Nerd-outability as a reader filter. The right kind of reader will add to the source-abundance of the work rather than simply draw sustenance from it. I guess that’s the logic of fan-fiction/fandom. Splillover/surplus effect.https://twitter.com/emilysuvada/status/1331686380750082048 …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Kevin Marks
Non-basic id element “incluing”https://twitter.com/kevinmarks/status/1331697608042147846 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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A good diagnostic question, in the spirit of Alan Kay “waste transistors” principle of personal computing is “what is this story willing to waste?” What is it willing to feature “too many” of? Culture = clever names.
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More examples: Futurama: Silly devices/gadgets/design fiction objects Simpsons: Arguably the couch gags+intro mini-story that triggers the main story, like “they go to the fair and Homer buys 1 dumbbell” South Park: “we learned something today” faux-morals
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Rick and Morty: inter-dimensional cable and quick-sketched useless parallel universes which don’t do anything for the plot, like the farting-asses universe. Best example might be the brilliant pizza-universe set. There is NO good reason for this scenehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUBmEDAoGOE …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jonathan Korman
What to call this principle? Spice-note?https://twitter.com/miniver/status/1331675875947937792 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
Jonathan Korman @miniverReplying to @vgrThis is nifty and needs a name, like “spice note” or something: the fun flavor element which does a lot of the story work Star Wars: spaceship design Superheroes: costume design aSoIaF: house banners & words Agatha Christie: etiquette Wuxia: special weapons & attacks https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1331673021367480320 …1 reply 1 retweet 4 likesShow this thread -
Venkatesh Rao Retweeted mark safranski
Secret sauce is perhaps too broad.
This is a narrower animating thing.https://twitter.com/zenpundit/status/1331703351097090055 …Venkatesh Rao added,
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Big mood? Generator? Flywheel? Root chakra? Idiopathy? Principle needs a clear statement too: “every successful genre story has an unnecessarily overbuilt world id-element.”
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Replying to @vgr
I think it’s “leitmotif”. And then you have to break it down into the leit and the motif. The motif is the theme that people notice: eh pratchett’s puns and historical references. The leit is the motivating force behind them.
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Replying to @Archivd
Are leitmotifs necessarily overbuilt though? To me the overbuilding is the key part. In your case I don’t think it is computer science concepts. It is wordplay (not just dad jokes). Whatever you have “too much” of for story needs in a sense.
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I’d argue that the leitmotif is the reinforced “important” theme not necessarily the overdone abundance signal. Related but not the same thing.
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Sometimes they’re the same, but not always. In Rick and Morty I’d say the leitmotif is the nihilistic disillusionment bits scattered in every episode, but the id-element is “cheap universes”. Relationship: a multiverse where universes are really cheap induces nihilistic stories.
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Replying to @vgr
I think we are saying the same thing but arguing about what to call it. There’s the “virtue” that shines through and the “vice” that necessarily tags along with it.
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