{"id":35,"date":"2008-06-02T15:37:27","date_gmt":"2008-06-02T23:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=35"},"modified":"2008-06-02T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2008-06-02T23:37:27","slug":"commentary-15-prophet-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-15-prophet-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary 15: Prophet 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

The “Local Boy” sections seem to really resonate with readers. It also has been called out by two different reviewers as something that they wish I had explored more, specifically the repercussions of “stealing” music from the future. In hindsight I see their point, though at the same time I actually thought I had acknowledged it to a certain degree with the Billy Joel and Harry Chapin codas that come later on.<\/p>\n

What’s funny is that this section almost wasn’t in the book at all. One of the original ideas I tossed around after deciding to write a novel was the story of an ambitious musician in present day seeking fame and fortune but never quite getting there. He’d then find himself sent back in time and would achieve superstardom by covering songs he “stole” from the future.<\/p>\n

Although I thought the idea was interesting, I didn’t think I could write an entire novel about it. It felt more like a short film, or maybe an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. The movie in my head starred Jeff Tweedy from Wilco as the musician with the sticky fingers. No offense to Mr. Tweedy (who I’m a huge fan of), but something about his personality and style seems to fit the bill for that type of character.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I scrapped the concept of the time traveling troubadour and had no intention of resurrecting it for this story. Then the narrator’s father started to be able to see him, which also wasn’t part of the plan. So I decided to add a section where father and son team up to prevent the conception of Nelson. I needed the young father to have something interesting going on in his past. I remembered that he played the guitar (originally a throwaway excuse for him to play “Sunshine” and not intentional foreshadowing), and it hit me in the face that this “short story” suddenly had a home. And once I had this realization, that’s when I went full steam ahead and skipped over the Hearts tournament to write about the rise and fall of Local Boy.<\/p>\n

Since this criticism has come up, I have racked my brain for how I might have been able to do it differently to further explore the effects of borrowing songs. The conclusion I keep reaching is that I really couldn’t do that much more with it under the structure and point of view of the book as it stands. However, I have a very good idea of how it can be addressed if\/when I decide to do a sequel. If that sequel comes to pass, I promise that this theme will be revisited as a part of it.<\/p>\n

Other tidbits:<\/p>\n