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Post by Dante on Jan 7, 2012 7:32:31 GMT -5
The absolute basic requirement of this project is simply to gather together a list of forty-two things which are bad or tedious, many of which would be so in a silly way. The Douglas Adamsy meaning of life stuff can be left to the frame letter, since it'd be a bit much to try and tie that in to every individual entry. I'm thinking maybe something along the lines of: Famous writer wrote that answer to ultimate question of life is 42, didn't know what the question was, regardless is clear that 42 is a crucial time of life, asked our members to write about forty-two things that give their life meaning, seems like they don't lead very happy lives, [begin storytelling].
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Post by B. on Jan 7, 2012 7:53:06 GMT -5
That sounds good.
What about: A famous writer once wrote that that the meaning of life is 42. One should never ponder the meaning of life too hard; sure enough that writer is now dead. Our members were asked to write about 42 things which gave their life meaning, however their lives seem so miserable we advise that you throw this away at once and try not to think of the meaning of life any further.
^ Just an idea, of course. Another question: Do we use British or American spellings in the stories? I am British myself, but I think, since Daniel Handler is American, that it would only be right to use the American spellings.
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Post by csc on Jan 7, 2012 8:24:23 GMT -5
I really like your introduction, Brunch! Although I'm still not sure about this increasing word count... Even more now, because tk's idea seems great, but I don't think it would be possible if we follow the increasing word count idea.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 7, 2012 8:27:27 GMT -5
Either British or American spelling, we've used both plenty in the past. That goes for grammar, too. As long as it's English, the variant doesn't matter.
I understand the increasingly-42-word stories; yes, that would be an interesting challenge. Each bit would correspond to a "bad" object, punning on its ridiculous nature, describing its obscurity, etc., until the 42nd entry, which would be 42-words long, possibly nodding toward next year's project, concludes everything.
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Post by csc on Jan 7, 2012 8:48:15 GMT -5
Idea for "bad thing": Melted Ice Cream
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Post by B. on Jan 7, 2012 8:50:58 GMT -5
Worse: lumpy melted ice cream And I'm glad you like my idea intro thingy, FD EDIT: Cold Soup is also awful, like the soup Aunt Josephine served. Would the things be related to aSoUE? Or just generally depressing?
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 7, 2012 9:10:20 GMT -5
The consensus seems to be that the objects can relate to ASOUE, but it's not a requirement. So melted ice cream, for instance, works just fine, as does uncooked soup.
This is a technical detail, but since it could affect what people write for their objects: Will the picture of the object be re-posted above each "story," or will the word of the object? That is, will entries read
[picture of telephone] 1. Hello?
or
1. Telephone Hello?
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Post by Dante on Jan 7, 2012 10:57:55 GMT -5
I would say the second, in case some of the concepts are difficult to express obviously in a picture. There could still be a picture, but provisionally it might be a good idea for each story to have a title of sorts.
At this point I think we're more or less agreed on the idea of having forty-two things. I'd like to get a certain assent from everyone involved and make sure nobody has any niggling doubts, but if we're all fine with this, we should soon be starting a formal thread to take, firstly, ideas for the forty-two things.
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 7, 2012 13:00:48 GMT -5
I have no qualms with the discussed plan to list objects and describe them with stories that ascend in quantity of words until reaching the desired number, 42.
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Post by bryan on Jan 7, 2012 13:32:53 GMT -5
Would there be any word number requirement for the title? Also, the title would NOT count toward the number of words in the story, correct?
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Post by Hermes on Jan 7, 2012 14:16:56 GMT -5
How many people do you envisage taking part? Not forty-two, I suspect. So each of us will probably have to do several stories. I'm just wondering how manageable it is.
And I am still wondering just how the Adams thing is to be tied in - none of the suggestions we've had so far quite work for me. I like Brunch's version, but as Dante pointed out earlier, Adams didn't say 42 was the meaning of life; he said it was the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything. So we really want something that links the 42 bad things to the concept of 'answer' rather than that of 'meaning' - I'm trying to think of a phrase that would do that, but having difficulty coming up with one.
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Post by Dante on Jan 7, 2012 14:56:58 GMT -5
I agree, Hermes, that the Adams connection is becoming a bit problematic; while the significance of 42 in the story has been somewhat corrupted within popular culture, I think we're duty-bound to be a bit more accurate. I think we could get away with it if we write it cleverly, but it'd be preferable to have a bit more in the way of thematic unity. Forty-two answers you would never want to hear, perhaps? Or just avoid the issue entirely and use Adams solely as a sort of introductory feature? Or perhaps, better yet, reinvent the issue as the sort of Snicket analogue to 42 - while, for this other famous author, 42 was the answer to a grand question, for us it's a question of its own, and a fearful one. Or maybe even we shift gears a little - say that each of our stories is a question, or the build-up to a question, to which the answer is 42 - but that's a little harder to write.
And yes, I did envisage some of us writing more than one. I don't think that'd be a problem, when none of them will be longer than forty-two words and most considerably shorter.
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Post by B. on Jan 7, 2012 16:24:49 GMT -5
I like Brunch's version, but as Dante pointed out earlier, Adams didn't say 42 was the meaning of life; he said it was the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything. oops. ;D Ah well, I have no issues in writing the 42 stories building up in words to the 42nd story having 42 words. As ever, I am very happy to contribute. So- are we putting a kind of "secret message" into the stories as tk suggested, or not?
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Post by Christmas Chief on Jan 7, 2012 16:31:34 GMT -5
An alternative introduction might claim that after nearly a decade of existence (as opposed to millions of years) we've computed not the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (since another author has already successfully answered it), but rather, after 42 tried attempts, the meaning of (say) language, literature, and composition overall. Then the 42 bad or tiresome or dull objects to follow would be our attempts at answering the question (none of which would have to change, really; their purpose would merely be doubled, or have different implications), with the 42nd entry being the answer (which could be something as vague and uninformative as 42, such as: "Yes").
Edit: If we do the secret message as well as the increasingly-42-word stories, the message would have to be well-planned so that the one or three word stories could logically end on the corresponding word. Although tk's suggestion was meant for stories which were all 42 words in length, so that the 42nd word of each 42-word story would form the message. So it may not be possible to do both.
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Post by csc on Jan 7, 2012 16:55:09 GMT -5
How many people do you envisage taking part? Not forty-two, I suspect. So each of us will probably have to do several stories. I'm just wondering how manageable it is. I would be more than happy to write as many stories as I am needed. I would write 10 or 15 stories in a heartbeat, for Daniel Handler. (I know that won't happen, and I want everyone that wants to write their stories to get their chance. I'm just talking hypothetically.)
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