I'm glad you liked it overall. I'm definitely not done with this plot.
I didn't have Shadowfist in mind writing this, but I'll take the reference as a compliment. I almost think Sam would make for a better Event than Character...
Having only Mike using gender-neutral pronouns would have been genius. Shame I didn't think of it. Basically, there are two ways you can read them here: 1) this occurs at a more-enlightened near-future time in a place where gender-neutral pronouns have already been established; 2) think of them as phonetic - you may as well replace every "e" with "'i", since no one pronounces the aitches in male pronouns anyway. Take your pick - I don't really care either way, and it'll never come up in this story. (Maybe in other stories, but not Twenty/Zero.) I agree that it's a little tricky to read at first - it was a little tricky for me to write! - but I'm determined to get used to them.
I've been using the differentiate-the-speaker-by-font routine for years; I do apologize, in this case, for being lazy and only giving Mike es own font. I agree that color alone isn't enough. I should actually fix that - although I wasn't really expecting this while writing, I'm pretty sure that Trevor will return, and I should retrofit a font to es words. Of course, since this isn't actually a print publication, whatever fonts I use need to also be on a reader's system for them to show correctly, so I may not be able to please everyone in this department. I don't care so much about Spencer - e's dead - but I'm having a hard time picking a font for Trevor.
Wow - out of context, that last sentence is interesting. - ZM
no subject
I didn't have Shadowfist in mind writing this, but I'll take the reference as a compliment. I almost think Sam would make for a better Event than Character...
Having only Mike using gender-neutral pronouns would have been genius. Shame I didn't think of it. Basically, there are two ways you can read them here: 1) this occurs at a more-enlightened near-future time in a place where gender-neutral pronouns have already been established; 2) think of them as phonetic - you may as well replace every "e" with "'i", since no one pronounces the aitches in male pronouns anyway. Take your pick - I don't really care either way, and it'll never come up in this story. (Maybe in other stories, but not Twenty/Zero.) I agree that it's a little tricky to read at first - it was a little tricky for me to write! - but I'm determined to get used to them.
I've been using the differentiate-the-speaker-by-font routine for years; I do apologize, in this case, for being lazy and only giving Mike es own font. I agree that color alone isn't enough. I should actually fix that - although I wasn't really expecting this while writing, I'm pretty sure that Trevor will return, and I should retrofit a font to es words. Of course, since this isn't actually a print publication, whatever fonts I use need to also be on a reader's system for them to show correctly, so I may not be able to please everyone in this department. I don't care so much about Spencer - e's dead - but I'm having a hard time picking a font for Trevor.
Wow - out of context, that last sentence is interesting. - ZM