{"id":3418,"date":"2025-02-15T11:31:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T17:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=3418"},"modified":"2025-02-26T22:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T04:09:29","slug":"lbdg-commentary-27-doo-dum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-27-doo-dum\/","title":{"rendered":"LBDG Commentary 27: Doo &amp; Dum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By completely unplanned coincidence, both <em>Timely Persuasion<\/em> and <em>L Extreme<\/em> have 26 chapters.<sup data-fn=\"c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273\" id=\"c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273-link\">1<\/a><\/sup> Seemed to be the way my brain naturally plots novels, which made me think it would be neat to aim for 27 in <em>Local Boy Done Gone<\/em>\u2014my normal endpoint plus one more to tie to the 27 Club theme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Somehow I ended up with 34.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part of this was intentionally aiming for shorter chapters, which I&#8217;ve alluded to a few times in these commentaries. I considered doing some re-structuring to keep the same plot but land on the magic 27 number, but I messing with the cliffhangers didn&#8217;t feel right.<sup data-fn=\"33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e\" id=\"33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e-link\">2<\/a><\/sup> Instead I decided the whole novel could be considered Chapter 27 of <em>Timely Persuasion<\/em><sup data-fn=\"5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d\" id=\"5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d-link\">3<\/a><\/sup>\u2014though that sort of goes against my &#8220;read in either order&#8221; goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it&#8217;s just a book about time travel and the 27 Club told in 5 parts and 34 chapters\u2014in this reframing choosing a title of &#8220;Doo &amp; Dum&#8221; for #27 maybe should&#8217;ve been reconsidered&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"497\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?resize=640%2C497&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3422\" style=\"width:398px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?w=928&amp;ssl=1 928w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?resize=300%2C233&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?resize=768%2C596&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/The_Scooby-Doo_Dynomutt_Hour.webp?resize=850%2C659&amp;ssl=1 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>September of 1976 was the dawn of an exciting era: ABC began airing new episodes for the first time in three years. Now generically titled The Scooby-Doo\/Dynomutt Hour, it was paired with another program about a robotic Scooby-esque dog the Scooby Gang would also (but not always) appear in.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Scooby-cousins-1976-1.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Scooby-cousins-1976-1.jpg?resize=500%2C375&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Scooby-cousins-1976-1.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Scooby-cousins-1976-1.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Today\u2019s episode featured Scooby\u2019s cousin Scooby-Dum. Usually cousins had the same last name, but whatever. Cousin Jimmy got a kick out of having a cousin introduced on his favorite cartoon while watching it with his favorite cousin. At least I assumed I was his favorite cousin.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Preliminary aside: Was Scooby-Dum Dynomutt&#8217;s secret identity?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_Scooby-Doo_media#Television_series\">broadcast history of Scooby-Doo<\/a> is fascinating in how often it went off the air only to get later rebooted with the same core premise but a new title and new spin. Lucky for Local Boy he skipped over a decent chunk of the long wait.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>My first draft had Local Boy &amp; Jimmy playing <em>Pong<\/em> in the living room together. Later I tried to find an airdate for a repeat of the &#8220;Johnny Bravo&#8221; episode of <em>The Brady Bunch<\/em> before the Scooby revival timing provided some history repeating continuity.<sup data-fn=\"2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed\" id=\"2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed-link\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confession: I never confirmed whether or not Shaggy actually says &#8220;ruh-roh&#8221; in this episode, but figured the odds were in my favor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Local Boy contemplates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MUx-9rGInVg\">sending a letter<\/a> to Chris Bell from Big Star in order to prevent his death.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I know it seems like the LBCJ duo was inspired by The White Stripes or The Black Keys, but it was actually inspired by hearing Billy Joel&#8217;s pre-fame band Atilla and thinking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L7s8PHnCTGI\">THEY<\/a> sounded like The White Stripes!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Local 3 actually went by <strong>LEDGE<\/strong> in early drafts, but explaining how the band landed there felt both forced and out of character. Making it Jimmy&#8217;s secret name for them made a lot more sense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>FOOTNOTES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273\">TP also has a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=10\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"10\">prologue<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=79\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"79\">reprise<\/a>; LX an epiLILILILogue. But both have 26 core chapters. <a href=\"#c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e\">There was also the looming Feb 29 leap year day self-imposed deadline.  <a href=\"#33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 2\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d\">Following TP&#8217;s &#8220;chapters are named after song titles with numbers in them, &#8220;27 Jennifers&#8221; was on deck. <a href=\"#5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 3\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed\">Once I landed on Scooby, I planned to use the literal premiere episode of Scooby &amp; Dynomutt which aired on 9\/11\/76 for sister death date continuity. Later I decided to be less heavy handed via cousin Scooby-Dum&#8217;s debut a few episodes\/weeks later. <a href=\"#2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 4\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By completely unplanned coincidence, both Timely Persuasion and L Extreme have 26 chapters. Seemed to be the way my brain naturally plots novels, which made me think it would be neat to aim for 27 in Local Boy Done Gone\u2014my normal endpoint plus one more to tie to the 27 Club theme. Somehow I ended&#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":"[{\"content\":\"TP also has a <a href=\\\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=10\\\" data-type=\\\"post\\\" data-id=\\\"10\\\">prologue<\/a> &amp; <a href=\\\"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=79\\\" data-type=\\\"post\\\" data-id=\\\"79\\\">reprise<\/a>; LX an epiLILILILogue. But both have 26 core chapters.\",\"id\":\"c2be23dc-c333-4718-b294-baac79673273\"},{\"content\":\"There was also the looming Feb 29 leap year day self-imposed deadline. \",\"id\":\"33ff201b-47d4-419c-9275-db7dda250d9e\"},{\"content\":\"Following TP's \\\"chapters are named after song titles with numbers in them, \\\"27 Jennifers\\\" was on deck.\",\"id\":\"5492e584-8fea-4666-9ced-9deb39425d0d\"},{\"content\":\"Once I landed on Scooby, I planned to use the literal premiere episode of Scooby &amp; Dynomutt which aired on 9\/11\/76 for sister death date continuity. Later I decided to be less heavy handed via cousin Scooby-Dum's debut a few episodes\/weeks later.\",\"id\":\"2e6f29e9-c5a3-4e45-9017-f6dffc2ee3ed\"}]","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3418","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-T8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3502,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-33-through-the-living-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":0},"title":"LBDG Commentary 33: Through The Living Years","author":"LBDG","date":"May 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This short penultimate chapter breezes through 22 years as young Local Boy naturally ages into the timeline to become his future self at his daughter's wedding in the year 2000. Going into this novel the plan was to tell a Timely Persuasion adjacent story from Local Boy's point of view.\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\/05\/Done-Gone-Leaving-the-Wedding-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Done-Gone-Leaving-the-Wedding-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Done-Gone-Leaving-the-Wedding-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Done-Gone-Leaving-the-Wedding-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-23-2359-end-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":1},"title":"Commentary 23: 23:59 End Of The World","author":"LBDG","date":"July 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm stuck on an introduction for this chapter, so let's just dive straight in: Nelson had served his purpose in the story, so putting him on the machine and making him go comatose was mostly just to get him out of the way. \u00a0His fate is intentionally left ambiguous just\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":3347,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-23-aint-misbehavin\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":2},"title":"LBDG Commentary 23: Ain&#8217;t Misbehavin&#8217;","author":"LBDG","date":"January 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The list of 27 is key to the plot and has an iterative behind the scenes origin story worthy of its own blog post. Thankfully it's pretty much the singular focus of this chapter, allowing time for a deep dive here. The 27 members of the 27 Club in Local\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\/12\/RamMcCartneyalbumcover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3453,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-30-a-denial-a-l3dgedly\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":3},"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":3427,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-28-under-the-covers\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":4},"title":"LBDG Commentary 28: Under the Covers","author":"LBDG","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This chapter title was 100% chosen to rile up Brian Ibbott from Coverville. (Maybe I'm glad I ended up with more than 27 chapters...) It also worked well since it is all about Local Boy & Cousin Jimmy forming a band and learning covers from the 27 Club members they\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\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-3.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2765,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/benji-hughes-agatha-christie-anne-rice-arthur-c-clarke-stephen-king-cory-doctorow-david-foster-wallace-kurt-vonnegut-and-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":3418,"position":5},"title":"Benji Hughes, Agatha Christie, Anne Rice, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, David Foster Wallace, Kurt Vonnegut&#8230;and me!","author":"LBDG","date":"March 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"One goal I had for\u00a0L Extreme was to capture the genre crossing styles Benji Hughes uses on\u00a0A Love Extreme the album through the various song\/chapters. Recently I remembered this old I Write Like text analysis website and wondered how well I did at mixing things up. Let's see... In 15\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418","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=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3471,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions\/3471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}