Predictions

[Miruku]

I like feedback. It won't necessarily make me change anything that I've already done, but it makes me better aware of what I'm doing as a writer in future, even if I don't realize it. Be my focus group.
I want you to predict the future.
No, seriously.

I have a couple of subjects on which you may predict, if you so choose, and, after making a prediction, I would love to hear a reason as to why you made said prediction.

1. What pairing is going to have sex first?
2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
3. How long has it been, story-wise, since the first page (okay, not really a prediction, but something I have an answer to and am fairly certain I haven't been portraying well)(plus, the answers my friends give are entertaining).?
4. Hypothetically, the cat and Theo meet, will A. Keslar like Theo? and B. Theo like Keslar?
5. Where is Emma's musical career going to go from here?

Okay, so, I've given you very little to go on on 5 and 4 is mostly for fun, but I would really like to know about the first 3, particularly the first 1.

Also, again, you guys rock for being forumgoers!

[Pacian]

1. What pairing is going to have sex first?

Keslar and the violin. I drew a diagram, but apparently posting it will break the Internet.

No, okay, Emma and... Willem. Theo jealous, Willem encouraged, Emma confused. The focus of the comic seems to be on Theo and Emma's relationship, so throwing in something like this seems like a good way to make things difficult for them.

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?

One of the following:
1. He's studying a medical degree in his spare time and was cramming for an exam on the female anatomy. The exam was starting in only a few minutes, so he didn't have time to go upstairs to the reference section.
2. The book was written by his mysterious ex-fiancee.
3. Brusque front aside, Theo is actually a soppy romantic who spends his time writing poems about how the moonlight sparkles in his tears.
4. On closer inspection, it was a yaoi manga. Theo is bravely exploring a new side to himself. The answer to your first question turns out to be "Theo and Willem".
5. He was looking for pointers on making his restaurant appeal to couples and/or bedding Emma.

3. How long has it been, story-wise, since the first page (okay, not really a prediction, but something I have an answer to and am fairly certain I haven't been portraying well)(plus, the answers my friends give are entertaining).?

There are points where some amount of time seems to have passed - enough that we reach a point where something interesting happens, but not enough that we feel that we've missed anything or that the characters have forgotten their problems and grievances. That seems like 'a few days' in my book. Add them all up, feels like two or three weeks.

4. Hypothetically, the cat and Theo meet, will A. Keslar like Theo? and B. Theo like Keslar?

A. Yes. B. No.

Theo seems too grumpy to like cats. And cats identify with that sort of person.

5. Where is Emma's musical career going to go from here?

Busking.

[Miruku]

I know I hoard my private stash of cat on violin porn like an obsessive compulsive hoards...well...everything!

My friends will like reason No. 4 for Theo and his girly porn.
Mostly because when I use the term "girly porn," apparently, I am the only one among my friends who does not immediately think of, well, honestly, the yaoi smut doujinshi we all own. That's probably only because I've called romance novels girly porn since before I discovered the wide and pinus-ridden world that is yaoi.

Oh, busking. I wish I lacked the self-consciousness to busk. One time I got, like, 4 dollars. And an offer to play at an italian restaurant- where I later earned 70 bucks...oddly, that was guitar, which I'm really kinda bad at. Of course, then I moved to Florida, where no one cares, and I gave up all hopes of my future busking career.

Busking is so much better of a term than street performing. Or playing on the sidewalk. Or, "hey, don't you need a license to do that?"

[Miruku]

Man, I was so totally hoping for a bunch of awesome responses on this one. Well, I did get them, but only from one person.

My presumption- it's at the bottom of the forum, so no one is bothering to look at it. I try again!

[Geekblather]

1. What pairing is going to have sex first?
Hmm. Probably Will and Emma. If only because he seems so very interested, and is apparently very patient...

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
Hey, everybody has to get their rocks off somehow. He also could have picked it up out of curiosity, and now feels very embarrassed and stupid.

3. How long has it been, story-wise, since the first page (okay, not really a prediction, but something I have an answer to and am fairly certain I haven't been portraying well)(plus, the answers my friends give are entertaining).?
I feel like it's been- a month or two?

4. Hypothetically, the cat and Theo meet, will A. Keslar like Theo? and B. Theo like Keslar?
Keslar will dislike Theo immensely. Theo will try to hard, which is the best way to ensure a cat's scorn.

5. Where is Emma's musical career going to go from here?
If the restaurant ever picks up, maybe more gigs there. It would be fun for something exciting to happen to her though, putting out a CD or something.

[Miruku]

Theo will try to hard, which is the best way to ensure a cat's scorn.

One of the most true sentences I've ever read (about cats in general, not the story).

I love this thread.

[Thisberichard]

1. What pairing is going to have sex first?
Brody and Jeremiah.
No, seriously, no clue.
I do have a vague suspicion it will not involve Emma, actually, but I don't think that we're gonna see Brody and Jeremiah together.
Though I'll admit I would think it was hilarious if Jeremiah turned out gay and macked on Theo or something.
Hm. If I had to name a pair... hey, you've got married people. Do they count? No? They have a kid, they must have by now!

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
Well, I think about it like this... early on he seemed sort of timid. Now he usually seems a lot more overbearing in a lot of ways. Now maybe that's just incidental character development, but I wonder if perhaps it's just bravado. Maybe he's actually sappy love-starved quazi-emo kid with a strong feminine side that likes that kind of stuff but is trying to act macho.
I get the sense that the book tells us more about him than his conversations do.

3. How long has it been, story-wise, since the first page (okay, not really a prediction, but something I have an answer to and am fairly certain I haven't been portraying well)(plus, the answers my friends give are entertaining).?
I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't really think about that much. My mind just accounts for changes and accounts for time differences as being "enough" for the purposes of the story's development, however much that amount might be.

4. Hypothetically, the cat and Theo meet, will A. Keslar like Theo? and B. Theo like Keslar?
A. I don't know if you'd do it this way, but I imagine complete and utter indifference.
B. I imagine him disliking (or wanting to dislike) Keslar, but warming up to the cat anyway. See #2.

5. Where is Emma's musical career going to go from here?
Doesn't really matter much, I think. Unless something big happens and she ends up as part of a big orchestra that moves around a lot -- which I don't see happening for story reasons -- there aren't many music-based jobs I can think of that she might get that would really change much in the grander sense.

[Miruku]

Brody IS a "little bit gay."
I don't know if I can speak for Jeremiah.
But Hooray! for remembering poor, poor Alicey. One of my friends was under the impression that she was separated, since I haven't ever drawn Tom. ...I really need to come up with a less vague character design first, though...
And yes, we're assuming the whole child thing implies sex, however long ago last had.

As for #5, as a classical musician myself, I'm sad that you don't think her career choices will really matter much. Although, admittedly, I haven't done much with it storywise since I implied her disdain for teaching and a lot of people don't know the ins and outs of classical musician...ing like me. Just...trust me.

I'll probably start getting back to it around part 2 and focus on it in part 3 and onwards.

[Thisberichard]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a musician's career choices are all whatever. I'm saying there's little I can see that might happen with a profound influence on the story.
In fact, most jobs are like that.

[Miruku]

Yes, and what I'm saying in response is that, aside from the "who ends up with who" romance stuff...it pretty much IS the story. At least, it's the other main half of it.

[Thisberichard]

Really? Well, yeah, I suppose that makes it more important, huh?

I was looking at it almost exclusively as a character piece. Not even really about who ends up with who or really about the events much at all, but about the people in it. Like the events (including relationships, for instance) were largely catalysts for the real meat of the thing -- how the characters dealt with it and what that meant about them. The story as a means rather than an end.

But I'm like that. I'll need to reevaluate a little.

[Miruku]

Well, you're not really wrong about that. It's just...don't you think the fulfillment Emma does or does not get out of her job makes an impact on her character?

I mean (for example), I'm sitting here, one year of undergrad left. I have to apply to grad school in the fall. I have to apply to grad school because I won't get a job(particularly an orchestral job) without two more years of schooling. So, if I don't get into grad school(I was having this discussion with my teacher yesterday, incidentally), then I will feel like I have failed at the life I've wanted since I was twelve years old.
Makes some impact on my character, wouldn't you say?

[Thisberichard]

Oh, certainly. It's the pursuit of the -- and I just now realize that I chose my words poorly. I do that.

What I meant -- and how I'd initially interpreted the question -- was with regard to specifically what specific variety of job she'll end up with. I guess I got thrown by the word "career."
But, in that regard, I stand by my answer -- the specific job she hunts isn't such a big deal, but rather it is the pursuit and aquisition of that goal. And the definition of that goal, I suppose -- but again, it's the experience of finding the definition, not what the definition ends up being.

But now I'm thinking in a broader sense. Where is her musical career going from here? Not looking at it as "what is the destination" or even "what is the next step" so much as "in what direction will she be going?"
In which case I suspect her progress will be largely dependent on the results of her search for answers (she seems rather rudderless). I'm inclined to think that the path she'll be following towards wherever her musical career leads passes through a search for personal answers before professional advancement. But that's just a guess.

In any event, have I hit on the actual question yet or am I way off? Or have I hit on it inaccurately, answering the right question in the wrong way?

[Miruku]

I choose my words poorly all the time. There are few people you will find more sympathy with on that subject.

This is really hard to put into words. Man.
So, what you were saying was that it doesn't matter to you or to the story what her job ends up being, as much as it may matter to Emma, in as much as if she wants to be college teacher and gets it, she will be just as happy as if she wants to be in an orchestra and gets it. What matters to the story is how she travels towards that goal and whether or not she gets it, whatever it may be. So, the events that transpire may be different depending on the specific job, but the idea of them as a means to an end will be the same.

That is a rather difficult concept to write down, so here's hoping that we're on the same page.

The original question really was just in regards to the specific type of job. Though, now you've pointed out...that doesn't really matter...and I probably know a lot more of the specific vocations in music than a lot of the people that read my comic. Meh.

[Aureolus]

1. What pairing is going to have sex first?
Robert and jessica~ (hey you werent specific!~)

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
maybe he LIKES it? without the yaoi joke in it i dont mind reading a good romance from time to time :3

3. How long has it been, story-wise, since the first page .?
maybe a month or 2/3rds of a moth?

4. Hypothetically, the cat and Theo meet, will A. Keslar like Theo? and B. Theo like Keslar?
theo'd act like he kiles keslar while emma's present, but while he and keslar are alone they wage a silent war. (theo thinks bad things about the kitty, and vice versa for keslar)

5. Where is Emma's musical career going to go from here
umm.. to the bathroom so it won't be sqirming during its next performance?

heh, i love the comic though ^^

[Miruku]

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
maybe he LIKES it? without the yaoi joke in it i dont mind reading a good romance from time to time :3

You're...14, right? (not meant as an offense at all, just I tend to get confused about people saying certain things until I find out that they're not that old (compared to me) and then I'm like, OOOOH, you probably think I'm talking about something different....) 'cause romance novels are different from, say, how Emma is a "romance" or say, a romantic comedy.... Romance novels are like porn for girls... usually(apparently some of them don't have the dirty stuff, but then, really, what's the point?)...

Then again, for all I know, you know exactly what I'm talking about and are quite the romance novel connoisseur. :wink wink, nudge nudge:

[Aureolus]

2. Why the hell was Theo reading girly porn, anyways?
maybe he LIKES it? without the yaoi joke in it i dont mind reading a good romance from time to time :3

You're...14, right? (not meant as an offense at all, just I tend to get confused about people saying certain things until I find out that they're not that old (compared to me) and then I'm like, OOOOH, you probably think I'm talking about something different....) 'cause romance novels are different from, say, how Emma is a "romance" or say, a romantic comedy.... Romance novels are like porn for girls... usually(apparently some of them don't have the dirty stuff, but then, really, what's the point?)...

Then again, for all I know, you know exactly what I'm talking about and are quite the romance novel connoisseur. :wink wink, nudge nudge:

just like that last part says... and im 16.. dA has this thing where you put your age in a text box that dosent know how to keep track of birthdays...

but then again its more like romance movies not novels.... (mainly lake house, and must love dogs )

[Miruku]

Yeah, I found it on DA. You can change those yourself, you know.
Well, you're still much younger than me, so, eh...

But yeah...romance movies = a very different animal than romance novels.

[Aureolus]

Yeah, I found it on DA. You can change those yourself, you know.
Well, you're still much younger than me, so, eh...

But yeah...romance movies = a very different animal than romance novels.

true true...
by the way i've been meaning toask, have you read / seen bridge to terabithia?

[Miruku]

Nope, why?