tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post1885787711024401188..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: I'm not leaving without that kidchris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-55009654774951758682014-04-28T16:41:21.723-04:002014-04-28T16:41:21.723-04:00For some reason I thought Alex changed gender duri...<i>For some reason I thought Alex changed gender during the story</i><br /><br />Presumably complete coincidence, but Alex changed gender in my head several times, so it was a struggle to keep a consistent one in the story. In the end I decided that I wanted Alex and Margie to be opposite genders. I think there was also a desire on my part, not quite conscious, to avoid the whole "Maternal Instinct" angle that stories of protecting children often have.<br /><br />-<br /><br /><i>But it makes me think of magic/tech that did...I'm not sure how to articulate it, but, like, it would be sort of less about causality than just maintaining a certain amount of...chaos? entropy? left turns vs right turns? ...something...in the universe. Hmmmm. (Sort of like the Improbability Drive, but on a different...axis? OMG, can't make thoughts into words, grah.)</i><br /><br />That does sound very interesting.<br /><br />-<br /><br />And lastly:<br /><br /><i>I read it!</i><br /><br />Yay!chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-31128812162194426412014-04-28T12:30:36.423-04:002014-04-28T12:30:36.423-04:00I read it! I have thoughts! (Not deep ones, thou...I read it! I have thoughts! (Not deep ones, though...For instance, I would like Perry to be some sort of alien mutant platypus.)<br /><br />It is a very good story. I'm sure it needs some kind of editing, but you should submit it somewhere eventually.<br /><br />Also it reminds me of American Gods, which is probably supposed to remind me of Omelas...<br /><br />For some reason I thought Alex changed gender during the story, but then I realized if that had happened it would be a typo because, as I understand it, your version of time travel doesn't allow for that... But it makes me think of magic/tech that did...I'm not sure how to articulate it, but, like, it would be sort of less about causality than just maintaining a certain amount of...chaos? entropy? left turns vs right turns? ...something...in the universe. Hmmmm. (Sort of like the Improbability Drive, but on a different...axis? OMG, can't make thoughts into words, grah.)Lonesparkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16278753827545905559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-8924527147724727202014-04-28T10:49:17.499-04:002014-04-28T10:49:17.499-04:00Just managed to read this (v behind on my blogs). ...Just managed to read this (v behind on my blogs). Brilliant story (and also the comment on the trope itself was much appreciated) :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-14093513429591516122014-04-11T09:59:08.604-04:002014-04-11T09:59:08.604-04:00Agreed again. Reducing people to their traumatic p...Agreed again. Reducing people to their traumatic pasts not only downplays their achievements, it's worryingly close to determinism. I don't think it's deliberate; it's a short-cut by lazy writers to explain why they have a simplistic har-har-har villain (or a simplistic rah-rah-rah hero) rather than someone a bit more interesting.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-29025813676836136122014-04-11T08:42:22.506-04:002014-04-11T08:42:22.506-04:00I'm entirely prepared to accept that some (emp...<i>I'm entirely prepared to accept that some (emphasis on some) people who've grown up being abused may normalise that as their model of human relationships and thus continue it. And some don't. Levels of abuse differ, levels of mental resilience differ, responses to damage differ.</i><br /><br />Yeah, definitely. Abuse does have an unfortunate habit of perpetuating itself where some (same emphasis on <i>some</i>) percentage of victims do end up becoming abusers themselves. It's just that people make the connection way too strong. In both directions I might add.<br /><br />"Bad person must have tragic backstory."<br />And<br />"Tragic childhood must mean future bad person."<br />are both harmful ideas when it comes to dealing with victims of abuse, trauma, or whatever else can fuck someone up. Because "can" doesn't mean "will" and even amoung those who get fucked up, not all get will fucked up in the same way.<br /><br />-<br /><br />It's interesting though that just after reading the story that inspired me to write this* I was talking to someone about how I was bothered by an impression (quite possibly incorrect) that I'd been getting from a work of popular fiction. That being that the it seemed that bad guys were all raised in abusive families which is unfortunate implications like whoa.<br /><br />-<br /><br />And the same problem exists with heroes. Batman can't be a rich person who was raised lovingly in the lap of luxury and wants to give back to those who are less fortunate than himself. He has to be, "My parents were killed and therefore I must be a hero or a villain." *Flips Coin* "Hero it is then."<br /><br />Spiderman couldn't be someone who said, "I've suddenly got these great powers that aren't really useful for most conventional jobs, but I bet they'd help with crime fighting <i>a lot</i>," he has to be, "I'm angsting because my uncle was killed off by my origin story."<br /><br />No one makes choices in these stories. They're all forced to be whatever they are because [tragic origin story here].<br /><br />In reality, whether you've got a tragic backstory or not, it's your choices that make the difference.<br /><br />-<br /><br />* Which is unfortunately incomplete and apparently abandoned. I wanted to see if the author could somehow deal with the fact that several of the main characters' very existence depended on an innocent little girl who apparently had a pretty well developed sense of good and evil being abused at a level of torture until she broke, twisted, and turned into someone who was downright evil.<br /><br />Dealing with the adult you'd just point out that she was responsible for her actions no matter how bad what happened to her was. But when time travel made it so you'd end up dealing with the <i>child</i> could you really let that happen to a child, or anyone really, even if your life depended on it?<br /><br />Unfortunately the story was abandoned before any of the good people came face to face with the child. I think it was supposed to happen the chapter after the point where the story was abandoned.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-54692498649389106212014-04-11T05:25:57.852-04:002014-04-11T05:25:57.852-04:00"Come with me if you want to live… better.&qu..."Come with me if you want to live… <i>better</i>."<br /><br />I'm entirely prepared to accept that some (emphasis on <i>some</i>) people who've grown up being abused may normalise that as their model of human relationships and thus continue it. And some don't. Levels of abuse differ, levels of mental resilience differ, responses to damage differ.<br /><br />I really despise the Hollywood trope of making one event the entire basis of someone's character. This happens a lot with science heroines (<i>Contact</i>, <i>Twister</i>, <i>Deep Blue Sea</i>): daddy died of something related to X, so I will make X my career. Because goodness knows a woman would never simply develop an interest in science on her own.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-13424595211177155322014-04-11T05:22:02.873-04:002014-04-11T05:22:02.873-04:00>>>I'm not actually a fan of the trop...>>>I'm not actually a fan of the trope that abuse leads to evil and thus evil comes from abuse.<br /><br />Yeah, not a fan either. Maybe stories that go like "he was bullied, so he became a supervillain bent on revenge!" make *some* people think: "See? Bullying is bad!", but twice as many people would be all: "See? He retroactively *deserved* to be bullied!"<br /><br />--- RedcrowAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com