alt_fen | The Alternity Re-Read: September, Year 1

Okay, because we can't let go, either, we're starting a re-read!

I will post one of these for each month, and try to keep the post itself relatively spoiler-free, but feel free to comment with thoughts, reactions, etc., to the posts for the month. If months have particularly low numbers of posts, we may combine two months in a single post. Since this is specifically a re-read, please do not feel you have to avoid spoilers for later months in the comments.

If you need the PDFs, here is the link to September: September

Or you can read via the weekly recaps by choosing the "Year One" tag on the community, and scrolling back.

Comment away!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

lapin_agile

So. I love Sally Anne's first post, which appears to have happened because the 'journal quill' started writing what she was saying while she was practising Charms:

wingardium leviosa

win gar dee um leh vee oh suh

wing ar " " "

wing gar " " "

wing ar DEE um " " "

oh bloody hell this is the journal quill, isn't it? is everyone going to be able to read this?

I wish we'd held on to the notion that the journals came with a special quill that was, in fact, a dictaquill. Because that? Would totally have let us post entries that our characters would otherwise not have put to parchment. It would have been a great explanation for Lucius' detailed briefings on Protectorate/Ministry happenings: they could have been dicatquill entries made by the quill while he was actually briefing someone or preparing himself to go brief someone.

Possibly we'd have only used it as an occasional convention for someone forgetting they'd left their quill out of its case and their journal open, but, for instance, that could have now and then caught Harry talking to Draco (or vice versa) across the dormitory so that Draco's responses were out of range, but Harry could have been more candid that way in an 'accidental' post or two.

We might have ended up in the same place anyway, with everyone growing more guarded about expressing themselves in the journals, but I think there's potential in this convention that we could have tapped, but didn't.

At any rate, it's an example of an interesting, logical world-building idea that didn't stick for whatever reason.

From:

gwendolyngrace

You know, we never even thought of it but you used this idea beautifully when Lana was birthing Charlotte - and it also would have helped us with more of the "action sequences" where we were challenged to let the reader into the scene but it was entirely unrealistic to think these people were fighting *and* writing in journals at the same time.

Maybe if you'd been in the game from the start, it would have had a whole different structure!

OTOH, I think the special dictaquill device seems to work better for humour than gravitas. I dunno.

I agree that we still probably would have had to grow more guarded over time, though.

From:

flourish

I wish we had, too—mostly because it would have explained the surprisingly good spelling for the eleven year olds!

From:

cheyinka

I can see why Myrtle didn't continue having a presence in the game (though I think it would have been interesting!) but I am really wondering now, if she'd continued being around, how it would have worked for a ghost to have a journal! I guess that needed the dictaquill idea that

lapin_agile mentioned?

From:

gwendolyngrace

That's exactly why we abandoned Myrtle's journal. It made no sense for the ghosts to have them.

I think, in part, this initial month or two of the game was us figuring out how serious the story was - the balance between humour/satire and taking the story earnestly. We settled more on the serious side (for which I'm grateful!) but things like the DictaQuill, the ghosts, etc. - I believe these concepts fell away as we gravitated toward a less silly story and storytelling style.

The Alternity Re-Read: September, Year 1

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