# Finish the Hardboiled Detective story: Control Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182 "2007-05-31T13:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/1 "2007-05-31T13:38:58Z")
Who wants to play? I’ll see how many are interested here, and then start the story next week. This will be similar in structure to the “Raking Broadsides” Napoleonic sea story and the “Pelleri Conundrum” _Star Trek_ story we had so much fun with here in Cafe Society. Questions, comments and observations also welcomed. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/2 "2007-05-31T16:00:15Z")
I’ll play! And once again, let me take this opportunity to thank\*\* ivylass\*\* for being the creator of the “Finish the…” stories here on the Dope. She started it all with the first “Finish the Western” story. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/3 "2007-05-31T18:56:25Z")
I’ll contribute whenever I have something, which might not be all that often. I always seem to get the best ideas when I’m asleep. 🙂 Really, [this bit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7088630&postcount=33) was inspired by a dream I had just awakened from. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/4 "2007-06-01T00:38:17Z")
Do you see this as a contemporary story, a period piece, maybe a print version of film noir? If it’s a period piece, what period? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/5 "2007-06-01T13:49:10Z")
I was thinkin’ a period piece, maybe the mid-1930s, in the hardboiled/pulp style of the day. What would you prefer? ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/6 "2007-06-01T16:54:15Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I was thinkin’ a period piece, maybe the mid-1930s, in the hardboiled/pulp style of the day. What would you prefer? [/QUOTE] Thirties is fine, though the 20’s are also good. I’ll play if I get a chance – work and kid have a habit of keeping me from doing lengthy posts. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/7 "2007-06-01T17:01:22Z")
Walking the dark streets of the City, where nobody wins and most of us lose. Where the innocent and not the guilty are hit by a car and left in the gutter with the rain and the cigarette butts and the broken glass… Oh, I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/8 "2007-06-01T17:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] Thirties is fine, though the 20’s are also good. I’ll play if I get a chance – work and kid have a habit of keeping me from doing lengthy posts. [/QUOTE] Thirties is fine, though 20s are OK as well? Jeez, how close do we intend to cut this thing? Do we have an agent? Have the film rights been optioned? Anyway, I’ll see your Spade and raise you an Archer. (Forgive me. I’m a bit tight. Care for a splash to cut the phlegm?) ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/9 "2007-06-01T17:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] Thirties is fine, though 20s are OK as well? Jeez, how close do we intend to cut this thing? Do we have an agent? Have the film rights been optioned? [/QUOTE] Heh, it makes a difference, though. Is the Depression going on? That changes the dynamics. Anything after the 30’s isn’t as great, I don’t think, because social consciousness is increasing, so you can’t be as cheerful about sending someone to the gallows or the chair. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/10 "2007-06-01T20:32:04Z")
I’d prefer a period piece to a contemporary piece. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/11 "2007-06-05T15:01:31Z")
::bump:: Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/12 "2007-06-06T11:34:50Z")
Sure, I’ll play. Please be warned, though, that I’ve been reading Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” novels lately, so I’ll have to remember not to use vampires. As for time setting, 20’s has jazz, Prohibition and mobsters; 30’s has the Depression. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/13 "2007-06-06T12:32:24Z")
[QUOTE=PerditaX] I’ll have to remember not to use vampires. [/QUOTE] She was the kind that would suck the life out of a man, and leave him crawling on his knees in the alley begging for more. I wasn’t going to fall for it, not me, until she sat in my lap while I was standing up. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/14 "2007-06-06T13:54:39Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] She was the kind that would suck the life out of a man, and leave him crawling on his knees in the alley begging for more. I wasn’t going to fall for it, not me, until she sat in my lap while I was standing up. [/QUOTE] That is so perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/15 "2007-06-06T14:16:18Z")
“Someone hit me with a piano and the floor came up to somther me.” - paraphrased from Hawkeye reading to a sick Korean boy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/16 "2007-06-07T15:04:37Z")
The story has begun: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8655096#post8655096](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8655096#post8655096) Here are the thread rules: 1. Have fun, but be true to the genre. 2. Respect the continuity of previous posts. 3. If you don’t like hardboiled detective fiction, at least let us have some fun with it. Trolls and jerks will be reported to the mods. 4. Don’t kill any character you didn’t personally create. 5. Move the story forward, however incrementally, from the previous post. 6. Don’t post twice in a row - let someone else write an intervening chapter. If no one does so for 48 hours, however, you may post consecutively. 7. Please do your best to ensure correct spelling and grammar. 8. Other than agreeing for it to appear in the story thread, you retain copyright to your submitted material. 9. I may introduce additional rules, as needed. Thanks for your participation. Best wishes to you all. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/17 "2007-06-07T17:07:28Z")
Damn, I had a second “episode” all written out, and for whatever reason it wouldn’t submit. The message said I wasn’t logged in, but I was. What the heck. I’ll try posting it again when I get home in about an hour and a half, if nobody else has beaten me to it. About rule #4, I know I wouldn’t be wantonly killing off characters, but in several threads like this I’ve been in we’ve had posters kill characters they didn’t create, when it fit into the plot. It never seemed to be a problem. Maybe can we do it, if, say, the\*\* creator \*\* allowed it? I figure by the time we get to killing(if any) the writers hear will all be easy with each other. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/18 "2007-06-07T17:24:30Z")
Good idea. If the character’s creator OKs it (either in this thread, or through private email), then I think you may kill off the character. As you say, not to be done wantonly (or hot-and-sourly). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/19 "2007-06-07T17:34:48Z")
These should help set the mood: [http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/slang.html](http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/slang.html) [http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm](http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm) [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/slangmenu2.html](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/slangmenu2.html) [http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm](http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm) [http://www.gumshoeonline.net/lingo.html](http://www.gumshoeonline.net/lingo.html) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/20 "2007-06-07T17:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] Damn, I had a second “episode” all written out, and for whatever reason it wouldn’t submit. The message said I wasn’t logged in, but I was. What the heck. I’ll try posting it again when I get home in about an hour and a half, if nobody else has beaten me to it. [/QUOTE] I’m composing something right now. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182.md?page=2)