Parradime

[cosmolinguist]

"If," Andrew said apropos of nothing, "I was going to write a Da Vinci Code knockoff in three days and if I was going to call it The Plato Something, what should the third word be?"

"I don't know," I said. "I don't read these kinda books! Call your dad and ask him. It'll be something like...strategem." (it was actually Daleks I was thinking of here.)

"Strategem! That's good," he said, turning back to his computer. Inadvertantly, I nearly double my footprint on literature (I've already suggested a name for one of Andrew's books, only to learn that other people had come up with better names after he'd gotten sick of trying to think of one and gone with mine).

Then he told me his great idea for his protagonist's name was, upon googling, another self-published author who "writes books about burritos" (I am not going to ask) so he asked me for a name. "For a aging but youthful academic whose field is never specified who..." -- I stopped being able to pay attention here -- "...pulled into a world of...ancient...secret code...artifact..."

"Leonard," I said.

It made him laugh.

"Leonard... Paradigm!"

Now he was really gigling, but though it was obvious he loved it he protested, "How many people have you met called Paradigm?"

"You could spell it funny!" I was trying to be helpful. "Like Carradine!"

Writing books is fun. I hope he asks me to help more.

Comments

[sfred]

This made me smile.

[bethanthepurple.livejournal.com]

I like making up stories. I made one up about a little monster the other day. He wanted to be a heron, so he wore car aerials, clothes pegs, a branch and telephone directories. It didn't work, but it ended happily anyway.

Not sure about actually having to write the things down.

[cosmolinguist]

Andrew is great at writing down things. He's done five books now (all non-fiction) and a handful of short stories too. I believe this will be his first novel.

I'm glad things ended up happily for your little monster, and thank you for sharing his story.

[andrewducker]

The Plato Paradigm!
The Plato Conundrum!
The Plato Alternative!
The Plato Corroborate!

I look forward to more tales of book-writing.

[cosmolinguist]

Ooh, Conundrum! I wish I'd thought of that. These are all ace though :)

I like Paradigm myself but I thought the plosive alliteration would be a bit too silly.

[mammadibiba.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I like the idea of a Leonard Parradime.

More of this, please. It is cheering. x

[cosmolinguist]

I found it so too. Today Andrew's concerned at how quickly the daughter of The Man Who Knew the Secret that set off the plot, has to stop being a gibbering crying wreck at the brutal murder of her father and start saying "But Doctor Mr. Academic Professor, what is the Omega Point?"

So much for autistic people having no empathy :) It's proving a hindrance to him now.

[adjectivemarcus.livejournal.com]

I think if it's intended as a spoof, "The Plato Something" is a brilliant title already.

Leonard Proht-Agoniste?

[cosmolinguist]

I'm totally writing something one day with someone called Proht-Agoniste in it :)