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.)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?
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.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. . .
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...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.
But, yes, I was primarily aiming at Simon.
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)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.
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.
Nice to be loved. ;)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
Nate