I think Douglass Hofstadter might have done something like this, continuing story after it ends s readers don’t actually know how long it is. You can tell when that happens because the story gets really silly at that point.
Is this a call back to that old strip about Millie asking her mom whether “living happily ever after” mean sustainable but hollow pleasure or more fulfilling stuff only part of the time?
The Grimm Brothers sometimes ended their stories with “and they lived happily ever after until they died.” They never said how long that was, it could be an hour after they were wed.
Doctor Who actually covers the concept of “happily ever after” very well. It doesn’t necessarily literally mean forever, and it doesn’t mean that bad or unhappy things won’t happen. It means the characters found a lasting joy and contentment that overcame other issues.
Why have one moral when you can have ten
When you get to that point, it’s no longer a story, but a treatise.
Hey, happily ever after for about an hour isn’t bad for a prince. I think the princess got a pretty good deal if he spends that long at it.
“really complex morals” = pointless plot twists? o_O
I think Douglass Hofstadter might have done something like this, continuing story after it ends s readers don’t actually know how long it is. You can tell when that happens because the story gets really silly at that point.
Look for “Tim Conway’s elephant story” on YouTube. It broke up the cast on the “Mama’s Family” tv show. 🙂
Is this a call back to that old strip about Millie asking her mom whether “living happily ever after” mean sustainable but hollow pleasure or more fulfilling stuff only part of the time?
The Grimm Brothers sometimes ended their stories with “and they lived happily ever after until they died.” They never said how long that was, it could be an hour after they were wed.
Technically, “ever after” means forever. Rather unlikely.
Some of the story seems like it was auto-generated by AI. (Really. I’ve heard AI generated stories before.)
Doctor Who actually covers the concept of “happily ever after” very well. It doesn’t necessarily literally mean forever, and it doesn’t mean that bad or unhappy things won’t happen. It means the characters found a lasting joy and contentment that overcame other issues.