Subject: "The Talk" and the fourth wall
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Posted on: 2018-02-07 06:53:00 UTC
Is it common for a character recruited from another continuum to be told that they are from a work of fiction? If it comes to it, how do agents go about explaining "you come from a story that someone wrote" to someone else?
"Listen, Harry. A long time ago, a woman named J.K. Rowling sat down at in a cafe..." (Not with a canon character, but that sort of thing.
One of my permission prompts was meant to take place in the mission that I am currently writing. I'm about to reach that point. Should I copy-paste the permission piece into the mission, or does it matter if I rewrite it? Or could I just skip over it?
Is it common for a character recruited from another continuum to be told that they are from a work of fiction? If it comes to it, how do agents go about explaining "you come from a story that someone wrote" to someone else?
"Listen, Harry. A long time ago, a woman named J.K. Rowling sat down at in a cafe..." (Not with a canon character, but that sort of thing.
Although they're usually a bit more sensitive than that when breaking it.
When you get right down to it, in a universe where fictional worlds are places you can go to, what is "fictional"? What is "real"?
It's clearly all equally real. You're not gonna look someone like Agent Thoth in the face and tell him he's less real than anybody else. (I mean, you could try. Just tell me before you do it so I can make popcorn.)
But it's also clear that somebody, in some weird universe called World One for dubious reasons, wrote a book, or a film, or what have you, that purports to be the definitive record of a universe that most people in World One don't even believe exists. This is obviously nonsensical, even insane.
And what about agents who are supposedly from World One? Do they have authors? Clearly the answer is yes—but do they know that?
Some do, some don't. It used to be fairly common for agents to know they were just as fictional as anybody else, and to complain about the things their authors did to them. There's even precedent for agents reading the Words of their own stories in TOS 7, when Lux reads Acacia's "subtitled-thoughts" and nicks an arrow for her. Nowadays that's out of style, but you still get the odd duck like Jenni who is perfectly happy with the paradox of existing both as a wholly real, independent, demi-god-like entity on the one hand, and a figment of my imagination subject to my whims on the other. For her, there is absolutely no conflict with both of those things being true, depending on where you're standing at the time. Even Nume has literally glanced at the Fourth Wall once, and if pressed very hard, would probably confess that he suspects everyone has an author, including himself; he just avoids thinking about it most of the time.
And I think that's what most agents do: just try not to think about it too hard.
But that's not to say you can't have fun with it if you want to. {= )
~Neshomeh, rambling past her bedtime.
"So. You say that I am not real." Thoth loomed over the terrified newbie.
It seemed the newbie had more intelligence than sense. "U-uh.. y-yes... That's t-the idea..."
"And you, originating from World One, are."
"y-yes..."
Thoth smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "An interesting hypothesis."
The newbie relaxed slightly. Perhaps he'd be alright. "Thank you-"
"Let's test it."
"W-what?"
A fireball appeared in Thoth's palm. "As a non-real entity, I should not be able to effect entities, such as you, that are real. I submit that we test this. Perhaps I light you on fire. Or crush you. Of course, if you're wrong, it may be fatal, but the knowledge to be gained is well worth the risk."
The newbie let off a terrified squeal and ran away.
"Ho, Thoth!" said Tom, turning the corner. "What're you up to?"
"I was having a civil discussion with a newbie," said Thoth. "He submitted the hypothesis that I was not real."
Tom put his hand to his head. "Bloody hell. Not again..."
If it's something the reader needs to know to understand what happens next, definitely include it, and rework it to fit if necessary.
If it isn't strictly relevant to the plot, it's up to you (and possibly your eventual beta[s]) whether you feel it adds enough humor/characterization/whatever to be worth including or whether it just slows the story down.
BTW, since your previous mission-writing question is still fairly high up on the Board, you could've added this one to that thread. With the pace of the Board being so slow these days, it's not a huge deal, but still something to bear in mind.
~Neshomeh