# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/21 "2007-06-07T17:59:08Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] 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. [/QUOTE] Yes, in the first sci-fi story, I had a nice character introduced, all ready to be fleshed out, and she got killed off in the next post. It’s kind of fun to react to how others think the story should go. ---
**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, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/22 "2007-06-07T18:01:34Z")
Well, so much for what I wrote! 😃 But hey, with a little tailoring I can use the character I made and still get some use out of it. BTW, good post **Lute**! I think I have an idea what this Bruiser looks like. And thanks for the links! ---
**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, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/23 "2007-06-07T18:04:24Z")
🙂 I was so busy finding sources for period slang that I had neglected to completely read the OP. Let’s say Joe’s fuzzy mouth wasn’t rectified by the first sip of water. ---
**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, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/24 "2007-06-07T18:04:39Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] It’s kind of fun to react to how others think the story should go. [/QUOTE] That was always one of my favorite parts too. And it wasn’t just killing. I think it was in the second western I was all ready to treat one character as the stereotypical “Hooker with a heart of gold” when someone had her put a knife to a baby’s throat. 😛 So much for that idea, and it actually worked out better than my old cliche idea. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/25 "2007-06-07T18:37:22Z")
Why, who would ever do a thing like that? \* :bats eyes innocently:\* ---
**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, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/26 "2007-06-07T18:39:34Z")
We’re off to a good start - thanks for the posts so far. Hope everyone likes the SDMB naming in-jokes. I made another in-joke (from another genre entirely) in the OP. Anyone figure it out? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/27 "2007-06-07T18:55:41Z")
The law firm references Agatha Christie? ---
**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, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/28 "2007-06-07T19:06:21Z")
Sounds like the guy lives in his office. But why would the secretary come in on a Sunday morning? ---
**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, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/29 "2007-06-07T19:08:55Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] But why would the secretary come in on a Sunday morning? [/QUOTE] Possibly making sure her mealticket, such as it is, hasn’t finally drank himself to death. Or something. ---
**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, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/30 "2007-06-07T19:09:53Z")
I envision him having a ratty apartment somewhere. And the secretary worried about him when she didn’t find him there… to take him to church? I dunno. 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, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/31 "2007-06-07T19:10:57Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] The law firm references Agatha Christie? [/QUOTE] Nope. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/32 "2007-06-07T19:36:12Z")
It’s the Depression. He works half-days on Sundays, and his secretary needs all the hours she can get. I believe the 5 day work week came around after WW2? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/33 "2007-06-08T03:23:58Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Yes, in the first sci-fi story, I had a nice character introduced, all ready to be fleshed out, and she got killed off in the next post. It’s kind of fun to react to how others think the story should go. [/QUOTE] In those older threads, a lot of us communicated via e-mail about major things like that. For instance, in the first sci-fi thread, I had **Baker** ’s (the OP) okay for the climatic fight scene and the later denoument. The control thread idea came to me because I thought it would be better for everyone to see the behind the scenes discussions, instead of just a cliquish few. The continuing interest in these types of threads seems to have positively proved that point. Again, thanks to **Ivylass** for introducing to the Dope this genre of story threads. ---
**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 8, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/34 "2007-06-08T04:58:40Z")
**Baker** , why should we ignore your post #6 in the story thread, as you suggest in the last italicized sentence? Seems OK to me. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/35 "2007-06-08T10:00:28Z")
It conflicts with the one that proceeds it. After I got it written I didn’t preview and another poster had beat me by about twenty minutes. Guess I didn’t think they could be reconciled. ---
**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 8, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/36 "2007-06-08T13:10:18Z")
…aaaaaand nice recovery, **Lunar Saltlick**. We’re back in bidness. Looks like Maynard’s borderline alcoholism might excuse a number of continuity glitches. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/37 "2007-06-08T17:08:56Z")
Heh heh heh…have fun with that post, guys! Half the fun of these things is setting up the pitch with no idea how the batter is going to swing. No, in case you were wondering, I don’t know what is written on the back of the business card, or why it would bother Linda and Maynard so much. Enjoy stretching your imaginations. I would also like to point out in the first Western thread, I had Belle tell someone her beloved Jesse was dead. Shortly after that, a poster wrote that Jesse, beaten into an inch of his life, had escaped his captors. I admit I squeed a bit on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/38 "2007-06-08T19:02:09Z")
In case anyone is interested in the very first “Finish” story, here’s the Western that\*\* ivylass\*\* mentioned. We didn’t do control threads then, so comments are scattered into it. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=174740&highlight=Finish+Western](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=174740&highlight=Finish+Western) ---
**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 11, 2007, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/39 "2007-06-11T12:17:26Z")
Sorry I screwed up on the HMS. I tried to fix it this morning. But go ahead and drop that story line if you want. ---
**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 11, 2007, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182/40 "2007-06-11T12:25:13Z")
My only contribution; is the James Thompson named after the pulp author Jim Thompson? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-hardboiled-detective-story-control-thread/406182.md?page=3)