Hatrack River Forum: Will OSC Pen a Fantasy Novel Inspired by the Hatrack River Forums?

This is topic Will OSC Pen a Fantasy Novel Inspired by the Hatrack River Forums? in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

Aside from a novel involving the Moose family that is.

I'm sure this has probably been discussed before, with the conclusion that it's a silly idea. If so, please link me to the thread.

Maybe something about a newbie's quest to become "real," and eventually making his/her way to a "Con," only to discover that he is not real ("I'm at the hotel; where is everybody?"). But by then he has endeared himself to the group and they frantically try to keep him from disappearing into cyberspace by involving him in as many thread discussions as possible. Finally, somebody comes up with a magical thread title that requires so much real effort from the non-real Jatraquero that he somehow becomes a living being. For awhile our newbie lives it up, attending all the cons, clumps and shindas. But maybe the thread is so powerful that somebody hijacks it and uses it to extract riches from cyberspace, or perhaps hijacks the thread to assassinate a political leader. Our newly-real newbie comes to the rescue but has to sacrifice his reality to save the world.

The novel could have a disclaimer stating that any similarities to real Jatraqueros is coincidental. But of course, we'll all know who the familiar characters are patterned after. Throw in some trolls, some saintly mother-types, some pirates and Bohemians, a couple of shut-ins glued to their keyboards, and some lonely librarians.

Or has this genre already been fully explored in print?

Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :

I'll write a story about us if you want. Of course I'd have to be the protagonist, since I'm definitely the most interesting person here. Your plot would be amazing, and to make it even crazier, with me as main character just imagine how hard it would be for me to get to America and save the day on an after-school-job income. Of course, there's the question of why I would want to save a U.S. President. [Dont Know]

[ January 22, 2006, 03:41 AM: Message edited by: cheiros do ender ]

Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :

I think you should write this story. I love the plot you outlined, and it's got so much room for expansion even still, but I don't think any writer should ever be expected to work with a plot someone else came up with. You probably don't take the idea as serious as I am now, but I'd really like to see this made.

Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :

Sounds cool. Lemme know how it goes.

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

quote:
Will OSC Pen a Fantasy Novel Inspired by the Hatrack River Forums?

It's a well-known fact that practically every character in every story OSC has ever written is based (however loosely) on me.

[Razz]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Clearly. I mean, the resemblance to Jane is uncanny.

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Precisely.

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

[ROFL]

I'm wondering whether this story would be best told from the point of view of the forum moderator, who would have the additional benefit of knowing who all the people really are, including their alternate sigs. Or perhaps it should be told from the point of view of a lurker, who never interacts with the characters and only knows what he reads from the posts. Or should the story be told by one of the characters, who would be able to disclose his/her own thoughts and motivations?

I think samples of actual forum posts, scattered throughout the novel would be effective, much like OSC dusts his Ender novels with e-mails.

Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :

You know we could write this ourselves, and with very little effort, simply by taking turns at adding 13 lines (or a little bit extra where a sentence requires it). In about 1000 posts we'd have a novel. [Smile]

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

We could get clod to play the role of the mad scientist.

Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :

quote:
I think samples of actual forum posts, scattered throughout the novel would be effective, much like OSC dusts his Ender novels with e-mails.

In that case, this thread never happened. [Wink]

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

The Collector's Forum

Chapter 1

code:

                          Inbox :: Message
From:     The Baroness
To:       MomTom
Posted:   25 Jan 2006 02:12 am
Subject:  Somebody Stole My Sig

Two years ago I created my Li'lDuchess sig for the "Collector's Schoolroom" thread.
I haven't used it since.  Today a troll posted something offensive under that same name.
I am wondering how he got my password.
Please put a stop to this punk.

Thank you.

I started the Collector's Forum as a diversion back when they had written me out of The Collector television series on account of my broken jaw being wired shut. As most of you know, I play the part of Tom Daly, the pudgy sidekick to an international antiquities collector-slash-pirate-slash-playboy. Tom is the brains of the operation, while Dev gets all the girls. The job pays well, and that suits me just fine.

Anyway, I was sitting around the house with my broken jaw wired shut, and I was sorting through a pile of fan mail, when I got the idea to start the forum. That way my fans could just post there instead of filling up my mailbox. A friend at church knew computers and the Internet, so I got him to set it up for me.

I guess you're wondering how I broke my jaw. Well, it's kind of silly now that I think of it. You see, my wife had asked me to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home from shooting, and since I had to get gas anyway, I said I would. So I pull into the Quickie Mart, and I'm filling up, when my wife pulls up to the pump across from me. I give her this questioning look, and she says: "I thought you'd forget." So I go over there and put my arm around her and move in closer to give her a kiss. She pulls away like she always does. She likes to tease me about not liking to kiss in public. The next thing I know, there's a big paw on my shoulder, spinning me around, and...pow!

So they wrote me out.

Well, the forum kept me busy until they called me back. By then it had taken on a life of its own: just a handful at first; then they told their friends. And it's been crazy ever since. Funny thing is that nobody seems to want to talk to me or to talk about the latest episode much anymore. They just get on there when they're sitting at their desk at work, or at home sick, or when there's nothing better to do, and they just start going back and forth about whatever is on their minds. It's like a little community.

Several of the people who hit it off online have organized real-life get-togethers or what they call conventions or "Cons" for short. They'll all cram together into a couple of hotel rooms, stay up all night... I have no idea what they talk about. Haven't they already talked about everything online? Well, I've heard that several couples have met for the first time at these cons and gotten married. I say good for them. Me, I didn't have much time for that online stuff once the ratings were up, and we'd started shooting on location, but I had in the back of my mind that I ought to turn up at a con someday and surprise the hell out of everybody.

[ January 25, 2006, 11:37 AM: Message edited by: skillery ]

Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :

I could play a mad scientist. Might need a wig, though.

Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :

What I can't figure out is why a novel about the Hatrack online community would have to be a fantasy.

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

Okay, a romance then. Two Jatraqueros, who constantly clash online over issues such as intelligent design, meet in real life and discover that his cookies aren't half bad, and he's one heck of an auto mechanic.

Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :

quote:
What I can't figure out is why a novel about the Hatrack online community would have to be a fantasy.

No one would believe that so many intelligent, well-read people could so consistently and bull-headedly not get along with each other.

Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :

Yeah, all of us intelligent people are horrible monsters who fight and kill. [Big Grin]

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

Oooh. How about a story in which the Hatrackers, through their collective intelligence and wisdom, deduce the true nature of god, humanity, and the universe? A new religion is spawned, focusing on jelly donuts and the importance of properly inflated automobile tires.

Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :

and jello. don't forget the jello.

Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :

And Dew! It has to be fantasy, because the real world fantasy authors have had centuries to (make up?) lots and lots of cool creatures, but none of them apply on the internet. So it is now our duty, as members of the best forum on the internet, to write a story about fantastic internet creatures such as The Icons!

Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :

"What I can't figure out is why a novel about the Hatrack online community would have to be a fantasy."

If OSC can't see it, nobody can.

Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :

Some things are stranger and more amazing than fiction.

Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :

indeed, it is a matter of fact that strangers collide with friction. it was ever thus and will forever be so.

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

How about a novel about Hatrack 30 years from now? Surely by then somebody here would have done something truly extraordinary and become famous for it. The rest of us will have become crusty old farts.

Posted by clod (Member # 9084) on :

Crustiness is an extraordinary accomplishment. Fartiness, maybe not be so much so. Combine the two, and I think that's a recipe for... well... (omit comments about fossilized gas-bags).

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

(inserts comment about flatulent pincushions) Prickly rather than crusty.