Tales of the Parodyverse >> View Post
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Post By
killer shrike

In Reply To
HH

Subj: Re: I'm rethinking that fast.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 at 07:50:33 am EDT (Viewed 5 times)
Reply Subj: I'm rethinking that fast.
Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 at 03:29:56 am EDT (Viewed 2 times)



    Quote:

      Quote:
      I agree with Jay though in re Mumph and Hodgekiss. In my opinion having the old Englishman show up and, well, show up the General pretty much makes the guy look like a putz and the rest of the Legion weak for putting up with him for so long. Still its nice to have the old duffer back and I look forward to seeing who's next.



    Quote:
    I know that some readers are sensitive to storylines where one character seems to leap in and solve problems that others have struggled with. People's concerns about Mumph and an "easy win" here are have set off alarm bells for me that maybe its not a good idea to have him around again because this is the kind of situation he tends to end up resolving.


As long as we see there can be drawbacks to Mumph's style of "liasing", I don't really think this is a problem. Actually, the idea of there being some contrast between how Vizh runs the team and how Mumph would, maybe leading to some friction, would be interesting.

But yeah, if Mumph is going to swoop in and settle any dispute in his usual brusque, effecient style he might as well be leader (which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing). Its just kind of pointless from a storyline standpoint to have the more qualified guy be the liaison officer while the less competent but the more empathetic (that's a word, right?) guy be in charge if there isn't meant to be some kind of rationale for it.


    Quote:
    My thinking was to illustrate how Vizh handles LL leadership differently from others. Hatman acted like a sports team captain. Finny played it like a square-jawed crimefighter. Mumph treated it like a gentlemen's club or officer's mess. Vizh is all about family and friends so he'd be far more likely to dig into his address book and call in the most useful contact to resolve things.


I got that. But at some point there should be a time when Vizh can't just delegate authoirty. A leader shouldn't pawn off the hard jobs to other people. We need to see why Vizh was put in charge over Mumph or (if he comes back) Hatty other than "well, he's got a big rolodex". At least in my opinion.



    Quote:
    The intention was to resolve the Hodgekiss/conspiracy plotline without having a massive multi-part was against shadow government, that offered some payback satisfaction for readers, and that left things open for a return engagment later after we've had a chance to have other kinds of stories. This particular issue is also a series of short stories introducing or reintroducing the new team so it seemed economical to use Mumph to cap the Hodgekiss plot.


Again, understood. The evil government conspiracy thing had run its course.


    Quote:
    I was hoping the story would come across as Vizh being able to handle something that his predecessors struggled with by virtue of his different skillset and MO, to show that he had something to bring to the party as leader. I was hoping to remind readers of Mumphrey's and Asil's attitudes and characters in a fun way. I was hoping to give some kudos to Garrick and resolve his recent story arc.


Who would have struggled with Hodgekiss other than CSFB! though? The last two leaders would have handed the guy his lunch, especially Mumph, just like he did here.


    Quote:
    However, I'm always very cautious with my "primary" characters about giving them too much spotlight at the cost of others. That was why I shifted Mumph out of the LL before and at one point was intending to kill him off at the end of the Parody War. I think I need to reflect further on how wise it is to have him back there in the cast.


I have no problem with your characters being in the limelight. You're the one writng the story, and its not like your characters are dogs who add nothing to the narrative.




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