Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Starships On Fire, Off the Shoulder of Orion

There are some things you only get to do in spec fiction. I have a very, very old character who hails from a certain port city in Egypt once known for its lighthouse. Today I got to write:
  • CHAZ
  • I was in the city, you know. When they burned the Great Library.
It might be a two-percenter, but it's the sort of thing that makes me very, very happy.

Incidentally, my producers tell me we got a lot of interest in my metaphysical drama for pay cable at MIP. So you might actually get to see him say that.

5 comments:

daveed said...

What's a "two percenter"?

Monsterbeard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Monsterbeard said...

You titled your post about your two-percenter with a two-percenter? You dog!

A two-percenter is a reference that only about 2% of the audience is likely to get.

OutOfContext said...

A "certain port city" with a name very similar to a certain TV writer and blogger? It's fun to get a little secret pleasure from your work, especially if it blends into the work. I wrote a comedy scene based on the chicken run from Rebel Without A Cause that did not depend on getting the reference, but gave me a big kick in the writing. I remember Mike Nichols talking about 'little secrets' in his films that gave him pleasure and helped hold the work together, but were absolutely unnecessary for the audience to know.

Kira Snyder said...

Nice! There was a Leeroy Jenkins line in an episode of mine last season. We had to defend it to the studio and network, but it stayed in and the gamers loved it (helped that a gamer character said it).