{"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_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_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3508,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-34-putting-won-and-one-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":0},"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":2016,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/2020-hindsight-commentary-wounded-kite-at-17-18-and-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":1},"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":15,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/pretending-im-like-kurt-cobain\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":2},"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":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":3083,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-6-a-trio-of-dueling-suitors\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"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":3315,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-21-keep-fishin\/","url_meta":{"origin":48,"position":5},"title":"LBDG Commentary 21: Keep Fishin&#8217;","author":"LBDG","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"For no particular reason except to see if I could while still respectin' the greats, all of the chapter\/song titles in Part IV contain words endin' in apostrophes. Due to either a fun coincidence or my future self havin' fun with me, the first two were Dinosaur Jr. and Weezer\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\/LBDG.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_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}]}}