Just a quick thought...

[MikeT]

Heh, I wondered the other day..

If Lemony Snicket is a character in the books themselves, which we know he is, and he's documenting the lives of the Baudelaires.

He had released TBB, TRR etc. whilst he was writing TSS and what not...

You'd think at least one of the Baudelaires had seen the books in a bookshop.

Heh.

[Dante]

This reminds me strongly of the issues of the chronology of the series, discussed here (concerning general chronological inconsistencies and Quigley's story) and here (concerning Mrs. Bass's bank robbery and TheNamelessNovel.com.

Anyway, this is very much not the place to discuss general chronological inconsistencies, as the two threads linked above are fine for doing that. However, if you want to discuss issues directly relating to when exactly Snicket is writing the books, and especially and preferably what the Baudelaires would think about this, how they'd react upon meeting him or finding a copy of TBB, etc., then you can discuss that here (unless SnicketFires disagrees).

Kit had the children at Prufrock Prep. read TRR when she taught there, but we don't know when that happened. I personally think it was prior to B12, although others disagree. I guess B12 would probably sort out that issue, and if it does, then we'd probably be able to finally decided whether the books are being written years afterwards, not long afterwards, or a combination of the two. It also depends on when The Daily Punctilio reported that Lemony was dead, as that also mentions that he wrote A Series of Unfortunate Events.

If the Baudelaires ever meet Lemony and find out about the books he's writing, I wonder what they'd think of it. And it's also rather weird to think of him showing up and writing in first person ("I looked at the Baudelaires' sad faces and blah blah blah, but alas, I could not speak to them..."). Or would he write it in third-person if he were to actually show up, as with the man who was presumably Lemony in the Snicket File photograph? This is something else that we may find out in B12.

[Antenora]

I suspect that Snicket is writing one edition of the books that's released very soon after the events, and which might be released to VFD libraries, and edited editions(with information from years later) are published later.

If the Baudelaires came across one of Snicket's books in a library, perhaps at the Hotel, they'd probably be very surprized. I wonder if Snicket has changed any character's names, which would add some confusion along the lines of "Violet saw that her name had been changed to Violet from what it really was, which was actually not Violet, to protect the innocent".

ffwf said:

And it's also rather weird to think of him showing up and writing in first person ("I looked at the Baudelaires' sad faces and blah blah blah, but alas, I could not speak to them..."). Or would he write it in third-person if he were to actually show up, as with the man who was presumably Lemony in the Snicket File photograph? This is something else that we may find out in B12.

Either of those would be an interesting read, but I think Snicket will do the former, since it would be weird if he suddenly changed his viewpoint. Here we encounter the issue of the two personalities, Character-Snicket and Author-Snicket; which one is really telling the story? Could the latter talk about the former in third person without the time-space wossname collapsing? Am I making any sense?

[champ103]

I think he'll decribe it from the Baudelaire's points of veiws like so:

The Baudelaires looked up at the man, who seemed somewhat familiar, as if they had seen him before, but hidden, or in disguise.
'Who are you?' Klaus asked, adjusting his glasses nervously. The man gave them a sombre look.
'My name is Lemony Snicket,' he explained.

[Brian]

That's exactly how I'd imagine him writing it, Dupin.

Anyway, about the Baudelaires coming across their secret little biographies in a bookshop - it just wouldn't make sense for that to happen in the series. Firstly, when do they have time to enter a public library or bookstore, and, secondly, why would Handler write that in? Remember, the series isn't perfectly realistic.

[Antenora]

There could very well be a bookstore at the Hotel, which contains a restaurant. And since the hotel's a VFD sanctuary, it probably has a library(if only a secret VFD one) someplace. In TEE, a bookstore was briefly mentioned, but Handler didn't say what Klaus found there, and it might have been too early for the chronicles of the Baudelaires to appear in stores.

[Sugary Snicket]

I think that Handler should arrange a Lemony/Baudelaire meet-up, just because it'd be awesome to see happen.

I think he'll decribe it from the Baudelaire's points of veiws like so:

The Baudelaires looked up at the man, who seemed somewhat familiar, as if they had seen him before, but hidden, or in disguise.
'Who are you?' Klaus asked, adjusting his glasses nervously. The man gave them a sombre look.
'My name is Lemony Snicket,' he explained.

That's how I imagine it would be, too.

[SnicketFires]

dupin said:

I think he'll decribe it from the Baudelaire's points of veiws like so:

The Baudelaires looked up at the man, who seemed somewhat familiar, as if they had seen him before, but hidden, or in disguise.
'Who are you?' Klaus asked, adjusting his glasses nervously. The man gave them a sombre look.
'My name is Lemony Snicket,' he explained.

I agree; I think he'd write it like that.

The Baudelaires haven't really been anywhere where they sold books (unless my memory fails me and Jerome did take them to a bookstore) excluding their guardian's libraries (although there could have been ASOUE books at Prufrock). I need to read these books again. Anyway, I don't think that the Baudelaires will physically encounter the ASOUE books, but I wouldn't put it past Snicket to say that they were in the same vincinity (aka, the Baudelaires go to a bookshop where they are sold, but don't see them.) Do I make any sense?

[Antenora]

Jerome took them to a bookstore at one point, but it didn't say anything more than that. Snicket could say something like "The Baudelaires didn't know this, but the books that chronicled their miserable lives were on sale in a remote corner of the shop. They could have read about their past miseries, but they were completely focused on their search for...".

[Hooky]

....for what? Hopefully, that will be revealed in Book the Twelfth.

It would be really funny if that happened, Antenora. Of course, it would be even funnier if they got to read the books.

[Dante]

I agree - he probably would write any meeting between himself and the Baudelaires in the third person, from the Baudelaires' point of view (I think that's called third-person limited, with the exception of the times when Lemony butts in in first-person).

And it probably would be rather silly if they came across their own story, yes. If they do come across such a thing, it would probably just be Lemony's most recent notes, rather than a full volume.

[Antenora]

Yes, the point of view used for the Baudelaires is third-person limited(although that viewpoint applies to three characters rather than just one).

Lemony's notes on the Baudelaires would be in a VFD library, most likely. I'm under the impression that he gives copies of his notes, as opposed to his fully-edited books, to such libraries.

[LargeManFeOrMale]

"'Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read 'Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read'''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read''''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read. . ."

Or something like that

[Brian]

largemanfeormale said:

"'Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read 'Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read'''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read''''Klaus looked at a peculiar book called the Terrible Times and read. . ."

Or something like that

Haha, it would be like that scene in Spaceballs when Rick Moranis is watching the movie to find out where to search! Then Klaus would flip some pages in the book and see where they would eventually find the sugar bowl, so the Bauds would know where to head.

[Juan Roberto Montoya De Toledo]

brian said:

Haha, it would be like that scene in Spaceballs when Rick Moranis is watching the movie to find out where to search!

And then they see themselves on the screen. Oh, that was funny.