Comment on The Best Laid Plans

  1. Palhinhaea on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 03:37AM UTC

    Palhinhaea plant

    Firstly, I just want to say I'm deeply impressed by your excellent insights.

    You have hit the core question of this story. Who can Katarina rely on? Who can she possibly trust? Far more than Bakarina, this is a Katarina who justifiably cannot look at anyone around her without seeing her death by their hands. So how does she handle it? And then there are all the chapters of the story answering that question ;)

    As for Anne, well, that will be answered, whether directly or indirectly. I don't want to spoil too much on this front. As for her self-esteem, well, that will be part of the story too, but I will say that one of the reasons I am drawn to original Katarina is that I think that she has a fierce sense of her own worth, even in the face of a world that disapproves of her. Of course this also means that she tragically undervalues herself in some ways too, but I don't think this is going to be quite as depressing an exercise as you might be thinking. This is very much a story about original Katarina getting some real time to shine.

    I will have the next chapter up tomorrow and I hope that will give you a small sense of how this is going to work, but I really appreciate your honest, thoughtful questions. Thank you very much for the opportunity to discuss these ideas and your keen insights.

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    1. JustNewGuy (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 04:16AM UTC

      I’m also anxious to see how your story deals with the social norms the Hamefura world affects her decision in addition to the knowledge of her many many unreasonable ends.

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      1. Palhinhaea on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 04:22AM UTC

        Palhinhaea plant

        You have some great understanding of plot threads. Social norms are very much going to play a role in how Katarina handles things. After all, what else do thirty-seven Katarinas have years of training to use and understand? I hope that you will enjoy how she leverages some of that knowledge to go with her honestly pretty unjustified deaths. (Seriously, insulting someone is not a death penalty. Some of the underlying canon of this world is pretty horrific.) We will certainly get a lot of using-the-deaths-to plan. I really hope you have fun with what is coming! Thank you for the additional great thoughts.

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        1. JustNewGuy (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 04:27AM UTC

          Yeah..... I’m all but certain that a good portions of those deaths will have negative consequences for the murderer no matter who it is responsible. Consider that she is the daughter of a duke, this is not something you can just easily sweep under the rugs. Sorry Maria, the truth is you really are just more expendable than our villainess far as social hierarchies go.

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          1. Palhinhaea on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 04:33AM UTC

            Palhinhaea plant

            This is... a really interesting observation. I'll just ask you to hold that thought for awhile. One of the interesting things with writing this story is that none of the Council of Katarinas have the ability to know what happened after their deaths, so their perspective might be slightly skewed. And by slightly skewed, I mean that nobody in Katarina's brain is in really good emotional shape right now. We'll see how that changes!

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            1. Dinoskull on Chapter 1 Sun 12 Jul 2020 06:14AM UTC

              Yeah, Gerald puts himself in exile, and Keith dissapears in the bad endings. ...Gerald may self-diagnose as a sociopath if he knew the concept, but he's not. He's just a perfect asshole who sees attention and love as something he had to work for. I think killing someone probably shook him after the high wore off.

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              1. Palhinhaea on Chapter 1 Sun 12 Jul 2020 04:48PM UTC

                Palhinhaea plant

                I really like that you caught the implications of my previous comment here. Without spoiling too much, the canonical events after Katarina dies do matter to this story.

                I think you have a very intriguing perspective on Jeord. I'm quite curious to see what you think of the Jeord that appears in this story. Your thoughts are... very interesting.

                Thank you for the great character sketch.

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    3. Wr3n on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 08:41PM UTC

      ANNE!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 OMG... and sienna???? What about her. Can Katarina really trust NO ONE to not have a hand in her death????

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      1. Palhinhaea on Chapter 1 Mon 06 Jul 2020 09:36PM UTC

        Palhinhaea plant

        Interestingly, this question is going to be at least partially answered in the next chapter! These are great questions and I hope that the upcoming bread crumbs will give you some good ideas ;)

        (But also, you have asked the question that is key to Katarina's psychology in this story. Whether or not we think that Katarina is safe with someone, Katarina isn't going to know whether or not she is safe . This will definitely have... consequences.)

        Thank you for the excellent questions.

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