Re: Nightwatch: Adam by Iain Muir

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kailhofer
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Re: Nightwatch: Adam by Iain Muir

Post by kailhofer »

To Nate et. al.,

Don't worry about where Nightwatch is going. . .these last stories have served to fill in some of the true blanks that no other format could easily address. I mean. . .with the exception Dan's monstrously massive 'Fly by Wire'. . .who else could fill in so much character detail and still move the plot along?
Um... which blanks would those be? No offense meant, especially not against Kate or Iain. I'm just asking so I'm sure I understand. (My mind is a bit fuzzy this evening.)
Don't forget what an opus FBW really was! It was almost novel length and it moved the entire Nightwatch Universe ahead by a factor of almost a decade.

And yet the only character who really progressed through the whole thing was Tom Weldon. And he got to go into space. . .
I told him he was nuts before he even started. I don't know how the collaboration is this season, but Dan pretty much wrote it on an html page that we all had a link to, so I watched it develop almost daily (and critiqued it often). Sometime if you ask Dan nicely, he may show you the link to the page that has all the brainstorming on it. That will really show some of the incredible effort he put into it.
Now I admit that 'Tinsel Rime' defined the main character more than anyone short of Jeff (who originally defined him) ever did. . .but once again you too, only managed to significantly advance only one character while depending upon us all to remember how the other folks like Weldon and Stephanie and Callow and Mankiller etc., fit in to all of this.
Actually, I think I gave more insights into Callow than anyone else previous, but that's just my opinion. Plus Paula Mankiller was just a Cherokee name until I wrote her scene in the library. (Jaimie wrote her into "Sin Watcher" after I was done, but his story appeared first.) I'd like to think I added a bit of mythos to Stephanie's life, with her mother, too...

But, yes, I was primarily aiming at Simon.
What I'm trying to say is that if you have a little ( okay. . . considering the timelines. . .a lot) of patience. . .this whole grand wonderful experiment will someday bear the fruit that Jeff. . .and maybe a few others. . .can see.

But it will take some time and effort on the parts of many, many folks. I'm proud to be one of them and I can't help but feel that you are, too.

And though your contribution was immense. . .there have been those who have given more (Dan & Jeff, to name two). And all of our efforts will move the story line along at either a massive - like Dan's - or a small-but-significant pace.
Heavens, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to make it a contest. That was never my intent in any of my comments on anyone's story. (Ok, maybe Robert's... :P)

I love Nightwatch. That I love it so is probably why I comment so much on these stories. Heck, I was the first person to independently pitch a story idea to Jeff. To write it, I internalized a bunch of its universe, and my memory tends to be pretty good. That also helps me comment easily.
Like 'Adam.'

Maybe it didn't shatter our preconceptions. And maybe it didn't introduce complexities that will boggle the minds of the authors to follow. But it sure as hell made me think about how an organization like Nightwatch must look like to the rest of us. And as a goal for a story. . .it worked. What more can we demand?

I love you all,

Bill
Nice to be loved. ;)

Nate
Last edited by kailhofer on September 23, 2006, 11:22:40 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nightwatch: Adam by Iain Muir

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

To Nate et. al.,

Don't worry about where Nightwatch is going. . .these last stories have served to fill in some of the true blanks that no other format could easily address. I mean. . .with the exception Dan's monstrously massive 'Fly by Wire'. . .who else could fill in so much character detail and still move the plot along?
Um... which blanks would those be? No offense meant, especially not against Kate or Iain. I'm just asking so I'm sure I understand. (My mind is a bit fuzzy this evening.)
All the Nightwatch stories together only cover a handful of days in the lives of the principal characters (in any detail, that is). Even the allusions made to past incidents only hint at some major events that helped to shape Simon, Tom, Stephanie, and yes, Callow; there are person-years' worth of incidents large and small that have contributed to their current attitudes, strengths, and foibles that have never even been mentioned in passing. Hence there must be 'blanks' that future stories can fill, either in standalone 'Tales of Character X When He/She Was But a Sweet Young Thing' stories, or in flashback sequences in 'current' stories.

(Why is Tom claustrophobic? Whose anti-personnel mine(s) gave Simon some of his more memorable scars? Where and how did Stephanie's self-defense / small arms tutor train her to be the ass-kicker she is now? Was Callow always such a pr*ck? And so on ...)

Robert M.
Last edited by Robert_Moriyama on September 24, 2006, 02:21:18 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nightwatch: Adam by Iain Muir

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

(Unlike Gaul, my brain is divided into *five* parts, each being able to imitate the functionality of a complete person - which goes a long way towards explaining why some of my stories have so much going on within them. They're written by comittee... And we all know what comittees are like, don't we?)

:o
Well, the old joke goes that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. What they don't mention is that a camel is much better adapted to life in a sandy desert than a horse -- less flat-out speed, but better endurance, better utilization of moisture (I think), better foot structure for running on unstable ground. Oh, and it's ill-tempered (tending to spit and bite) and funny-looking.

The question then becomes, is Nightwatch a turf racetrack, or a Sahara-type desert with towering dunes that limit visibility and can shift quickly, burying -- and unburying -- things every time you turn around?

(Hint: If it's a turf racetrack, it's the twistiest one ever designed.)

Robert M.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

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Re: Nightwatch: Adam by Iain Muir

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

So I'm guessing you wouldn't gut your taun-taun after it died of exposure and use its warm, slimy innards as a makeshift shelter. Or eat your horses when lost and starving in a forest of mixed metaphors. Or stretch a joke to its breaking point and beyoooooo-- ow!

:-?

Robert M.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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