Subject: Exactly.
Author:
Posted on: 2011-03-20 11:15:00 UTC
I was a little hesitant about using the comparison, but the fic PitViperOfDoom wrote and put on deviantArt really is the closest thing to what I believe should be the case.
As everyone who reads the OFUs knows, the head of each respective OFU is the original writer of the books in question. This also applies to authors who've passed away - Tolkien runs the OFUM (the fact was spelled out in clouds to the protagonist, if I remember correctly). I was unsure how to handle this in the OFUR tribute to Mr Jacques' passing, as obviously he's still running the place, and I didn't want to trivialise it in real life or overdramatise it within the story. However, would I be correct in assuming that OFU heads are simply fictionalised versions of the authors in question? After all, even living authors have better things to do than deal with the chaos inherent in running an OFU. Does this make sense?
However, I would say something along the lines of "Brian Jacques no longer inhabits the Real World, but his spirit lives on and he will never abandon the Abbey he put so much of his life into." Acknowledging his death with respect, but pointing out that he wouldn't abandon the world he made. So he's always been with the OFU in spirit, looking after the people trying to protect Redwall.
Or something similar. I waffle about this stuff, and I dunno if it'll be any help at all.
After all, Martin still inhabits the Abbey/guides future warriors and/or important Abbeybeasts, but he's been dead for hundreds of seasons.
Would it be alright to at least include a tribute to Jacques because he's the writer of Redwall? I really don't know how these OFUs work, though, so correct me if I'm getting something wrong or suggesting something that is best not to do.
I wanted to acknowledge that he's still in the OFUR while not trivialising his real death or making it funny. Wouldn't be appropriate.
That's how I thought it worked out, was I wrong in assuming that everyone jumped to the same conclusion I did due to my love of meta?
Just like the OFUs themselves are tributes of a sort to the preservation of the author's works and the canon that they have created, so too, I think, would the headmaster/mistress of an OFU be a tribute to that author.