Decisions, decisions Friday, 17 July 2009

Two decisions taken: Otto works at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne (thanks Anna for the suggestion and, I guess, Des the curator for giving Otto a job!) and Professor Remi is going on an expedition to the central Rift Valley (good work TheLetterB, Lulu and Tom). Ta, everyone, for your votes.

Two decisions still to go. First, the important question of drinks. What are Aileen and Kyle’s tipples? Here’s the shorlist, chosen by me from your suggestions:

1. Guiness for her, G&T for him (cheers Caroline)
2. Dr Johnson’s Definitive Ale for her, Guinness and black for him (sláinte DJ and Kiwi)
3. Dr Johnson’s for her, The Original Oldbury Sheep Dip whisky for him (skál DJ and Treehugger)
4. Pint of Deuchars IPA each, Rebus-style (na zdrowie DJ)
5. Share a jug of Pimms (cin cin Kiwi)

There’s a poll in the sidebar to the right. Vote now!

Finally, we need a book for Watson and Aileen to read in the Sheep Heid. There have been some great suggestions, but here are my favourite four:

1. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Siobhan)
2. Hound of the Baskervilles (Kiwi, seconded by Treehugger)
3. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (Nu-knees)
4. The Lost World by Michael Crichton (Treehugger)

Get voting!

High society plan Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Thanks, everyone, for voting to decide what Beryl Potts’s evil plan is. The winning plot is Wearealldoomed‘s idea that Beryl will make rejuvenation available to a select group of the international elite – making Beryl rich and “creating a new class of high society, superior in looks and wealth”.

Well done, Wearealldoomed, and thanks everyone else who suggested ideas – the vote was very tight, with Tom’s profit-making plan only just beaten into second place (29% to 26%).

Choose the evil plan Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Thanks to everyone who’s joined the discussion about Beryl Potts’s evil plan. We have 6 suggestions.

Beryl plans to…

1. make a huge profit by having a monopoly on rejuvenation (suggested by Tom back in April).

2. cure her own illness (suggested by Anna who was way ahead of the rest of us in February).

3. rejuvenate herself (suggested by Tom) because she’s “a rich old lonely woman trying to regain her youth” (added by Kiwi) and perhaps wants a guy (added by Bibliomane).

4. create an army of Beryl Potts clones and use them to take over corporations across the world (suggested by Percival and seconded by Lulu).

5. create a “new class of high society, superior in looks and wealth” by selling the rejuvenation secretly to a select group of the international elite (suggested by Wearealldoomed and elaborated on by Bibliomane and Kiwi).

6. create clones of Professor Remi and use them as evil secret agents (suggested by Kiwi, bouncing off some of the other ideas).

Which do you like best? Vote now in the sidebar poll to the right, and the winner will be incorporated into The Lost Book animation.

Confrontation or reflection? Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Right, that’s another couple of loose ends tied up. You’ve decided that Invisible Inc. lured Aileen to Christchurch because they needed a press witness (56% of the vote – it was close!). You’ve also concluded that Kyle isn’t a police contact for Invisible Inc. (67%).

The next decision is a biggie. Episode 5 is being launched on Friday – and then there’s only one more episode to go. We need to decide how much we want to cover in the final installment. Do we want to stick to solving the crime and confronting the evil Beryl Potts? Or, do we want to explain more of the loose ends and/or find out what happens when Aileen gets back to Edinburgh? We could do either, by using different narrative structures. The options are:

1. Episode 6 uses the same linear narrative as episodes 1-5. We finish the story from where we left off, and show what happens when Beryl Potts is confronted.

2. We fast-forward six months. The episode is based around a voiceover narration where one of the characters reflects on what has happened since the night-time rescue in Christchurch. The visuals would show snippets of the events as they’re mentioned.

Although option 2 is a bit of a cheat (using a voiceover to explain things rather than showing them through action is always cheating!) it’s true to the spirit of Arthur Conan Doyle, who inspired The Lost Book. The Sherlock Holmes stories generally end with Holmes explaining everything to Watson after it’s all over.

Let us have your opinion by voting in the sidebar poll to the right. And, if you’d like to tell us what you think about either of these options, or find out what others are saying, then join the ongoing conversation.

Loose ends Wednesday, 10 June 2009

We’re tying up all sorts of loose ends in the story.

It’s been decided that Otto Dafé didn’t pass the manuscript of the Challenger journal on to Beryl Potts – he gave her an amended copy (69% of the vote). This means the original is safe somewhere.

There’s been lots of discussion about the implications of Otto and Lyn working together. Lyn has lured Aileen to Christchurch on the pretext of chasing Otto – who she knew all along was a good guy. So, what is she up to? The current theory is that Lyn needs a journalist to be present – either to make sure that Grazp’s activities are reported in the press (my idea, seconded by Kiwi) or because she thinks a journalist will be able to help them find things out (Tom’s suggestion).

What do you think? Did Lyn want Aileen as a press witness, or for her investigative skills? Vote now in the poll to the right.

And, another question: Tom suggests that Kyle might be Invisible Inc.’s police contact. He suggests that Aileen wasn’t actually a suspect, but Kyle told her that to get her involved because Invisible Inc. wanted her.

So, is Kyle also in on the conspiracy? Does everyone except Aileen and Watson know what’s going on?! Vote in the sidebar poll.

We’ve also been chatting about Aileen’s Mum, and whether she was also in on the plan, whether she was framed (or being used to get at Aileen), or whether she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The conclusion is that she was just unlucky – and clumsy! As Bibliomane puts it: “She sounded EXACTLY the sort of person who would do that and Aileen was clearly only too familiar with Mum getting fired – maybe she just always messes up.”

All of this conversation about loose ends has got us thinking about how we approach the final episode of The Lost Book. Here are two options:

1. We finish the story from where we left off, and show what happens when Beryl Potts is confronted.

2. We cheat slightly and fast-forward six months. The episode is based around a voiceover narration where one of the characters reflects on what has happened since the night-time rescue in Christchurch. The visuals would show snippets of the events (Beryl being driven off in a police van, Aileen being re-united with her mother, etc. etc.) . We’d be able to tie up far more loose ends this way.

What do you think? We’d like to have your opinion, so leave us a comment.