With the language warning at the top I thought this chapter would be much more profane. In an example of real world politics meeting fiction I feel the language warning may be partly inspired by the new UK rules on content which saw an earlier chapter of this serial blacked out for a bit...
I live in Ireland and have been to Australia. "Cunt," to my experience is basically, "How ya doin?"
Fuck.
And just to outdo this goddamn chapter, "nice to see that cowardly cunt Maxwell go down like a bitch. Asshole probably shit his pants."
I'll admit, as signposted by last week's comment," I thought "Loose Threads" would be an "anthology," where we'd visit several characters to get a glimpse of their post-revolution lives (Hence the joke about catching up with Jiraa this week). I didn't think we'd necessarily see Bakker and Holland nab Maxwell. That's nice, but I also would have been fine if that thread had been left, well, loose, and the reader just left to imagine them off as hunters, knowing that was the plan.
But I'll take the wish fulfillment of Maxwell being taken in on-screen.
While Bakker may have his modesty, I think Holland has fair assessment, here. We never spent much time with Bakker, but, yeah, without him working off-screen the SDC heroes would have been caught wort their pants down.
Yes, I caught the Transformers reference. I'm sure Holland thought that one prison guard was "made of sterner stuff."
I knew at least one person would get that reference. ;)
There’s also a Batman 1989 reference snuck in there.
As for ‘Loose Threads’ and the potential of an anthology of catch-ups for multiple characters: that would have been cool, but it could also have ended up feeling like multiple endings and made everything feel rather drawn-out. Plus, there are so many characters that it’d be difficult to pick who to focus on — whatever choices I made would leave some out, which would probably disappoint some readers.
As such, I think focusing exclusively on two characters that have been out of the story for a long while was the more interesting route. And Bakker was always the one obsessed with loose ends, unanswered questions etc. Holland’s point about how Bakker’s curiosity saved the day, when you look at it long-term, is vital: you can easily imagine that Bakker has spent the last half decade looking at it the other way around, with his interventions causing disaster for everyone involved.
You have three universes, so you're allowed at least three endings. Up to six. After that you risk indulgence.
Especially since you do short chapters.
The problem with Return of the King's multiple endings, all with tons of slow motion, and (this is key), all bracketed with fades to black. Fades to black mean "done." Crossfades - seriously - would have fixed 25% of the ridicule since crossfades signify "meanwhile." Dropping the slow motion would have fixed most of the rest of the problems.
Babylon 5's multiple endings come from the formula demands of the show requiring ACTION, so we have to have an episode about G'Kar and Lyta leaving AND an assassination, or Sheridan and Delenn leaving AND an inexplicable White Star equipment failure, so it drags. (Also Garibaldi gets one of the worst on-the-nose lines JMS wrote... The "Gosh, he's going here, she's going there, They're going far, and I'm off yonder, and, gosh-darnit, this place [Babylon 5] just won't be the same anymore!" thing. No shit. Didn't need that lampshade, Joe...)
I haven't caught up to the series finale of Stranger Things yet, but s1-4 all had 1/2 hour epilogs after the climaxes.
Anyways, yeah, you could easily string out six "endings" across three "chapters" with six different views. Can you cover everyone? Of course not. Can you cover a lot? Yeah. And, with your short chapters, you wouldn't be interminable.
But you know how you've structured. And what you have planned. And it's better to leave us wanting more than overstaying your welcome.
Not a bad analogy. Or perhaps insert any politician who instantly changes his stripes to suit whichever political mood he thinks will bring him the most power.
With the language warning at the top I thought this chapter would be much more profane. In an example of real world politics meeting fiction I feel the language warning may be partly inspired by the new UK rules on content which saw an earlier chapter of this serial blacked out for a bit...
I live in Ireland and have been to Australia. "Cunt," to my experience is basically, "How ya doin?"
Fuck.
And just to outdo this goddamn chapter, "nice to see that cowardly cunt Maxwell go down like a bitch. Asshole probably shit his pants."
I'll admit, as signposted by last week's comment," I thought "Loose Threads" would be an "anthology," where we'd visit several characters to get a glimpse of their post-revolution lives (Hence the joke about catching up with Jiraa this week). I didn't think we'd necessarily see Bakker and Holland nab Maxwell. That's nice, but I also would have been fine if that thread had been left, well, loose, and the reader just left to imagine them off as hunters, knowing that was the plan.
But I'll take the wish fulfillment of Maxwell being taken in on-screen.
While Bakker may have his modesty, I think Holland has fair assessment, here. We never spent much time with Bakker, but, yeah, without him working off-screen the SDC heroes would have been caught wort their pants down.
Yes, I caught the Transformers reference. I'm sure Holland thought that one prison guard was "made of sterner stuff."
I knew at least one person would get that reference. ;)
There’s also a Batman 1989 reference snuck in there.
As for ‘Loose Threads’ and the potential of an anthology of catch-ups for multiple characters: that would have been cool, but it could also have ended up feeling like multiple endings and made everything feel rather drawn-out. Plus, there are so many characters that it’d be difficult to pick who to focus on — whatever choices I made would leave some out, which would probably disappoint some readers.
As such, I think focusing exclusively on two characters that have been out of the story for a long while was the more interesting route. And Bakker was always the one obsessed with loose ends, unanswered questions etc. Holland’s point about how Bakker’s curiosity saved the day, when you look at it long-term, is vital: you can easily imagine that Bakker has spent the last half decade looking at it the other way around, with his interventions causing disaster for everyone involved.
You have three universes, so you're allowed at least three endings. Up to six. After that you risk indulgence.
Especially since you do short chapters.
The problem with Return of the King's multiple endings, all with tons of slow motion, and (this is key), all bracketed with fades to black. Fades to black mean "done." Crossfades - seriously - would have fixed 25% of the ridicule since crossfades signify "meanwhile." Dropping the slow motion would have fixed most of the rest of the problems.
Babylon 5's multiple endings come from the formula demands of the show requiring ACTION, so we have to have an episode about G'Kar and Lyta leaving AND an assassination, or Sheridan and Delenn leaving AND an inexplicable White Star equipment failure, so it drags. (Also Garibaldi gets one of the worst on-the-nose lines JMS wrote... The "Gosh, he's going here, she's going there, They're going far, and I'm off yonder, and, gosh-darnit, this place [Babylon 5] just won't be the same anymore!" thing. No shit. Didn't need that lampshade, Joe...)
I haven't caught up to the series finale of Stranger Things yet, but s1-4 all had 1/2 hour epilogs after the climaxes.
Anyways, yeah, you could easily string out six "endings" across three "chapters" with six different views. Can you cover everyone? Of course not. Can you cover a lot? Yeah. And, with your short chapters, you wouldn't be interminable.
But you know how you've structured. And what you have planned. And it's better to leave us wanting more than overstaying your welcome.
So: would Nigel Maxwell be like Oswald Mosley if he had ever become PM?
Not a bad analogy. Or perhaps insert any politician who instantly changes his stripes to suit whichever political mood he thinks will bring him the most power.