Not every comment is going to be deep and original. Some are blunt and, well, kind of obvious. Like this one. But that doesn’t mean the thing doesn’t bear saying – and (re)publishing.
Sometimes things are not spelled out for the simple reason that there is no dramatic issue (in the literal sense) that needs to be dealt with. There was a recent thread on the 1632 subReddit about education and why it’s not talked about more. Quite simply, it’s not dramatic. Are there new schools? You betcha. Are they spreading the up-time style of teaching and attitudes? Yupper. Are there places to learn the new teaching methods? Totally, and for sure. (Hey, they went back from 2000 – Valley Girls weren’t that far in the past!) Do these get mentioned in stories? Indeed, but mostly in passing. Why? When’s the last time you watched or attended a local school board meeting? Exactly. They are important, but boring. While it’s possible to write something interesting about such a boring topic (see “David Weber Orders a Pizza“), is it something you really want to read? There are just so many more interesting things to write about, even if they aren’t as important.
Thus, Eric’s question: What IS the point?
– Bethanne (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine)
This comes up fairly regularly. In short, sometimes slush readers (stories that haven’t been published, but might be) need to stop fussing about minor points and focus on whether it’s a good story. If not, what about THE STORY needs to be attended to and why?
03 January 2015 01:01
I have been following this thread with increasing exasperation.
WHAT THE **** IS THE ISSUE HERE? Aside from a lot of what seems to me — pardon my English — pointless pettifoggery.
When I say, “what is the issue?” I mean that in terms which are relevant to the 1632 series. I.e., terms that deal with dramatic issues. We’re writing stories here, not rule books.
To put it another way, what difference does it make in dramatic terms whether the so-called “chain of command” is X,Y or Z? And repeating something Paula said, I would remind everyone that this is all happening in the decade of the 1630s — a decade (actually, a whole century) when such simple terms as “lieutenant” and “captain” had far more fluid meanings than they do in modern militaries. That means it’s perfectly plausible to have stories in which the issue involved gets resolved in different ways.
