I love this post. These questions are so interesting. I actually thought reading it, "Damn, I want to read her thesis." (So if you need a copy editor at any point -- or just a cheerleader -- I'd be a willing one!) :)
This would require my eventually actually doing some writing; when I do, I'll certainly take you up on that! *grins* Thanks.
Sometimes a story is so perfect I don't want to think about what alternate or supplementary versions there are. Like when I wrote the last paragraph, I thought, "What if she HAD married Florentino Ariza!" and I immediately didn't really want to think about it...It's just a question of which elements are the most important. If you touch the untouchable, then it stops being itself.
Someone upthread said something similar -- what about the perfect ones? And at first I agreed, but then I was all like... except I (if I loved it) always wonder... what happened after? What happened before? If they're real, then nothing ever ends, does it??? I never want it to, at least.
Just to use a famous example (since I'm not really into fanfic, although your discussion of it always makes me want to be), in Great Expectations, both endings are equally real to me -- there's a reason both endings work, and it's because Pip and Estella are conflicted people, and either ending is plausible. The choice of one option over another is balanced on a very narrow rim.
Great Expectations is a great (heh) example of this very thing. I think if D. read it, he'd think that the two endings made it seem like neither could have actually taken place -- and then it'd be like Pip and Estella never actually lived. But then you also have to get into the whole realm of the market... are you doing the right thing as an author if you focus group your story? (Again, if you believe stories are "real"... then you have to be true to the story's pattern; catering is bad.) I don't know how I can believe both these things -- multiple variations good, focus grouping, bad... but I do.
And I think you should call your thesis "Windows on the World" -- otherwise the terrorists will have won. :)
I think I'm actually calling it: "To Be Continued: Sequels, Series and Shared Worlds in Children's Literature and Popular Culture" but I'll keep the other one in reserve just in case ;-)
re: hanging out: Sunday I'm throwing a birthday party for one of my friends, and therefore I think Monday I'll be recovering, but maybe Wednesday? If you're around...
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This would require my eventually actually doing some writing; when I do, I'll certainly take you up on that! *grins* Thanks.
Sometimes a story is so perfect I don't want to think about what alternate or supplementary versions there are. Like when I wrote the last paragraph, I thought, "What if she HAD married Florentino Ariza!" and I immediately didn't really want to think about it...It's just a question of which elements are the most important. If you touch the untouchable, then it stops being itself.
Someone upthread said something similar -- what about the perfect ones? And at first I agreed, but then I was all like... except I (if I loved it) always wonder... what happened after? What happened before? If they're real, then nothing ever ends, does it??? I never want it to, at least.
Just to use a famous example (since I'm not really into fanfic, although your discussion of it always makes me want to be), in Great Expectations, both endings are equally real to me -- there's a reason both endings work, and it's because Pip and Estella are conflicted people, and either ending is plausible. The choice of one option over another is balanced on a very narrow rim.
Great Expectations is a great (heh) example of this very thing. I think if D. read it, he'd think that the two endings made it seem like neither could have actually taken place -- and then it'd be like Pip and Estella never actually lived. But then you also have to get into the whole realm of the market... are you doing the right thing as an author if you focus group your story? (Again, if you believe stories are "real"... then you have to be true to the story's pattern; catering is bad.) I don't know how I can believe both these things -- multiple variations good, focus grouping, bad... but I do.
And I think you should call your thesis "Windows on the World" -- otherwise the terrorists will have won. :)
I think I'm actually calling it: "To Be Continued: Sequels, Series and Shared Worlds in Children's Literature and Popular Culture" but I'll keep the other one in reserve just in case ;-)
re: hanging out: Sunday I'm throwing a birthday party for one of my friends, and therefore I think Monday I'll be recovering, but maybe Wednesday? If you're around...
*grins* And I loved your comment.