{"id":3087,"date":"2024-07-07T12:43:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T17:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=3087"},"modified":"2024-07-07T12:43:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T17:43:26","slug":"lbdg-commentary-7-about-an-encore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-7-about-an-encore\/","title":{"rendered":"LBDG Commentary 7: About an Encore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Part II of <em>Local Boy Done Gone<\/em> is called \u201cA Van &amp; A List.\u201d The list we\u2019ll get to in a bit. The van was teased at the end of the last chapter, which ended on \u201cIt\u2019s always about a girl\u201d as a segue into \u201cAbout an Encore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I loved how this came together structurally. Part II picks up exactly where Part I left off (ala <em>BTTF II<\/em>, but unusual for a novel). We ended on a Nirvana song title, transformed into a riff on that song title in an encore where a Nirvana song that isn\u2019t actually a Nirvana song gets played in a manner just as gratuitous as Marty\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T_WSXXPQYeY\">Johnny B. Goode<\/a>\u201d encore in BTTF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When revisiting <em>Timely Persuasion<\/em> with new commentary in 2020 I mentioned weaponizing Local Boy\u2019s love life didn\u2019t age well. It fit with perceptions of life in 1969, but with a modern lens bordered on cringey. One goal here was to explore the complexities of his conquests and assigning a moral code\u2014imperfect but explainable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I gave myself an out on anachronisms having Local Boy sometimes cite \u201cfuture greats\u201d like he does with Michael Bolton (1984) and David Ford (2013) here. He\u2019s writing this account at least 45 years after it happened\u2014around the time he\u2019d be the old man. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/389\/frenemies\/act-three-0\">frenemies<\/a><\/em> aside is another \u201cnot an anachronism\u201d play.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThe redhead\u201d was a significant minor character in <em>Timely Persuasion<\/em> \u2014 as the narrator\u2019s girlfriend in the early 2000s. What\u2019s she doing in 1969?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To be clear, Local Boy never did say that tour part out loud. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xQoUSYMghDE\">She gave me a look I could not believe.<\/a>\u201d \/ \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cJumUK0CDZo\">There\u2019s nothing that the road cannot heal<\/a>.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When I first came up with \u201ctake this road on the show\u201d the only Google hit was <a href=\"https:\/\/wilwheaton.net\/2005\/03\/only_three_performances_of_lov\/\">a comment on a circa 2005 Will Wheaton post<\/a>. A few more have popped up since. (I also imagined using it in a story about documentarians chronicling interesting locales for a tv series\u2014so \u201ctake this road on the show\u201d wouldn\u2019t be a flubbed sentence. Oh well.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cWherever you\u2019re going\u201d is a misremembered nod to the film <em>Singles<\/em> (the real line is &#8220;anywhere you&#8217;re going&#8221;), as is the response of Washington. \u201cWe have four hours\u201d refers to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kyHqTWy3JmU\">an M. Ward song<\/a> and the title to Chapter 4 of TP1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" data-id=\"3112\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?resize=640%2C356&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?resize=1024%2C569&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?resize=768%2C426&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?resize=850%2C472&amp;ssl=1 850w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/anywhere.png?w=1322&amp;ssl=1 1322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8220;Anywhere you&#8217;re going.&#8221;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"391\" data-id=\"3113\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?resize=640%2C391&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?resize=1024%2C625&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?resize=300%2C183&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?resize=768%2C469&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?resize=850%2C519&amp;ssl=1 850w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/home.png?w=1308&amp;ssl=1 1308w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to April 7, 1994.&#8221;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In an older draft, the redhead says \u201cwe\u2019ll have to improvise,\u201d grabs Local Boy\u2019s arm, and they instantly time travel into the next chapter. As the book progressed, I made a rule that Local Boy should only be manipulated by time travelers and not time travel himself. I didn\u2019t <em>completely <\/em>stick to it, but paired with it not feeling right to abandon the open mic night mission just yet it got revised.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An even older draft involved Local Boy taking an express train to Washington DC thinking he needed to be there in 4 hours before realizing it was the wrong Washington. It was convoluted and sort of ridiculous. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a final callback to TP1, Local Boy reveals it\u2019s a tan van he\u2019s meeting the redhead in\u2014same color as the one from the creepy time travel hospital he\u2019d try to help his son escape from &amp; strand Nelson in. If we get really technical, you could argue adult Local Boy could\/should still be in that creepy hospital. (I\u2019m not arguing that, but just saying\u2026)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/books2read.com\/b\/lbdg\">Check out <em>Local Boy Done Gone<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part II of Local Boy Done Gone is called \u201cA Van &amp; A List.\u201d The list we\u2019ll get to in a bit. The van was teased at the end of the last chapter, which ended on \u201cIt\u2019s always about a girl\u201d as a segue into \u201cAbout an Encore.\u201d I loved how this came together structurally&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-NN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1649,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/6-songs-of-your-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":0},"title":"6 Songs of Your Life","author":"LBDG","date":"February 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Read about this cool 6 songs of your life idea via NPR about a month ago and have been thinking about it ever since. After several drafts, here are my six... \"Taxi\" by Harry Chapin My parents are big Harry Chapin fans and would play this a lot when I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/pretending-im-like-kurt-cobain\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":1},"title":"Pretending I&#8217;m Like Kurt Cobain","author":"LBDG","date":"April 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't believe Kurt Cobain has been dead for 14 years. Both he specifically and Nirvana in general were big influences on me growing up, and that influence clearly bled into the narrator and the book. And how about this for an illustration of time travel cause and effect in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3453,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-30-a-denial-a-l3dgedly\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":2},"title":"LBDG Commentary 30: A Denial, A L3DG(edly)","author":"LBDG","date":"March 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I probably don't have to tell you how much I love this chapter title. It mirrors A Wife, A Butterfly, quotes Nirvana, uses the l33t speak variant of Local 3's band name and throws in a parenthetical for good measure1. What's not to love? It also illustrates the internal fight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2436-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2436-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2436-8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2436-8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3508,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-34-putting-won-and-one-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":3},"title":"LBDG Commentary 34: Putting Won and One Together","author":"LBDG","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Endings are tough. You need to tie up as many dangling threads as possible, leave the reader satisfied that reading the book was worthwhile, and try to go out on a memorable high note without it feeling abrupt or forced. Traditional (but still accurate) opening aside, this ending was extra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3083,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-6-a-trio-of-dueling-suitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":4},"title":"LBDG Commentary 6: A Trio of Dueling Suitors","author":"LBDG","date":"June 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Another non-song chapter title, invoking a musical trio while foreshadowing a few different dueling duos. We're hitting the crossroads where the story loosely outlined in my head for years takes a hard turn in a different direction. In hindsight the breadcrumbs were there (they always are...), but this is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Behind the Scenes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1697,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/ramblings-viii\/","url_meta":{"origin":3087,"position":5},"title":"Ramblings VIII","author":"LBDG","date":"May 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned before that I've only had 3 favorite albums in my lifetime. A three day stretch in April had me revisiting the whole Nirvana catalogue for the 20th Anniversary, the release of 6 new Benji Hughes songs, and the announcement of a new Mike Doughty album. Synergy is cool.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Misc Debris&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Misc Debris","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/misc-debris\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3114,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3087\/revisions\/3114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}