C> Story Integration Initiation
…….
Beginning Story Integration Initiation…
[Formulating Exposition]… Detail parameters setting- random generator in effect- correcting unknown error- selection made pursuant to topical protocol.
This story takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was hot and humid. [Simile function] Like the smoke from a recently doused campfire. [Correcting... Sentence structure and colloquialism program intact...] The campfire air stuck to everything it touched.
int hashpjw(int M, char* t) { unsigned h=0, g; for(;*t;++t) { h = (h << 4)+ *t; if(g=h&0xf0000000) { h ^= g>>24; h ^= g; Protagonist generation (ongoing)= female= 22.3 years= Caucasian= Mesomorph= Dorothy. {Peccadilloes Enumerated}==Crafting…
Dorothy touched the water on the shore with her hand. [Image Filter Function Realized- Processing Visual Imagery] Dorothy knelt down by the shore and let her fingers dance across the slowly flowing surface of the water, careful not to stain her [Search...Extrapolating Plot Point]
c>ERROR.
C>ERROR.
Reboot…
Progress recovered successfully. Resuming SII [Story Integration Initiation]…
Dorothy knelt down by the shore and let her fingers dance across the slowly flowing surface of the water, careful not to stain her black dress.
[Conflict Generator Engaging] itemType must have struggle to “inner self” or “outer self”, which identifies the purpose <class inner, class outer=int> class ConflictSort { public: // Conflict Files[] void Sort(itemType a[], itemType b[], indexType l, indexType r) { a = &a[l]; b = &b[l]; for(int i=0; i<sizeof(int); ++i) { sort_byte(i,a,b,r-l+1); std::swap(a,b); } } protected: sort_byte(int bytenr, itemType a[], itemType b[],
indexType count) { static indexType i; typedef unsigned char* UCP; for(i=0; i<256; ++i) occurences[i] = 0; // better: memset for(i=0; i<count; ++i) ++occurences[((UCP)&a[i])[bytenr]]; for(i=1; i<256; ++i) occurences[i] += occurences[i-1]; for(i=count-1; i>=0; –i) b[--occurences[((UCP)&a[i])[bytenr]]] = a[i]; } int occurences[256]; Generation Complete…
A man appeared. [Suspense Nominator Online..Image Filter Function Realized- Processing Visual Imagery..Antagonist Generation Complete]
Please wait…
Please wait…
A shadow eclipsed her shoulder and she turned, startled to see a man leaning against an old cemetery tree in the waning light. indexType Dialoguecount) { static indexType i; typedNormal unsigned chat* American English; Crawling Web for Syntax… That dress is a tad too nice for such juvenile behavior, don’t you think?
{Dialogue Response}
Do you wish to embed programming language? Y/N…
Y/N… Y…
Go to hell, she scoffed, rising to her feet, the warm air flowing past her out to the river beyond.
The man glanced down at a tombstone near his feet and shook his head. You just don’t get it, do you…
Don’t say it- don’t say it again. Leave me here by the water, please.
Baby, he’s gone…
Shut up! she screamed. Just shut up! She began to stomp furiously past him but he grabbed her arm and twisted her until their faces lay inches apart.
You listen to me good, sweetheart. Sometimes I wonder if you even realize the danger you’re in- sittin’ out here all day, playing like a damn child. How much effort it take to look over there and picture your pretty corpse tangled up in those roots? He placed a sweaty hand on her face and forced her to look back toward the river. Don’t seem so safe no more, now does it?
She turned her head and bit down hard…
…
Program Error<count; ++i) ++occurences[((UCP)&a[i])[bytenr]]…Data Dump= Erasing Memory.
This program has encountered an error. All unsaved data will be lost.
Scanning disk drives.
C>CTRL/ALT/DELETE
5 Comments
August 13, 2008 at 5:52 pm
You are a genius- I don’t know what else to say. I know I’m biased a little, but it doesn’t make it any less true!!
August 14, 2008 at 12:02 am
Hey–Sorry it took so long to swing by. I hope all is well wherever you are. So, I like this one. I found myself pulled into it immediately. I had a “huh?” moment, which is good cause after I have that I want to read on. Some stories out there just have no “huh?” moment. The “huh?” came with the whole computer lingo thing and I found a wry grin cutting across the side of my face as I thought back to all of those random story generators and newnovelist self-help story guides. Good.
Just some thoughts…
Unless it is the effect you are going for, you need to fix the guys dialogue at the end to “effort it takeS.” I wasn’t sure if you were trying to give him a backward hick sound or not. It came across as a typo and pulled me out of the narrative (as they all do–we’re all guilty) so if you are trying to “hickify” him, consider another part of his speech.
I think the middle section of computer type could be shortened a little. At this point I got it and want to read to the final.
About the final… I wondered if the scene or dialogue could somehow “loop” back to the computer angle? Kind of digital, stiff and dull or something? This thought goes back to my initial reaction that the piece was a satirical look at faltering imaginations in our modern, computron world.
Anyway. Just thoughts bruttha. You do what you gotta do.
Thanks for sharing and be back soon.
Wellum Hulder
August 14, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Thanks for the feedback! I think this story may be one of my personal favorites- I actually felt like I was doing something different.
Looking back, I probably will shorten the code in the middle- it perhaps is a bit much.
I’m not sure how to rectify the whole “take” fiasco, or even if it should be fixed. In my mind, that’s what he should say, but if you (the reader) aren’t picking up on that, then I should probably find a way to make that more clear. In any event, the suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Looping is an interesting thought- I’m considering working on this story some more and then submitting it to a short story contest. I will definitely keep that in mind if I attempt to do so.
Thanks again!
August 15, 2008 at 4:51 am
I very much enjoyed this one. (Yes, I’m going to continue on my own shit, just thought i’d comment here.) I would suggest shortening the code, however I love it. Its such a strange break. I like the idea of intense action, interspersed (sp?) with strange breaks. One of my favorite writers, Alan Lightman, wrote a book called “The Diagnosis” where he insterspersed (once again, sp?) the dialogue and action with “chat messages” from online chat sessions. At first, its striking, and then it blends into the overall idea of the story. Good job.
August 15, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Thanks for the comments- turns out if I want to enter it into the contest, I’ll have to cut down that middle portion of the code a bit.
I like the title suggestions- I was going to go with something more “computery” but that’s a good idea.
Hulder, someone else read the story yesterday and commented on the “take” issue. So, good eye on that one- I think I’m going to change it to “does it take” or something similar. Thanks again.
Both you and Hulder should enter that contest I mentioned above. If we can’t get off our asses and turn in a manuscript of less than 500 words and pay a $15 entry fee we probably shouldn’t be writers. That’s like a competitive eater not going to a free hot dog party.