Mephisto All Along (Part 1)

Or...The Plot that  I think Disney and Bad Wolf should write. But won't have the balls to, because...(copyright) lawyers. 

Okay, the Whoniverse is Earth (Dimension) 5556. Marvel had the Doctor Who comic right from 1979 until 1999. So it is part of the comics that form the basis of the MCU. With that technical detail out of the way, where did I get this idea...

Recently I watched two ScreenCrush videos about IronHeart. The first was about who (else) made a deal with Mephisto, while the second was about possible future plots created by the show. And that was when a possible road map sprang into my head.  

Basically, this is what I would do if Doctor Who went forward. As for what the deal is with the red text...I wrote a version 1.0, but then had some addition ideas. So now you're reading version 1.1. Is it any good ? Well, I hope you will read it and decide for yourself. So enough preamble and on to...

The Plot

Our plot starts in the days of ancient days of Gallifrey. Here, Mephisto make a deal with two of the planet's Founding Fathers...Rassilon and Omega. But he does not succeed making in making a deal with Tecteun, who is too busy with her Timeless Child experiments. 

This deal is why (as stated in the episode The Five Doctors)  the official history say that Rassilon was a great leader, while the myths say he was terrible tyrant. The myths are true, because the Mephisto's influence was corrupting Rassilon (and many of the ancients Gallifreyan/Time Lords, who were a pretty evil bunch).

And then Tecteun succeeds. She adds Regeneration to the mix. Now, when you make a deal with Mephisto, you're stuck with him for life and the afterlife. Humans only have ONE life. So the deal sticks. 

But in the End of Time (Part 1) the Tenth Doctor talks about regeneration to Wilfred Mott. And he says it's like dying. Everything he was dies and some new man saunters away. My take would be that because both the personality and the body that made the deal is lost, the deal doesn't stick. Humans are stuck with the deal forever, Time Lords are stuck for one Incarnation. They regenerate, the deal expires.

Which Omega figures out. More important, he starts broadcasting his theory far and wide. To all his people, who then start using this loophole to get out of their deals. Mephisto's control of Gallifrey is crumbling. 

In revenge, Mephisto makes Omega lose his marbles and manipulates the last few people he still has control over exile Omega into an alternate dimension...which is the place that The Rani was trying to liberate him from in the Reality War.

After the last of Mephisto's influence is gone, Rassilon then white-washes the history book to make it seem like he brought Gallifrey out of it's dark ages. And to score PR-points, he starts a campaign against evil. He destroys Earth 5556's copy of the DarkHold, he wipes out the local version of the Symbiotes, gets rid of the vampires, fights the Racnoss, etc, etc.

All of this turns around Gallifrey's image. And Mephisto sees this happening. Between losing the planet and them suddenly being know as ancient, powerful good guys, he is pissed. But then he finds the perfect person to make a deal with. The person who will let him wipe out the Time Lords. DAVROS. 

He gave Davros the knowledge to create the Daleks. And the downside, the cost for Davros of this deal is pretty obvious. The missing half of his body, the wheelchair, the mutations and the blindness. The whole Last Great Time War was Mephisto trying to get rid of the Time Lords. Except, it didn't work. Yes, they suffered a great deal. Yes, they went through the Hell of war. 

But as we saw in The Day of the Doctor, they survived. Thanks to the Doctor and Clara, with an assist by UNIT and the Zygons, they found hope. So he has to try again. His new plan...placing the Timeless Child files some place where he knew The Master would find them. And this time, it did the trick.

How to weave all of this into new episodes ? 

Originally, my plan was for a single page of the DarkHold to be the McGuffin that starts the plot. But that was slightly off, so....The Doctor is trying to figure out the identity of The Boss. The Boss not only employs Beep the Meep, they also own the Time Hotel. 

My plan is for Mephisto to be The Boss. So, why did M send Anita Benn to help the Doctor in The Reality War ? Well, he wasn't being kind. He didn't want Omega to tell the Doctor the truth about Gallifrey's ancient times. 

Following a trail of clues, the 16th doctor - played by Billie Piper - finds a single page of the DarkHold in the Gallifreyan archives. Which make the Doctor decide that she needs a companion....

Who I think the companion should be....

This whole thing is so unhinged already that I figure it's a case of Go Big or Go Home. So my pitch....Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.

How would that come about ?:

The Doctor recognizes the page of the DarkHold and realizes that they will need an expert of Earth 616. (We learn that the Doctor has watched all of Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.) But the Doc also realizes they can't just pluck some random person from that universe. Fortunately, there is another option...

In the two parter Dark Water/Death in Heaven, Missy aka The Master tried to turn all of Earth's dead people into Cybermen. As part of that scheme, she used a piece of a supercomputer called the Matrix. A supercomputer designed to store the minds of dead people. 

That Matrix hard-drive was confiscated by UNIT and is still sitting in the Black Archives. So the Doctor snatches Coulson from the end of his life. Events from the Agents of Shield episode The End are not altered, nor are Seasons 6 and 7 of Agents of Shields. 

The only thing that is altered is that it was only Coulson's body that died. Everything else is safely in the Matrix. The Doctor grows Coulson a new body, one that lines up with Clark Gregg's current age - the body being older due to having to work with Earth limited technology - and they are off to the races...

The New Bit

Following more clues, 16 and Coulson eventually find their way to the planet of Karn. Home to the Sisterhood of Karn. The sisters are a religious order who guard an eternal flame and the secrets of Regeneration. The Sisterhood survived the Master actions and we learn that they have another page from the DarkHold.

Back in the days of ancient Gallifrey, the Time Lords removed two pages from the DarkHold as part of the study to figure out how to destroy it. One for themselves and one for the Sisters. The Time Lord page is the one the Doctor found in the archives. The Sisters used their knowledge to create a Mephisto detector with the DarkHold page as its power source.

The Sisters can't kill Mephisto, but they've figured out how to exile him from their universe. This is why he has taken on the alias of the Boss. He needs henchmen to his work. And he uses the Time Hotel to get around. Because if he used magic to move around, the Mephisto detector would go off and the Sisters would exile him.

The Conclusion

The Doctor sacrifies herself to use Regeneration energy to destroy the Time Lord page - exposing it to regeneration energy is how the ancient Time Lords destroyed the book back in the day - and becomes the 17th Doctor. 

This gives Coulson an opening. Using a spell her got from the Sisters, he goes back to Earth 616 and drags Mephisto along. This kills Coulson and leaves Mephisto locked out of Earth 5556 (again). But the Sisters have one last trick up their sleeve.

The Time Lords have a piece of technology called a Chameleon Arch, which can turn a Time Lord into a human. But the Sisters have figured out how to do the reverse. So Coulson regenerates into....and that's all we have time for today. To be continued...   

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka @Dantes74302) 

About Paramount TV shutting down

Hi Alex,

How are things on the island ? They certainly can't be worse they are in Hollywood. This place is burning down at warp speed. But this was not on my mind three days ago. I was just clicking through YouTube and ran into OverlordDVD's/Doomcock's channel. And what was the latest rumor buzzing around now ? (Which I took with a grain of salt, as these things are supposed to be.) That the Paramount/Skydance brass wanted to have an emergency meeting with Alex Kurtzman before Sunday (18 August). Yeah, right. File that under 'I'll believe it when I see it.'

But then, the day after, I saw a video by Call Me Chato about Paramount TV shutting down. And he told us denizens of the internet about the huge lights they use in TV studios and the huge power bill that comes with them. And then I had a light-bulb moment, which was fitting. Just don't ask if it was a bit fitting or a small one. (Okay, I'll stop making light-bulb puns now.) This is just me thinking out loud, but...

Ponder Me This

The mainstream media made it clear that Paramount/CBS is salvage Paramount TV's most popular shows by moving them over to CBS. But those shows are not enough to fill all of TV's sound stages. And with Paramount needing to cut costs, are they are going to pay the utility bills (power, gas, internet, etc) and staffing costs for a studio that is 90 percent just props gathering dust ?

Or do you move the surviving shows to a CBS lot ? If that's the plan, shutting down this week makes total sense, because it allows Paramount to give the utility companies notice to cut everything off on 1 September. And it gives you two weeks to do the move. And so we end up back at Doomcock's rumor.... (Just remember your salt, folks.)

My Theory

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is supposed to start filming on 2 September. Wee problem, in order to make a TV, you need sets. I wouldn't be surprised if construction of said sets was scheduled to start on Monday 19 August. But because of Operation Big Move, the sound stages that where those sets were supposed to be build are now essentially, well....reassigned-slash-gone. And they are going to have to break that news to Kurtzman. 

Now, I could be right, I could be wrong. This whole thing could be a giant nothing burger. But at least I got a blog entry out of it. 

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Bits and Pieces Vol. 13

 Hi Alex,

How are things going on the island ? Things have been well....wet...over here. You see, back in July, we had LOTS of rain. More then the local sewers could handle. So the water had to go somewhere...

...which turned out to be my living room. Twice. And my floor didn't like that one bit. So now three quarters of it has to be replaced. And my landlord(s) have decided to replace my bathroom. Which is great...

...But together with the floor replacement, means that my place is headed for a major remodel. Said remodel is taking a lot of preparation, which is why I haven't around to writing to you.

The Good News

It's not all bad news, however. The remodel is giving me the opportunity to deal with several issues that have been hiding in the woodwork. Another thing the remodel kind of forced me to do, was to clean up the hard drive on my computer. I had let some files pile up and I needed to do some major reorganizing. Which I finally got around to now.

And back in September, my American friend Rick made another trip to the Netherlands. Together with two other friends, we visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. And it was great. We enjoyed the paintings (Vincent sure knew how to paint) and had lunch afterwards. Rick then headed to London and met another friend here. 

So there has been good stuff as well,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

Blast you, Rick C...! *Shakes fist*

Hi Alex,

So, this whole letter - which is going pretty terrible - is Rick C's fault. Back when I was in the States, I had lunch with my friend Rick and....he gave me a shirt of his band. Rick's band is called the Red Hat Band. And it is good. The problem is...

There was some kind of magic in that shirt. Back when Rick gave me the shirt, it wasn't warm enough to wear it. Recently, things have been warmer, so I put it on. And got the urge to write song lyrics. Which would be good, if I was any good at it. But I'm not, so this letter is going to be terrible. And it's all Rick's fault. 😉 Here it goes...

A Lonely Day

Monday is always busy, being manic. When she isn't in the mood to panic. Wednesday got that girl from that horror family and abandoned me. Friday and Thursday are in love, so I can cross both off them off. 

Refrain: It's another lonely day, with nothing positive to play. Say, say, why does it have to be this way ! It's not fair, why doesn't anybody care !?

On Saturday, everybody gets the fever to dance. And I don't stand a chance. Sunday spends her time praising the Lord and I don't know David's secret cord.

(Refrain)

Everybody has abandoned me, poor Tuesday, and that's not okay. Plenty of other days get a song, but I've been ignored all along. I need a strong drink, or a visit to a shrink. 

(Starts talking to barkeep.) John, give the bottle ! What do you mean, you don't serve concepts here ? This is a bar, isn't it ? If you don't do the concept of drunk, you suck ! Aaaaaaahhh. (*Sounds of Tuesday bouncing down the steps as the bouncer throws him out, electronic garble, song ends.*)

For A Bad Day in the Studio

So I've got a good riff in my head, but no idea for what words go with that. This is where the first verse is supposed to go, but inspiration just says no. 

Refrain: Oeh, oeh, ah, ah, useless jive. If I don't get words, I won't get out alive.

This should be the second verse, but things are only getting worse. All the hands are working just fine, but lyrics won't show up in time.

(Refrain)

Our manager is slowly turning red. That means he's really, really steaming mad. And when he blows it will be reaaaaallly baaaaad. 

(Refrain)

There he blows like the Krakatoa. I'm really sorry for our tech guy, Noah.

(Refrain)

The cops are dragging him away. So much for making songs today.

Oeh, oeh, ah, ah, useless jive. If I don't get words, I won't get out alive. Oeh, oeh, ah, ah, useless jive. If I don't get words, I won't get out aaaaaaaallllliiiiiive. (End song) 

--------

That's all I have.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)

A Letter From Alex....

 ....And No, Not That Hack Kurtzman

Hello Ruben

First of all...You had to ask, didn't you !? In your last letter, you asked if the Johanna was still afloat. Well, it's not anymore. While you were writing a letter to Robert Meyer Burnett. she hit a sandbar and snapped like a twig. 

The good news is that we were near an island with people and internet. The bad news is that nobody understand a word these people are saying, so we have no idea where we are. And even if we did, because the Johanna was a tramp freighter, there is no company to come to rescue. So I'm safe, but I'm stranded.

We managed to salvage enough food and water for a couple of days, a couple of books and two laptops. But beyond that, we only have the clothes on our backs. And it's all your fault !! If you hadn't asked...

Alex

Star Trek is in Deep Trouble

And It Is Only Going to Get Worse

Hello Alex,

I have never made a secret of the fact that I am not a fan of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. For a long, long list of reasons - which I don't want to bore you with - I think they are bad shows. For those of you who do want the dusty details, here's a link to some of them.

Things wrong with Discovery

Anyway, on to....

Deep Trouble 

All you have to do, is go to Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, and check the audience scores. I know, I know, people love to complain about how Rotten Tomatoes is....well, Rotten. And that the professional critics are just shills, who don't give their real opinion. Instead, they simply write whatever the studios and the politicians pay them to write. And, you know what, they are right. 

But at the end of the day, the critics don't matter as much as studios and the politicians think they do. Because the critics don't keep the streaming services afloat. Nor provide the DVD sales the studio want. The average Joe's and Jane's do. So forget the "Critics" and their "Opinions." Besides, if the Buzzfeed stock disaster is anything to go by, half of them will be gone soon. (But that's another story for another time.)

Any how, back to the subject at hand. Because the audience scores for Discovery and Picard are only going one way....Down. 

1. They were never that good to begin with. But with 24 percent for Season Four ON RT and 3.0 on Metacritic, things have REALLY gotten bad. And the Discovery's score tend to go down as the seasons goes along. So who knows how far it will fall ?
   
2. Speaking of going down. So are the VIACOM-CBS stocks. The stocks took a major hit halfway through 2021 and have been steadily declining since. Which - if it doesn't turn around - might land the company in the cross-hairs of the FTC. 
3. And the final indicator of CBS' trouble is.....Mark Harmon ? Well, I think he is....now, before you start yelling, just hear me out. It is an open secret that Mark Harmon has been wanting to retire for a while now. But he didn't, because CBS kept saying "You leave, we cancel NCIS." 
4. But now, Harmon is gone and CBS is trying to keep the NCIS franchise afloat (no pun intended). So why this change of direction ? Because while Paramount+ has shows with good ratings, it needs a FRANCHISE to pull the wagon. And I get the impression that the brass at CBS has figured out that Trek is not going to cut. Hence, this new policy.
5. Oeps...almost forget, the head of Secret Hideout's Television division has resigned. This cannot be a good thing.

About number five....I can't blame the lady for walking away. Kurtzman had fracked up the management of Trek and Clarice badly. But his planet sized ego would never allow him to admit that. So who gets all the blame ? She does. (I know, I know, the articles say she left on friendly terms, but I ain't buying it for a second.) Moving on to....

Met RDA for real

Hi all,

I met Richard Dean Anderson for real today. Well, met is a big word. I bought a ticket and took a photo with him at Dutch Comic Con (in Utrecht). I also pulled a bit of a stunt and gave him my business card and told him that I had ten page plan for season three of Stargate Universe. Which I do.

Of course, I know that Mister Anderson was simply being polite when he took my card, so my expectation are....zip, zero, zilch. But RDA is a really nice guy. Also....earlier in the day, he did a Q and A. It was fun. 👍

The Comic Con was great as well. Got some great stuff.  Oops....almost forgot, what about the actual photo ? Well, it turned out horrible. Mister Anderson is fine. But yours truly was totally starstruck. I look like a dear in headlights, with a face full of Botox.

Anyway,

That's all

Edmond Dantes

Stargate: Time to make a move....

...and go old school ?

Hello World,

So, it's been a while. Which is because I've been enjoying a much needed vacation on the lovely island of Crete. Good weather, lovely nature and wonderful people. Alas, that is now all over and the time has come to get the gears of work going again. Including my blog. So here goes...

Stargate

One of the things I have been pondering is the Stargate (Franchise) and it's future. In case you haven't read my previous posts: It's looking pretty bleak. And how MGM has been interacting with the fan base. It hasn't. And - of course - what the fans have done to try to get MGM to make a statement...ANY statement about said future.

And the simple fact is that the fans have tried everything. Well....except for a letter writing campaign. But...isn't that really old fashioned ? I mean, even Joseph Mallozzi said that ' the time of letter writing campaigns has past'. The thing is......that is probably true. But what is there to lose ? Some stamps ? Some paper ? Things can't really get worse, can they ? So...

Le Plan

Write a letter, write a postcard, write on a napkin....who cares ? Just tell MGM you like Stargate and want more. And send it to:

Mark Burnett
MGM Studios Inc.
245 North Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
United States of America

Technobabble that (might) prove(s) Spera should exist in SGU....

.....because IMHO otherwise there's not only a whopping inconsistency, but the whole Ancient Destiny Project would be useless rubbish.

Basic Timeline

1)       Destiny launches
2)       Atlantis leaves for the Pegasus Galaxy
3)       Atlantis abandoned
4)       Goa’uld arrive
5)       Antarctic Gate Buried
6)       Ra places Egyptian Gate
7)       Uprising (Egyptian Gate Buried, Earth abandoned by Goa’uld)
8)       Stargate Program

One:  Point of Origin Paradox

Every Stargate in the network has a unique Point of Origin symbol. In the episode Solitudes (SG-1, season 1, episode 18) where the Antarctic Gate is discovered, not only is this clearly visible, it is a necessary plot point. If the Antarctic Gate had the same Point of Origin as the Egyptian One, Samantha Carter and Colonel O’Neill would have realized that they were on Earth. Further underlining this argument is the fact that in the episode Small Victories (SG-1, season 4, episode 1) it takes a week to install the Antarctic Gate and get it operational. While the reason for this is never specified – being referred to as ‘technical problems’ – it is likely that the difference in Point of Origin was the source of these problems.

(My reasoning for this is as follows: In the lore of the show, all the Stargates within the Milky Way galaxy are identical, with the Point of Origin being the only difference between individual gates. Furthermore, the Air Force technicians whom originally installed the Egyptian Stargate would have made detailed notes, providing the team installing the Antarctic Gate with a paint-by-numbers. If the team follows the notes, the Gate should have been plug-and-play. Unless the different Point-of-Origin gums up the works…)

This, however, creates a paradox. In the episodes Rising (Atlantis, season 1, episode 1) and Air (Universe, season 1, episode 1) it is established that both Atlantis and Destiny have long-range dialing locks. These prevent long-range dialing of both locations from any other planet then Earth. But both were launched millions of years before the Antarctic Gate was buried, so both should be programmed to only accept a Gate address ending with the Antarctic Gate’s Point-of-Origin symbol. Yet, both locations were successfully dialed.

Resolution of the Paradox: To compensate for Stellar Drift and keep the Stargate addresses up-to-date, the Ancients (the alien race whom created these devices)  installed the Correlative Updates System. (SG-1, Avenger 2.0, season 7, episode 9) However, without an additional power source, a Stargate can only dial locations within its home galaxy. These updates are therefore limited to each galaxy. However, if the Ancients were able to connect both Destiny and Atlantis to the Correlative Updates System for the Milky Way Galaxy, the paradox is resolved. This raises the question…

How does the signal get from the Milky Way to both locations ? Inside the galaxy (or galaxies), the Stargate network itself can serve as relays. The major issue is crossing the voids between galaxies. (This especially true in the case of Destiny, since the subspace transceiver that comes with their model of Stargate is extremely short range in universal terms.)

Two: The Ancients were planning to man Destiny

In the episode Air, Doctor Nicholas Rush says that the Ancients were never aboard Destiny. However, he also says that the Ancients were planning to arrive once the ship was far enough out. This, however, leaves us with a simple problem. How would the Ancients know when to dial to Destiny ? This statement only makes sense if the Ancient were tracking the ship’s progress.

And the simplest way to do that, is to have Destiny transmit its location (and possibly other information) back to Earth (or possibly Atlantis). Possible further evidence to support this is provided in same episode, when it is established that the Pegasus Galaxy is amongst the galaxies previously visited by Destiny.

While this alone may not seemed significant, this changes when combined with information from the episode Rising. In the scene where Dr. Beckett uses the holographic projection room, the history of Atlantis is explained. The female holographic projection explains that the Ancients arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy to seed life in a galaxy that appeared to have none. And that raises the question…how did the Ancients know that the Pegasus Galaxy was lifeless ? It seems very impractical that they would select a random galaxy, and then spend years surveying it - conclude that the galaxy was lifeless – and only then get to work seeding the galaxy. What if the galaxy turned out to be unsuitable ? This seems to me like a waste of time and resources.

In my opinion, a much practical and realistic solution would be that the Ancients put together a set of parameters for their target. They then accessed the Destiny telemetry they had received and selected the galaxy that matched the parameter the best. And thus, they selected the Pegasus Galaxy. However, this line of thinking once again requires that the Ancients have the telemetry. And thus, communication between Destiny and Earth.

Finally, we musk ask one simple question. How does Destiny know to slam on the brakes (aka drop out of FTL) when somebody dials in ? The easiest solution is that she receives some kind of signal from the Gate network telling her to do so. (But more about that later.)

Three:  The Ancients and Safety

From Atlantis – both the show as a whole and the city-ship itself (as described within the lore) – we know that the Ancients designed their technology with considerable safeties and redundancies. Yet, here we have the Ancients’ most important project, and the key piece of technology – namely Destiny itself – has no redundancy ?

This seriousness of this design flaw in the project is underscored by a scene between Nicholas Rush and Chloe Armstrong in the Stargate Universe finale Gauntlet. Chloe points out to Rush that if Destiny is destroyed by the berserker drones, the whole project will have been for nothing.

To summarize, not only are we talking about a major design flaw in the Destiny Project, this is a plot point that is completely against the character of the Ancients as previously established within the lore.

The Ninth Chevron (aka one last piece of technobabble).

My proposal is to reveal in this season that there is – technically – no such thing as a nine chevron address. In order to dial Destiny, you have to feed the power to Gate in a special way (which is what Eli figured out in Air). My idea is that when you combine this input method with the first chevron off the address, it works like a keyboard shortcut in the Gate’s protocols. The Gate (Network) then sends a signal up the chain Spera build, all the way to Destiny.

Destiny then drops out of FTL and transmits her actual location back to dialing Stargate. At the same time, however, she also asks for an eight digit access code. Which is the rest of the address. (Chevron two through nine.) This solves the question of how Destiny knows how to drop of FTL, but leaves the Point-of-Origin Paradox intact. Because when the Gates were switched, the last digit of the access code changed. And it means Eli was still (kind of) right about the Gate address. (In the episode Air, he helps Rush successfully get a nine chevron lock by suggesting that the Gate will only work if they use Earth as the point-of-origin. He even says ‘like a code’. Which it was, just in a different way.)

Edmond Dantes

One NCIS story, as promised.

Hello World,

Time for another update. So....

...After my vacation on Crete, I got a letter from the local hospital. And on May 23, yours truly went under the knife. Fortunately, it was nothing dramatic. You see, I've been having some trouble with my teeth. There simply wasn't enough space in my mouth for all of them.

So my dentist recommended that I get my wisdom teeth pulled. And after some talking with the folks at the hospital, it was decided to make it a proper surgery and yank all four at the same time. Then my vacation happened and when I came back, I found that the surgery had been scheduled. So I went...

Au ! While the surgery went fine, I need tons of painkillers the week after. But that was not the problem. The problem was the tube which they used to keep me breathing during the surgery had nicked the side of the windpipe. And this led to throat infection. Thank Heaven for antibiotics. (They're a pain to swallow, but they get the job done.)

After that, I finally got back to my day job and found....well, a mess. While I was down for the count, somebody else had also gotten sick and the result was...chaos. (I won't bore you with the details.) The result of this was that my inspiration levels dropped like ton of bricks. However, I am happy to report that they are now slowly recovering. The results can be read here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12533438/1/NCIS-The-Johnson-Case

Finally, I am now 34 years old. (Perhaps turning a year older gave me the kick in the butt I needed to start writing again, perhaps not.) Anyway, that's all folks.

Edmond Dantes

Putting Opinions into stories (The Chekhov Paradox)

Dear Want-to-be-Writers of the World,

Today I want to talk about the practice of putting opinions and morals into stories. This is something that many a writer does. But in my opinion, should not be done. And thus, in three sentences we have hit what I have called the Chekhov Paradox. It is named after Anton Chekhov, who believed that - in order to write good stories - a writer should write from a neutral viewpoint. And that realism should take precedence over providing answers.

This is a paradox, because while I agree with this view, I can never say so in a story. Because if you do so, you violate the very principle of not putting an opinion in a story. (Fortunately, this blog is slightly more flexible in that regard.)

To continue....I feel this neutrality is not only better story telling, but it forces the reader to think. If the writer does not provide a morale or answers, but merely questions, the reader must find them for him or herself. Further more, I agree with Mister Chekhov that talent is more important then opinion.

Why ? Well, as I said in my previous entry.....Writing is easy - there are plenty of writers out there. But good writing - which has a chance of improving the world - that is hard. Extremely hard. And rare. One last opinion....

Never, ever presume/say you have talent. The only writer I know to have done so, was Harry Mulish. (I know many people in the Netherlands consider his books classics. I do not.) The man was arrogant and selfish. At least...In my opinion...But was he really ? Or do you agree ? Decide for yourself.

Edmond Dantes

Edit: After I finished this piece, I read it on the blog myself. And I noticed it had an aura of arrogance. So while I accused Mister Mulish of arrogance, I have to admit that I am susceptible to it as well. So, my last tip....keep your ego in check.