Prompt of the week!

[thorny]

Yes, very cool! I didn't know the edible part.

Clover blossoms also make nice tea.

in terms of group agreement as to the story, and so on: I agree that declaring certain things to be 'this-board canon' (nitpick: "cannon" is a different word; English is weird) would create a problem, both in that it would discourage people who want to write alternate versions, and in that it's rather asking for arguments. But I do like a sort of 'shared-fan-universe' concept for those who want to join it, so that people who want to do so can build off each others' stories. Maybe we need some way to routinely and easily indicate that permission's being given for others to build off a story, and also some way to indicate that a group of stories are so related to each other?

[dmeck7755]

(nitpick: "cannon" is a different word; English is weird)

Cannon Boom!. Stupid spell check

Other canon….sorry

[thorny]

Spell check is even weirder!

[lwise]

(nitpick: "cannon" is a different word; English is weird)

At least canon and cannon are spelled differently though pronounced alike.  Consider cleave (stick together) and cleave (cut apart).

[tehta]

I believe that words like cleave, which are their own antonyms (clip and sanction are other examples) are called Janus words, for the two-faced god.
It's a different issue, but inflammable and flammable are also fun, as two words that sound opposite but mean the same.

Regarding canon, I agree with Jitter. We want to be as accessible and welcoming as possible, plus having multiple interpretations is fun. I have even been enjoying interpreting things slightly differently within different stories of mine. I am not even sure I have personal fanons I would stick to 100% of the time. (I have even written fics in which Emil and Lalli are not an explicit couple!) Well, maybe except the Sami etc not being all dead or assimilated, because that's bad on so many levels.

[JoB]

I was thinking about Onni today, and it occurred to me that there's something odd about his story that I don't recall anyone pointing out.  Why wasn't he with the hunters and scouts in Fall Y79?  Why was he on the island of livestock and crops?

The canon information we have is that Ensi started training him as a mage, but then dropped him to train Lalli instead. Considering the one-on-one principle of Finnish mage formation, that might well have been enough to let Onni fall through the cracks and limit him to a self-studying bookworm ...

(nitpick: "cannon" is a different word; English is weird)

Still applicable.

It's a different issue, but inflammable and flammable are also fun, as two words that sound opposite but mean the same.

Fill in this form by filling it out.
Getting into quicksand is a slow death.
Slim chance, fat chance, same difference.
Emil can speak of that building burning up as it burned down.
You can park in a driveway, but better should keep driving in a parkway.

... hey, we've all heard the ondit about English and dark back alleys.

[tehta]

Might it be possible that Ensi alternated between training her two grandsons? Also, it might be that with mages, making sure they get basic training early on is vital, to develop those strong mental defences Lalli described to Emil. So focusing on training child Lalli, and not the already-mostly-trained Onni, might make a lot of sense.

Regarding Onni's power, yeah. I was just thinking about that. I believe that Minna has said that the reason she kept him out of Adventure One is because he is so powerful that he would have ruined the plot, but in Adventure Two he did... almost nothing beyond teaming up with Tuuri, really. I think this is a genuine Plot Hole^TM, in need of filling. (While the comic was still going, I was sure the Kade had gotten to him, somehow.)

And I love the idea about the ironic/tragic portent!

[thegreyarea]

I'm very happy that my comment helped sparking a fascinating discussion!

To clarify, when I talked about our canon I meant pieces/stories that we consider so fitting they could be canon. Not that we would, or should, define our own dogmatic canon, and anyone contradicting it would burn on the bonfire of our comments.

We could even have two (or more) could-be-canon things for the same moment in the timeline. So dmeck wrote that nice piece with the Hotakainens conversation, and it fits very well with the story and the characters, therefore many of us (or perhaps one of us) believes that it could be canon, and so we add it to that yet-to-be-created repository/thread. Next month someone else writes another piece about the same conversation. And, you know, it's very different, but also great. We don't have to decide which is the best, or which fits better. We simply add the new one to the repository.

My idea is that those works should be added to the SSSS scriptorioum, and inside that we could create a thread ("Could be Canon" or other name, IDK) where we put a brief description of the story and a link to the place where it is (just to avoid repetition). That would also help avoiding that those pieces where "lost" inside other threads where it can be hard to find them in the Future.

Now, if someone disagrees with the could-be-canon status of a story... well, speak up and explain the reasons, and we decide. And by "we" I mean the people that are around the Forum. The fact that only moderators or admins can remove a post would help, of course. I can help keep it organized and write descriptions.

Well, that it. I hope it wasn't very boring.

Oh, about the permissions, I'm completely ok with anyone using anything from my stories to develop their own. No need to ask, but I'd like to be informed, not to "police" what happens but just to know, because I'd be curious to see the outcome.

[tehta]

I don't know whether I should say anything, and this is drifting a bit off-topic, but...

I think that this sort of thing could create drama, or at least tension, by encouraging people to criticize others' works? Right now, there's always the option of "don't like, don't read", and the stories one disagrees with are easy to ignore*. But if stories that vex people start getting anointed as 'could-be-canon', and if criticizing them to get them removed from the list is a viable option, then people might get more vocal?

I know this fandom is generally a very kind one, but when talking to older authors I have heard some rumours of disagreements as to Tuuri's character (as in, is she abusing Lalli?), and I have seen some pretty, er, spirited discussions in the older comic comments on other topics (like, is Lalli abusing Emil? Can their friendship be called functional?) And, as Jitter mentioned, shipping is always a hot-button issue, of course. 


* I have some of these! I see them mostly as uncontroversial (they tend to be extreme, unironic darkfics) but I could be wrong. I know triggers can vary wildly from person to person.

[lwise]

But if stories that vex people start getting anointed as 'could-be-canon', and if criticizing them to get them removed from the list is a viable option, then people might get more vocal?

Agreed.  I am likewise uncomfortable with the idea.  But I think a discussion of "how could you resolve this plot hole" (like the unsatisfying conclusion of the Kade problem) might be interesting.  Not in a "this is the should-be-canon" way, but in a "this is my idea" "ooh, but what if --" way.  That is, it would be a way of sparking ideas off each other, which could then give rise to stories for those of us thirsting for more.

[dmeck7755]

Maybe rather than set up "reader canon" (I think I got the spelling )

We can do themes instead

Examples (These are my head things)
Emil and Lalli
Tuuri does not die
Sigrun and Mikkel
Onni and Reynir (This is not mine, but they do go well together, and I have written a couple with and without)
Back stories on any of the characters.  (I have been loving lwise's stories)

This way it may encourage different writers and their canon's.  Or even if people have the same, how different and worthwile all the stories are

[dmeck7755]

Agreed.  I am likewise uncomfortable with the idea.  But I think a discussion of "how could you resolve this plot hole" (like the unsatisfying conclusion of the Kade problem) might be interesting.  Not in a "this is the should-be-canon" way, but in a "this is my idea" "ooh, but what if --" way.  That is, it would be a way of sparking ideas off each other, which could then give rise to stories for those of us thirsting for more.

Great minds think alike (ha ha)

[lwise]

Tuuri does not die

I have a plan for that ... 

[tehta]

Maybe we want a new thread for plothole and canon-fix discussions? Where should it go?
I think I, for one, would find it inspiring. I tend to express my canon-related ideas better (or, at least, less boringly) with stories than with essays.

[dmeck7755]

Maybe we want a new thread for plothole and canon-fix discussions? Where should it go?
I think I, for one, would find it inspiring. I tend to express my canon-related ideas better (or, at least, less boringly) with stories than with essays.

I new thread is a good idea!! we are starting to clutter this one up

It also may bring people/ideas who do not read this thread. 

Maybe under Writing Board or General Discussion?