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Yes, it's another Sanctuary post *g*
Okay, I actually am enjoying Sanctuary quite a lot, despite all the complaining *g*, and I have even enjoyed some episodes, like "Fragments", that a lot of my flist didn't seem to like. But the most recent one I watched (Next Tuesday) pushed me riiiiight over the edge into active annoyance, because there is only so much I'm willing to tolerate of the characters making stupid decisions because the plot requires them to.
There were a lot of little things about this episode that bugged me -- a whole lot of instances where the characters made small decisions that annoyed me because of their lack of foresight and planning (like, say, not securing vital equipment, or not making better use of things like the flares and spear gun that they later turned out to have). But the big thing that got to me in this episode was this:
The Sanctuary network is apparently quite large and well-funded, and has been going for at least a century or so. And, from what we've seen, a regular part of their job is going into remote, dangerous locations to retrieve dangerous animals (or at least, animals who by definition have unknown and extensive capabilities).
So why, why, WHY do they not have a regular system in place for check-ins and emergency retrievals? How is it POSSIBLE that they can seriously be so disorganized and bad at planning that they send a team to a remote location over the ocean to capture a large, dangerous wild animal, and their entire emergency plan is basically "maybe someone will notice we're missing if we don't show up after a couple of days"? I ... I just can't even ... I mean, that is such a basic level of survival!fail that I just don't have words. Lying about the flight plan seems like an odd set of priorities -- the secrecy of the mission is more important than anyone's life? -- but when combined with the fact that they actually have no other emergency backup plan AT ALL, I'm just left flailing in despair. GAHHH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.
That episode was not by any means devoid of fun (it was a neat premise with lots of exciting bits, and I like how they keep revisiting Ashley's and even Clara's deaths this season), but I was just too stuck on the sheer implausibility and stupidity of their lack of planning to really enjoy it. I mean, either someone seriously fell down on worldbuilding in the writer's room, or Helen is the most irresponsible and scatterbrained boss who ever lived, and she's not supposed to come across that way, you know?
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/309662.html with
comments.
There were a lot of little things about this episode that bugged me -- a whole lot of instances where the characters made small decisions that annoyed me because of their lack of foresight and planning (like, say, not securing vital equipment, or not making better use of things like the flares and spear gun that they later turned out to have). But the big thing that got to me in this episode was this:
The Sanctuary network is apparently quite large and well-funded, and has been going for at least a century or so. And, from what we've seen, a regular part of their job is going into remote, dangerous locations to retrieve dangerous animals (or at least, animals who by definition have unknown and extensive capabilities).
So why, why, WHY do they not have a regular system in place for check-ins and emergency retrievals? How is it POSSIBLE that they can seriously be so disorganized and bad at planning that they send a team to a remote location over the ocean to capture a large, dangerous wild animal, and their entire emergency plan is basically "maybe someone will notice we're missing if we don't show up after a couple of days"? I ... I just can't even ... I mean, that is such a basic level of survival!fail that I just don't have words. Lying about the flight plan seems like an odd set of priorities -- the secrecy of the mission is more important than anyone's life? -- but when combined with the fact that they actually have no other emergency backup plan AT ALL, I'm just left flailing in despair. GAHHH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.
That episode was not by any means devoid of fun (it was a neat premise with lots of exciting bits, and I like how they keep revisiting Ashley's and even Clara's deaths this season), but I was just too stuck on the sheer implausibility and stupidity of their lack of planning to really enjoy it. I mean, either someone seriously fell down on worldbuilding in the writer's room, or Helen is the most irresponsible and scatterbrained boss who ever lived, and she's not supposed to come across that way, you know?
This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/309662.html with
A Dresden question ...
Re: A Dresden question ...
But I can put it in a comment for you! Well, possibly more than one. You may regret that you asked. :D
Here's what I had written down when I got burned out and quit on the blog post I was making:
404 pages
43 chapters
average 9.4 pages per chapter
8.9 pages not counting last chapter (which is really long)
8.4 pages as of ch. 32 (the chapters get progressively longer)
Basic plot:
Someone is murdering women in Chicago who possess magical ability. Harry's brother is a suspect, but turns out to be helping instead, by rescuing & hiding victims. The killer is unmasked and killed, but turns out to be part of a deeper conspiracy that involves power politics among the vampires. Harry & co. crash a gathering of vampires and challenge the person behind the conspiracy to a duel, eventually killing him and establishing a new balance of power.
Emotional or plot high points:
Harry learns Thomas is a suspect (50)
Elaine turns up (89)
Thomas revealed to be a good guy (156)
The Skavis unmasked (240)
Harry has a plan - launch last third of book which composes finale (270)
I initially had a lot of trouble figuring out where this book's major plot turns are located. Eventually, going mostly by page count, I decided to diagram this book as breaking into three parts:
First third: Thomas is a suspect; Harry pursues leads & eventually tracks him down & learns that he's not the killer. First mini-climax when Harry sees the picture of Thomas at Anna's apartment, thus confirming his suspicions about Thomas; this leads directly to the fight with Thomas & the ghouls at Thomas's boat. This reveals that Thomas is not the killer and Madrigal Raith is one of the major baddies.
Second third: Finding the real killer - the Skavis - and fighting/killing him. Mini-climax in the fight w/the Skavis and Elaine being hurt. During these two thirds, all the pieces are set up for the reveal of the conspiracy and the final confrontation in the Deeps.
Final third: Confronting and fighting the real baddies (the White Court) culminating in a huge battle sequence & then the falling action.
But the middle "third" is shorter than the other two, and something just wasn't working here. It clicked when I started diagramming "Blood Rites", which is somewhat more obvious in its plot structure, in that it has a huge turning point halfway through the book. I started flipping through several of Butcher's other books and noticed that they ALL do that -- there is a really big turn located more or less in the middle. (
Anyway, going back and looking at White Night, I realized I'd been going about this all wrong. I'd been looking at page count, but it breaks completely differently if you look at it in terms of chapters, which is, after all, how the author probably had broken it down in the original outline. (The chapters get progressively longer as the book goes on, which makes the first "half" deceptively shorter than the second.) But looking at it in terms of chapters, suddenly the pattern snaps into focus:
First half: Someone is killing women and Harry's brother Thomas is the prime suspect. Harry pursues leads & eventually tracks him down & learns that he's not the killer, revealing that there must be another hitherto-unknown killer.
Second half: The real killer, the Skavis, is tracked down and killed, catapulting us into the final confrontation & climax.
Re: A Dresden question ...
Part 2
First quarter ends with Elaine revealing herself to Harry.
Second quarter ends with Harry and Thomas coming face-to-face in the fight at Thomas's boat, revealing that Thomas is not the killer -- someone else is.
Third quarter ends with the battle with the Skavis and starts the inexorable slide towards the endgame.
And the last quarter of the book is pretty much all climactic battle.
Other interesting stuff:
- Butcher nearly always mentions a recurring character, theme, or major power at least once before they actually appear, usually in a context that obscures their actual significance to the later plot. Ramirez, for example, is mentioned offhand when Harry is talking about Wardens near the beginning of the book; some ten or fifteen chapters later, he shows up for real.
- Action scenes are interspersed with "... and this is what we learned from all of this" scenes in which the characters, by way of getting other characters up to speed and/or going over the information they just discovered, basically summarize Our Story So Far for the reader. But it's subtle; I'd never noticed how often he does this until laying it all out chapter-by-chapter.
- Another interesting thing is how most of the scenes, especially near the beginning but, really, all throughout the book, do double and triple duty to reveal aspects of the characters, to advance the plot, and to catch the reader up on stuff that happened before. Okay, see, intellectually I know that you're supposed to do this all the time. But it's one thing to just read the advice in a writing book. It's more enlightening to see it in action. Any given chapter in this book has examples, but, well, let's say chapter three, in which Harry visits the morgue with Molly in tow. This provides opportunities for a ton of character stuff, exposition, and plot advancement -- to show how Molly's powers work and how inexperienced she is at dealing with corpses and violence; to catch up the reader on how Harry's hand is healing; to show us how Harry relates to Molly as her teacher; to drop the next handful of clues about what happened to the victim; and just to have the characters bounce off each other for a while.
Chapter-by-chapter breakdown - this is where I REALLY ran out of steam on the other books I was working on (you kinda have to do this in order to get a good idea of all the underlying points of the plot, but man, it takes FOREVER. I only managed to finish White Night and a Robert B. Parker novel.)
The numbers are the page numbers of the chapter, because among other things, I was trying to figure out how the length of a chapter correlated to its spot in the story arc (answer: it depends).
1. Crime scene. Introduce Harry & Murphy, and main mystery. Ends with Exodus quote, "suffer not a witch to live", which will set up the main mystery. 1-7
2. Molly introduced. Leave crime scene. 8-14
3. Forensics. Introduce Butters, check in w/Harry's hand issue. More info on corpse. Also find out more about Molly: we see her reaction to the corpse, Harry discusses her w/Butters, and she uses her powers. 15-29
4. Molly's history revealed (for those who missed the previous book or need a recap). Harry visits Mac's for the first time in this book. Harry talks to Mac, who reveals that women are scared of him because of his grey cloak (Harry jumps to the wrong conclusion, that it's because he's a Warden; of course this *is* actually a clue, but it allows the narrative to discuss Harry's difficulties at working with the Wardens, too). Then Mac gives him a clue to move him to the next stage of the mystery. 30-38
5. Skip to Harry & Murphy on stakeout, based on Mac's clue, outside Anna's apartment. We get a little more recap on the political situation while they wait. Chapter ends as they see Helen Beckitt entering building. 39-43
6. Scene in the apartment - introduce the women, and the description of Thomas as a suspect. Ends w/Harry accidentally triggering the car bomb in Murphy's car. 44-57
Part 3
8. Discussion w/cops. Goes to talk to Lash. 69-74
9. Introduce Lash. Discuss situation w/her. Lash brings up the missing person in the witches' meeting. 75-83
10. Harry goes back to Anna's apartment, has a brief fight & discovers Elaine there. 84-89
11. Elaine reveals that someone with a gray cloak has been seen in company with the victims. Then the building catches on fire. 90-95
12. Escape from burning building. Harry spots Grey Cloak & takes off after him. 96-101
13. Harry chases Grey Cloak, tags him, & goes home to use Little Chicago. 102-107
14. Introduce Little Chicago & Bob. Harry pursues Grey Cloak using Little Chicago & overhears conversation between Grey Cloak & mystery passenger. Skavis is mentioned. They split up; Harry continues following Grey Cloak into Undertown. 108-119
15. Harry follows Grey Cloak in Undertown & overhears a conversation between Grey Cloak and his master, whom he discovers is Cowl. Cowl spots him & hits him with a psychic whammy. 120-124
16. Harry wakes up w/Molly present. Murphy shows up. Harry presents his best guess for what's going on, including some wrong guesses; Murphy offers more information to help debunk his first theory about the passenger's identity. Madrigal is mentioned for the first time, but not as a suspect - merely talking about White Court. They leave to talk to people. 125-133
17. Harry has a conversation w/Ramirez (he was mentioned earlier, I forget which chapter). Mention of that thing that happened in New Mexico; we are not told what yet. Current political situation w/vampires is discussed. Harry tells Molly about Elaine. Repeats the motif (again) w/Molly's bracelet. 134-139
18. Harry visits Elaine w/the witches she's protecting, so we see all the women again. Harry decides Beckitt's not involved. The telepathy spell is used for the first time. Elaine shows Harry a photo of Thomas w/one of the victims. 140-146
19. Harry & Elaine talk. Character stuff. Little bit of plot stuff re: Thomas. 147-152
20. Harry uses his amulet to track Thomas to the harbor & the Water Beetle. Brief fight w/Thomas, revelation that he's helping/hiding the women rather than hurting them. Ghouls show up. 153-162
21. Fight w/ghouls; ends w/Madrigal Raith shooting Harry. 163-171
22. Very brief recap of who Madrigal is. Harry falls into water. Switch to New Mexico flashback. Luccio introduced & we see more of Ramirez, as well as getting a better idea of how the Wardens operate. Ghouls attack NM training camp & take two kids. 172-182
23. Harry calls on Lash to translate while he interrogates ghouls. Finds dead kids. Uses Hellfire. Tortures surviving ghoul. Switch back to Thomas & Elaine rescuing Harry from the water. 183-194
24. Harry wakes up; scenes w/Harry & Elaine, then Harry & Thomas & Elaine, sharing information. Thomas's sex-vampire powers are alluded to, but not seen. After Thomas leaves, Harry & Elaine go back to where they left the women w/Mouse & find Anna's corpse. 195-204
25. Harry & Elaine mulling over the body & considering their options. 205-208
26. Harry uses tracking spell on Mouse (has charm on Mouse's collar so that he can find him). Spell leads him to Mouse & the remaining women. Suspicion once again is cast on Helen Beckitt. 209-213
27. The women explain that Helen left to go to work & that she refused to talk about what she did for a living. The latest group of women are moved to stay with the ones Thomas had hidden (who Murphy is now protecting). Discuss case w/Murphy, summarizing new information. Murphy reveals that the first victim worked at the Velvet Room for Marcone. Murphy also teases Harry about the events at Thomas's apartment. 214-221
28. Harry & Murphy go to the Velvet Room. Harry talks w/Marcone. Helen Beckitt/Demeter shows up at the end. 222-230
Part 4, a.k.a. OH GOD THERE'S MORE
30. On his way to save Elaine, Harry discovers Molly hiding in the backseat & loses his temper at her. More recapping/mulling while in the car. Then Harry tries to reach Elaine telepathically. 240-249
31. Harry gets through to Elaine at the last minute. Fight w/the Skavis; Thomas shows up at the last minute to save Harry from a killing blow; between them, Harry, Thomas, Mouse, Murphy & Elaine take out the Skavis. Harry lets Thomas know that he's figured out why Thomas wasn't able to talk, and Thomas quietly tips off Harry that there will be a White Court gathering day after tomorrow. 250-260
32. Elaine's in the ER. Harry & Murphy talk in the waiting area. She calls him on the way he scared Molly earlier. Character stuff. Plot hashing-out. Marcone calls Harry & says he "read the papers" that Harry sent over and he'll do what Harry asksd (we don't know what yet). Harry also tells Murphy that he has a plan. 261-270
33. Lash & Harry talk about Molly & free will. 271-277
34. Ramirez shows up at Harry's apartment. We discover part one of Harry's plan, which is to challenge the White Court to a duel. Molly shows up & has her moment of truth; we also find out what was up with the bracelet. 278-289
35. At the Raith estate. Molly waits w/Mouse. Harry & Ramirez go in & meet Lara. We find out Ramirez is a virgin and we see a bit of Raith sex magic at work. 290-300
36. They head out to the Deeps. Justine is introduced (though she was mentioned earlier). Harry & Ramirez observe the gathering of White Court and then Harry makes his entrance and challenges Vittorio Malvora & Madrigal Raith to a duel. 301-310
37. Various arguing & politicking; ends w/start of duel. 311-321
38. The duel. Madrigal is killed. Vittorio, losing, springs his trap at the end. 322-332
39. Harry unleashes *his* trap, opening a gate to the Nevernever so that his cavalry (Thomas, Murphy & Marcone's mercenaries) can enter the fray. They fight. They can escape, but Thomas refuses to leave without Justine, and Harry can't bring himself to leave the thralls to die, so he gets Marcone to help him save them, and they all charge into the heart of the fighting. 333-342
40. Fight w/the ghouls. Ends w/Vitto Malvora launching a despair attack that flattens everyone, with 1:34 left on the explosives timer. 343-359
41. Lash freezes Harry's perception of time so that she can have a final discussion with him. Harry learns that he may have power over Outsiders. Then she makes her sacrifice. Harry is free of the Malvora power, and he shoots Vitto, enabling everyone else to escape. Chapter ends w/Harry & Lara being trapped in the heart of the Deeps when the gate closes, with the explosives about to go off. 360-369
42. Harry gets Lara to kiss him for a final surge of power, enabling him to shield them. The explosion blasts Harry & Lara out of the Deeps. Harry & Lara have a final conversation & make a deal; then Harry heads back to the car where Molly & Mouse are waiting for him. 370-377
43. Final wrap-up of dangling plot threads. 378-404
You can see why I ran out of steam ...
I did a full breakdown like this one for Robert B. Parker's "Resolution", and I started doing it for "Blood Rites" (book 6 of Dresden Files) and "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley and, uh, I think there was one or two more. But I seriously ran out of steam on finishing the project, especially when it came to trying to pull together information from all of the books and find their commonalities and differences -- which was another thing I wanted to find out: how do detective novels break down differently from fantasy and is that different from sci-fi, etc.
So here's the first part, anyway. :) Sorry again about not getting back to you more quickly; I wanted to finish the whole thing before I posted it, but I don't think I'm ever going to.
Re: Part 4, a.k.a. OH GOD THERE'S MORE
I think I'm going to give The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie, a shot -- though, as the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy, it might not be optimal -- might be better to do a stand-alone story. Other option is Best Served Cold, which is stand-alone and is nicely chopped into eleven'ish different sections:
1) Introduction to Main Character #1 (MC1)
2) Introduction to Main Character #2 (MC2)
3) MC1 recovers from nasty shit that happened to her in the first chapter and builds her Revenge Team (which includes MC2)
4-10) Seven Revenges
11) Denouement/epilogue
Problem is, I just reread it a month ago -- might be good, as I won't be distracted by the awesome prose/story, but won't be as interesting ... h'm.
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The only thing that makes sense to me is the whole Marvel Universe healing factor - everyone who's got it is to one extent or another batshit insane. If you're immortal or effectively invulnerable (as Helen, John and Nikola all are), you don't HAVE to develop any common sense. *sigh* Still, it has its moments.
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But, yeah, even though I'm struggling with certain aspects of the show, I really am enjoying it. New episodes in April, yay! :D
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read fanfic about The Five? honestly, that's why I watch the show. because half the time they botch the premise of the Sanctuary network/abnormals, but Helen and company in the 19th century? YES PLEASE. They should have just skipped the present day stuff and made this show take place entirely in the past. The Adventures of the Five in Victorian London - I'd watch it!
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