave me the character, but he also makes an appearance in Chapter 2 of NeuroBar. It begins as follows:
No one trusted Eric Miller. Anyone who said otherwise either didn’t know him well enough or simply didn’t know who he was. He didn’t care about his infamous reputation; in fact, it served him well in keeping undesirable people away. What is to say, everyone.
Neurotransmitters
Although they are not a central part of the plot, neurotransmitters are an important element of NeuroBar’s background and fictional universe.
In fact, the book and the idea are born thanks to neurotransmitters. Let’s invoke the power of the internet to look up the definition, so we can better place ourselves in context:
A neurotransmitter is a biomolecule that enables the transmission of information from one neuron (a type of cell in the nervous system) to another neuron, a muscle cell or a gland, via the synapse that separates them.
There are many types of neurotransmitters, such as endorphin, serotonin and adrenaline. We are not going to talk about this topic itself, because we could go on for pages and pages.
What matters is that when I learned about the existence of these nice biomolecules, I was fascinated. That everything we feel is a chemical reaction in our body was magical to me. From happiness to pain and much more.
Addictions, pleasures and dislikes have everything to do with neurotransmitters. And in my mind the idea formed: what if in the future they invent drinks that produce exactly the effect we desire?
Can you imagine walking into a bar and asking for a glass of happiness?
“Hi, yes, three orgasms to go, please. Oh, and a bottle of concentration power. Thank you.”
And so NeuroBar was born. I didn’t have a story, but I kept it in my drawer of ideas that I thought were great for coming up with future stories.
Technological Singularity
This is where the last piece of the puzzle comes in. Another central aspect of NeuroBar is its technological uniqueness.
In a nutshell, this is about the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. And don’t think this is too far away. It is estimated that the process will begin in 2029.
To tell you the truth, when I learned what the Technological Singularity was, I felt a mixture of awe, fear, fascination and excitement.
Actually, I’m not deep enough into the subject to know or predict what will happen once this moment arrives, but my imagination did fly.
In the world of NeuroBar, the Singularity means nothing good for the future of Earth and humanity. No, that’s not a spoiler. I’m just telling you part of the backstory.
Black Tale
And here we come to the final spice of this recipe. You know that I like detective stories and tales of crime of passion.
A couple of years ago now (I can’t believe it’s been two years at the time of writing this), I became interested in entering a literary competition whose theme was the Noir Short Story.
I was interested in entering a literary competition whose theme was the Noir Short Story.
I had little time to score, so I wrote the first version of NeuroBar in a little over a month. It wasn’t perfect, but I loved it.
Not only because all the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together on their own in the planning stage, but because I also indulged myself in experimenting with a science fiction universe.
But without straying from the noir tale: it had to be a raw story, with moral ambiguity and elements of critical realism.
I’m not saying it’s perfect, but in my mind, everything fit perfectly, and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity.
And now…
What’s next in this process of coming up with stories?
I clearly didn’t win the contest. It doesn’t bother me, the book was very green, it lacked maturity.
That’s what my test readers told me. Luckily, there were some very nice people who gave me their time to read the book and give me feedback.
After that, a cascade of things happened that led me to a roulette of emotional states. Among others, the master’s degree in videogame design, a new job, my move to Buenos Aires (with all that implies). And of course, the Pandemic.
Anyone would think that the Pandemic and the quarantine would have been a perfect excuse to write, perfect for coming up with stories, tales and much more… but no. At least in my case.
Anyway, I recently set out to organize my notes and planning around NeuroBar, devising a sequel as well. And the prequel too! I forgot to mention it, but the fictional universe of NeuroBar served me to do a good part of all my master’s work.
The good thing is that, even though it’s been two years since I wrote it, I never stopped working on the plot. The same thing that happens to me with Herald of the Ancestors: there is no book but there is a lot of work behind it.
And now with this site I can continue to shape the whole background. To both stories!