Tales of the Parodyverse >> View Post
Post By
HH
In Reply To
Visionary

Subj: I admit, this one made me work a bit.
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 09:02:50 pm EDT
Reply Subj: Wow. That was a pretty big deal.
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 08:05:12 pm EDT


> Just a stunningly outstanding conclusion here... Not just from sheer length (which is impressive in and of itself) and breadth of cast (which was pretty close to insane), but it total entertainment value. I sat here and read the whole thing in one sitting and almost didn't notice the extreme length of it at all. That's quite an accomplishment! Hell, I could go for another chapter of the same length right now...

I was lucky that the family visited Sally's mother for two nights this week, which left me some time to write. The majority of this came out in two long late-night sessions.

> Er, but if you need a little time to recover, I suppose I can wait.

There's some non-Parodyverse stuff that I'm keen to return to, although when its done I may well post a link here.

> A very clever job of staging this massive final battle. After all of the cameos and guest appearances in the lead up to this one, I was blown away by the amount that you managed to squeeze in here at the end!

My thinking always was to cover the massive wider cast in the run up to the final fight then to focus down on the LL (and Champagne) as they slugged it out.

Of course, my intention was also to cover the events of what turned out to be UT#319-321 in one chapter. Hah.

> The shifting battlefield idea was clever and did a good job of bringing the subplot of the stolen cities around. Naturally, my favorite locale was Ausgard, where Donar got to cut lose and pound that jerk down to size a bit.

The Parody Master is pretty much a bully, and I enjoyed putting him up against someone his own size for a moment. Notice he ran away.

> The cycling through of hostages and human shields just really made me hate the guy all the more. I even felt bad for Garrick. Thank you for not killing off all of the mansion staff! Poor Kenny... We hardly knew you. I do hope that Sgt. MacHarridan pulls himself together again though.

You read the footnotes, right? I hope someone does, the damn things took me hours. Whose stupid idea was PV footnotes anyway?

The last big battle with the Parody Master took place far from Earth on a big flat chessboard plain. This time I wanted more interaction with known and interesting Parodyverse locales to give the fight a different texture, and I wanted to include innocents to interact with to make the threat more immediate. And to be honest, blowing up buildings and slaughtering extras is another way of showing the PM's a tough fight without killing off too many Legionnaires.

> I also liked the role of the children, and how they rescued Jury (and she got her happy ending!) and played their part in the big finish. I really didn't expect to see Vizh use the storyheart... but I absolutely loved his reasoning behind being able to do so. Thank you... that was quite an honor.

Well, the Storyheart tends to work the way stories should.

I wanted to find a role for Magweed, Griffin, and Samantha because all of them have in some ways been victims of the Parody War, and all of them deserved to play some small part in its resolution. I needed Jury to get a chance to face off against the PM too. I like to solve two problems by merging them into one scene.

> Really, there were so many great moments and stunning exchanges in the battle that it's hard to mention them all. I loved seeing Sersi and Finny in action again, even if they both met with harsh endings (though Lisa promises that can change.)

Well, Lisa's back, and this time its personal. I'm glad to have finally worked through the arc we negotiated with her.

Now if you could just convince her that work is nothing like as important as replying to Parodyverse stories...

> I really thought you did beautiful work with Amazing Guy, and Premiere's final stand saving Mr. Papadopapolis. I hope Knifey finds his way home again, and the conclusion to Tricky's story was a great touch. And Kerry has Danny back... I'm curious to see where that goes.

Are you really sure you want to know where that goes next? As a brother/guardian there are some things it's probably better you don't know. But of course we'll touch on some developments next time, when the Juniors return!

As for AG and Tricky, Scott sent me some e-mails with his intentions about the characters so I had something to go on. I just wanted to give them good final scenes.

> Again, an outstanding job, from the opening to the conclusion. (Stuff like Hatty and CSFB mocking the PM for running was great too...) Okay, I need to go get some dinner now. But thanks for the story, and congrats on a damn impressive achievement in finishing such an epic tale!

You're welcome.

I'm also wondering how folks felt about Champagne's tagging along with the group (it was my first chance to write her interacting with the Legion and I'm still finding my way there), and about whether I went too far sidelining so many former PVB stalwarts.

> Bring on the epilogue!

I know what the first scene will be anyhow.