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Jamie's avatar

Hi.

I'm enjoying your story. Stones don't burn. It's not because the fire isn't hot enough. It's because stone is already oxidized, so no further oxidation reaction can occur. Of course, it's your fantasy world and you can have stones burn if you want them to. But that means that either 'burn' or 'stone' doesn't mean what your readers (at least some of us) think it means.

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Hilary Layne's avatar

I understand what you're saying. My description here is meant to be from his perspective, colored by the horror he had felt that night. Whatever might have been around or against the stone was burning, it seemed to burn, it might have even split and crack. Everything seemed to be on fire. Later he might learn that stone does not itself catch fire and burn, and he might not. He might forever assume stone burns because of that night. But the image in that moment had been that the whole universe had been ignited. The soil, the air, the stone, too. I have seen videos of stone houses on fire. Though the stone itself does not catch fire and burn, the stone appears to be burning and blackening and it is striking and horrifying. That is what I was trying to convey through the perspective of an inexperienced nineteen-year-old, that horrifying sense that the whole world had been on fire, even the parts as solid as stone. He had even perceived that the fire seemed to be hunting him.

However, your comment makes me wonder if the poetic image got lost in the scientific improbability. So I will make a note of it for revisions.

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Jamie's avatar

Very good. I understand what you mean. I experienced a small fire as a child. I felt like the whole world was on fire.

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Hilary Layne's avatar

Thank you for the note. It was helpful. I can only imagine how terrifying a fire would be to a child.

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Russell Morahan's avatar

Just being silly: But is the prince's meeting with death anything like the meeting with Death in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? Hehe. :P

I look forward to reading!

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Hilary Layne's avatar

That's the Monty Python I haven't seen. I saw The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian (as someone who took Latin in school, the scene with the centurion correcting his Latin grammar lives in my head). I should watch that one, too.

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!

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Russell Morahan's avatar

Now that you mention it. I've actually never seen all of Life of Brian! I'll have to watch it! :-) Hehe.

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Russell Morahan's avatar

Oh haha, you gotta see it! :D Aye, Holy Grail and Life of Brian are the most well known, and strangely not many people have seen The Meaning of Life, but it's probably my favourite of the three. It's the mostly darkly satirical of the three films, and just as funny.

In Meaning of Life, there's a great scene with Death, maybe my most fav Monty Python sketch. And the Crimson Permanent Assurance prologue becomes strangely philosophical!

Keep up the great work on The Blue Prince! ;-)

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Hilary Layne's avatar

It's definitely on my list!

And thank you!

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