{"id":48,"date":"2008-07-07T16:02:20","date_gmt":"2008-07-08T00:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=48"},"modified":"2022-02-13T16:02:41","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T22:02:41","slug":"commentary-23-2359-end-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/commentary-23-2359-end-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary 23: 23:59 End Of The World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m stuck on an introduction for this chapter, so let&#8217;s just dive straight in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>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 in case he needs to be resurrected for a sequel. \u00a0It also served to foreshadow the ultimate ending a little bit, though at the time this wasn&#8217;t the plan. \u00a0I guess you could say it both foreshadowed and inspired the eventual ending.<\/li>\n<li>The adult version of Local Boy has inherited his son&#8217;s penchant for quoting song lyrics, though he only quotes Local Boy songs.<\/li>\n<li>I actually hadn&#8217;t realized that the &#8220;in head&#8221; travel as described was a lot like <a title=\"Amazon.com - Being John Malkovich\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00007AJF8\/?tag=timelpersu-20\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Being John Malkovich<\/em><\/a> until I wrote that sentence, but decided that it was a description the audience would relate to and left it in as a tribute.<\/li>\n<li>In the beginning I really didn&#8217;t want to resort to alternate dimensions as part of the time travel theory, but it seems that in the end every story has to end up there to a certain degree. \u00a0This world&#8217;s alternatives are much like the BTTF equivalents. \u00a0Once you&#8217;ve branched the timeline, that new branch is &#8220;real&#8221; to you and you can never get back to the original one. \u00a0So time is both linear and malleable at the same time. \u00a0Then again, this is all theoretical. \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<li>The narrator realizes that if\/when he sets everything right, once his future self returns to his &#8220;present&#8221; he&#8217;ll essentially be replaced. \u00a0Thus far many of the problems have been caused by his being well intentioned but wanting to have it both ways (set up his sister and fix his own love life; eliminate Nelson and make Dad a rock star). \u00a0He needs to accept that &#8220;winning&#8221; for the greater good may involve a &#8220;loss&#8221; for himself. \u00a0A turning point for his character begins here.<\/li>\n<li>In the first draft there were forty something chapters and almost every one ended with a cliffhanger, mainly to keep me amused and motivated at the end of each writing session. \u00a0Around the third or fourth draft I started to realize that the chapters were a little too short and the cliffhangers were often unnecessary. \u00a0I combined a lot of chapters to eliminate these false ends and be more consistent in lengths, but then the later chapters lacked a little bit of punch. \u00a0The father&#8217;s death twist was added to infuse some surprise into the final section.<\/li>\n<li>There are 27 known musical references in this chapter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Timely Persuasion - 23:59 End Of The World\" href=\"http:\/\/reader.timelypersuasion.com\/23.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Chapter Twenty-Three Online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m stuck on an introduction for this chapter, so let&#8217;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 in case he needs to&#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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_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":false,"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-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2016,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/2020-hindsight-commentary-wounded-kite-at-17-18-and-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":0},"title":"2020 Hindsight Commentary: Wounded Kite at :17, 18 and Life","author":"LBDG","date":"August 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it \/ 17 years after writing it \/ 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack \"maybe I'll write a book\" with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Today's look at yesterday's chapters is brought to you by Pavement and Skid\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":3179,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-15-double-trouble\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":1},"title":"LBDG Commentary 15: Double Trouble","author":"LBDG","date":"September 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Reasons this ended up being a short chapter vs. combined with the preceding and\/or following: a) The break points made dramatic sense.b) I really wanted to use the Double Trouble title, which actually references my favorite Breeders bootleg and not Stevie Ray's band. b2) The live version of \"Saints\" here\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\/09\/R-392253-1302726225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/R-392253-1302726225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/R-392253-1302726225.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3375,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-25-livin-in-the-woods-in-a-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":2},"title":"LBDG Commentary 25: Livin&#8217; In The Woods In A Tree","author":"LBDG","date":"January 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Nerdy, encyclopedic musical knowledge comes in handy when you have a chapter set in a treehouse in need of a song title containing an apostrophe. Bonus points that it's also the title of Sybil Rosen's memoir of her life with Blaze Foley (though she and\/or her publisher added the missing\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\/01\/5b00be098b143.image_.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3033,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-1-october-1969\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":3},"title":"LBDG Commentary 1: October 1969","author":"LBDG","date":"May 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Kicking off my traditional series of author's commentary posts for Local Boy Done Gone with\u2014wait for it\u2014Chapter 1! Before we go there, a quick origin story: There was always an idea for a sequel to Timely Persuasion, but I never thought I'd actually write it. Years later came a completely\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\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3130,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-10-if-the-shoe-fits\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":4},"title":"LBDG Commentary 10: If The Shoe Fits","author":"LBDG","date":"July 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"After (or maybe technically before) the first draft, I had scenes set during Local Boy's \"normal\" life in the 1970s as well as excursions with the Redhead in the tan van. I knew each time LB had a vantastic adventure it would shake up his present, and roughly figured I'd\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\/07\/oasis-stub.jpg.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/oasis-stub.jpg.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/oasis-stub.jpg.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/oasis-stub.jpg.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2970,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/new-novel-local-boy-done-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":5},"title":"New Novel: Local Boy Done Gone","author":"LBDG","date":"February 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Four leap years ago today I started this blog the same day my first novel Timely Persuasion was released. TP2: Local Boy Done Gone Now that 2\/29 has come around again, I'm proud to announce a sequel to Timely Persuasion titled Local Boy Done Gone. Picking up in 1969 at\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\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Local-Boy-Done-Gone-eBook-Cover.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","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=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2746,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/2746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}