[ SECRET POST #2541 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2541 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #363.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[feotakahari]

It can be as simple as completing what the original left unfinished. ("This discusses how the situation would evolve in the short term, but what about the long term?") It can be as complex as a complete rejection of the original, with a new plotline in its place. ("This plot is nonsensical! Put the story elements together logically, and you instead get . . .) It can be a matter of reframing the story from a different angle ("It turned out that way with that kind of protagonist, but would it really be the same with this kind of protagonist?"), or of reconsidering the view from the same angle ("It only ended that way because the protagonist went out of character here. Keep him in character, and this happens instead.") Even if you're talking about the same things, if you have something new to say about them, you have something valuable to add to the discussion.

Re: In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[starphotographs]

This!

Re: In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[(Anonymous)]

this

and to add, the most original concept or take on a concept ever is not going to be much good if you suck at writing

and viceversa: the most skilled writer on earth could make the most cliched story ever take on a new life by virtue of being that damn good

worry about tuning up your writing skills first, op

by, you know, writing and, then reading tons of good writing to feedback on your writing, and so on

Re: In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[(Anonymous)]

This.

Look at Fifth Head of Cerberus (especially the eponymous first novella). In a lot of ways, you could characterize that story as "What would happen if you took Proust and you gave the main character a twin, so instead of one person's reflections on memory and identity, it's about two people? And also there were clones? And robots, and shapeshifting aliens? How would that affect the themes and the presentation of them?" And it's great.

(Did I make this post just because I wanted to talk about how awesome Fifth Head of Cerberus is? Maybe)

Re: In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[feotakahari]

Wait, you actually understood The Fifth Head of Cerberus? I got the impression the author was planting clues to all the mysteries, complete with a difficulty curve as each novella's mystery became more complex, but I wasn't able to solve the mystery of even the first novella. (I was able to figure out that in the final novella,

GIANT MASSIVE SPOILER

the guy in the prison cell is actually the half-shapeshifter boy,

END SPOILER

but I still wasn't able to determine what the ending meant.)

Re: In which I once again advocate finding something to disagree with

[(Anonymous)]

I wouldn't say that I understood all of it (and it's also been a while since I re-read the whole thing together) but I would say I understood some of it, and the Proust references are pretty plain to be seen (for instance I would say that the first sentence is a pretty clear reference - "When I was a boy my brother David and I had to go to bed early whether we were sleepy or not" against "For a long time I was accustomed to going to bed early").

I think, for a lot of it, it's less about figuring out the exact nature of events, and more to figure out the geometry of the thematic content - especially of identity, between the explorer and the half-shapeshifter boy in the final novella, and in the complicated familial relationships in the first novella. To go into more detail I'd have to go through and re-read it (which I might do anyway now that I'm thinking of it).