Okay, so remember what I said about fic?

[conuly]

Yeah. It goes for original stuff too.

If your character (let's call him Monk) is very smart in a limited way (let's say he solves cases really well and quickly - though I do take issue with his sometime trend of finding the killer FIRST and then working backwards... I mean, hypothetically, I would), and the facts are SO OBVIOUS that even the very clueless in the audience (let's pretend that person is me) figure it out about three minutes after the dead guy is revealed? (No, seriously, I often am startled and surprised by things that everybody else considers obvious in fiction. And I read a LOT, too.)

Monk shouldn't take another ten minutes to work it out.

DUH.

Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh!

If you can't solve cases faster than Monk can, you can at least write them harder.

Comments

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Ah, but since we're being given the clues from a different perspective than monk is, is it not logical that he might take a different amount of time to solve the crime?

Okay... not applicable most of the time, but I'm trying here...

[conuly]

Not this time, alas.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Monk was just pretending not to know and then pretending later on to suddenly figure it out?

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

I guess this means that I shouldn't write fic about anyone, period. I'm simply not that smart. I couldn't even figure out something in three minutes, let alone how to construct such a case/problem.

[conuly]

The difference between you and Monk is that there's only YOU with you, but on Monk they have a whole team of writers - one of them ought to have been able to make the case more difficult, or Monk brighter.

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, I gotcha. In other words, they had each other to bounce information and ideas off of, whereas I might not have that luxury.

Also, Happy (belated by now) Birthday! ^^;;

[conuly]

Right. My standards for published works are, rightfully, higher than my standards for amateur work done for fun - although even then I really expect people to do their best, because that's the whole *point* - because these people (theoretically) have more resources.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Ah, but since we're being given the clues from a different perspective than monk is, is it not logical that he might take a different amount of time to solve the crime?

Okay... not applicable most of the time, but I'm trying here...

[conuly]

Not this time, alas.

[sporks5000.livejournal.com]

Monk was just pretending not to know and then pretending later on to suddenly figure it out?

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

I guess this means that I shouldn't write fic about anyone, period. I'm simply not that smart. I couldn't even figure out something in three minutes, let alone how to construct such a case/problem.

[conuly]

The difference between you and Monk is that there's only YOU with you, but on Monk they have a whole team of writers - one of them ought to have been able to make the case more difficult, or Monk brighter.

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, I gotcha. In other words, they had each other to bounce information and ideas off of, whereas I might not have that luxury.

Also, Happy (belated by now) Birthday! ^^;;

[conuly]

Right. My standards for published works are, rightfully, higher than my standards for amateur work done for fun - although even then I really expect people to do their best, because that's the whole *point* - because these people (theoretically) have more resources.