{"id":2117,"date":"2021-06-12T11:49:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-12T16:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2117"},"modified":"2021-11-22T22:11:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T04:11:35","slug":"lx-chapter-commentary-7-why-do-these-parties-always-end-the-same-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-chapter-commentary-7-why-do-these-parties-always-end-the-same-way\/","title":{"rendered":"LX Chapter Commentary #7: Why Do These Parties Always End The Same Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

“We need to call the cops somebody killed the DJ!” <\/em>is the lyric from A Love Extreme<\/em><\/a> at the core of this chapter. Striking the right balance of goofy and sincere for L Extreme<\/em><\/a> proved challenging.<\/p>\r\n

Benji & C’s comedic banter worked during the initial setup where Benji has no recollection of the party (“a lot of talk you can’t remember the next day<\/em>“) and C teases him about it, but the abrupt switch to the DJ murder plot was hard for early readers to take seriously when the roommates made a big joke about it. I knew I wanted the “somebody killed the DJ!<\/em>” bit to come out of nowhere like it does in the song, but also needed to balance some semblance of believability to it no matter how absurdist the storyline was.<\/p>\r\n

Eventually the solution was twofold: Have Benji straight up acknowledge that he isn’t sure if C is being serious or fooling around, and have C dodge the question and hint that he doesn’t completely recall either. As C said previously, “I can’t recall” is a better alibi than “I had a sore throat.” Amnesia isn’t intended as a convenient plot device; both faulty memories happen for a related reason we’ll get to in The Mummy\u00a0<\/em>chapter later on.<\/p>\r\n

The other line I was driven by an unknown force to write about was “Sometimes numbers are exchanged.<\/em>” This manifested as the paper scraps scene. Originally the letters were all Xs and Os in an overcomplicated reference to the self-released Benji Hughes albums\u00a0XXOXOXX <\/em>and OXOXOXOXOX\u00a0<\/em>(re-released years later as Another Extreme<\/em><\/a> and A Lovers Extreme<\/em><\/a>), but it wasn’t making sense to anyone but me. (Re-reading the outtakes and my notes now it barely makes sense to me…)<\/p>\r\n

Something that does make sense to me is this excited note in the margins of that old draft:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Not Xs and Os! The cards spell EVILON, but Benji mistakenly thinks they spell IN LOVE \u2014\u00a0which segues to “We were in love, in love as they come…”<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Realizing that EVILON & IN LOVE were anagrams provided the jolt of inspiration I needed to get this scene back on track. As a bonus, it also ended up inspiring some pretty cool illustrations when I started to realize some other anagrams for the same six letters:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"
A deleted scene called this Spanish for extraterrestrial, with an alternate meaning “to surrender possession of”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

More on Evilon and aliens later…<\/p>\r\n

Tidbits:<\/p>\r\n