Alter ego

Syd is talking with a friend about a book he just published and finds that he has problems identifying his role in the book.

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Graham: In this book you just wrote, how much of the main character is you?

Syd: Nothing, not a jot. The real me is not the main character.

Graham: But you and he both come from the same country, you’re same age, you have the same values…

Syd: So…?

Graham: Well, I just wondered if it might not be a teeny bit autobiographical?

Syd: Absolutely not. No way, Not me at all.

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Voiceover

Where does it start? The creation of fictional characters in a novel. In a comic strip. Inside oneself? Observing others? Drawn out of nowhere?

Syd might be a construction project manager by day but by night, at the computer, he creates an animated version of himself, commenting on news stories. An imaginary person reporting on real events.

Can Syd say who he really is? Do any of us know who we really are? If you constructed an alter ego, what he or she think? What would they say? Would they end up denying that the real you existed?

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