http://no-toast-thanks.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] no-toast-thanks.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2006-11-14 11:09 pm

Heroism, Humanism & Hijinks: Literature in Action, Week 10, Period 5

The classroom was sadly lacking fictional characters today. Thursday was there though. "My son has seen fit to pass on his cold to me, so don't get too close today unless you want a sudden abundance of mucus. If I've done my job right so far, I'm sure your imaginations kicked in and you had a rather unpleasant mental image just now.

On a completely unrelated note, today's class is on the detective novel. There are nuances to the genre, which I'm sure you can pick up on by reading any decent detective novel. The Maltese Falcon was on the reading list, but I also recommend A Study in Scarlet for a general feel of the detective genre and any of the Perkins and Snell series for your typical hard-boiled noir detectives.

Detective fiction is an intellectual game. It's sport for the mind. The struggle is between the author and the reader. Can the author outsmart the reader? Can the reader unravel the mystery? If both fulfil their roles correctly, the answer is yes. What you should take away from this class today is an understanding that detective novels require two important things - an engaging lead detective and a mystery that readers can struggle with."

Thursday passed around two handouts. "The first is a blank dossier. You have the opportunity to create your own detective. The second has a mystery for you to solve. Feel free to give it a shot."

Re: Sign In

[identity profile] 2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com 2006-11-14 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
kaoru and hikaru hitachiin

Re: Sign In

[personal profile] smartestone 2006-11-14 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Hermione Granger

Re: Sign In

[identity profile] proudsidekick.livejournal.com 2006-11-17 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Layla Williams
notajar: (sneaky)

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[personal profile] notajar 2006-11-14 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: Feely Chair

Occupation: late night radio announcer with a quirky yet lovable habit of believing a girl named Maple is madly in lust with him. And talking about it on the radio. All the time.

Distinguishing physical features: is a werepuppet

Favourite hat: trilby

Investigating style: Assume it's Angel's {scribble} Cherub's fault.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: stunningly attractive amusingly cute roommate

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: Someone's been brooding on the roof and turned Bel's plants emo. Feely assumes it's Cherub's fault. For once, accidentally, he's right. Granted it was Maple who was brooding guiltily on the roof about the fact that she mistakenly kicked Cherub in the crotch when he visited the town right after Feely made a particularly enraging radio broadcast, but still. It counts.

Arch-Nemesis: In this case, reality.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "Hurting me is her way of showing she cares."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com 2006-11-14 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Zack had maybe been watching a little too much Skeletons when he made his detective up.

Name: Joy Keenan

Occupation: Forensic Anthropologist/Author

Distinguishing physical features: Not classically beautiful, but "well-structured"

Favourite hat: She doesn't wear hats.

Investigating style: Thorough scientific investigation of the remains of unidentified murder victims.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: A crack team made up of her brilliant graduate assistant, an entomologist, a forensic artist, and a ruggedly handsome FBI investigator.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: The fictional one in the novel Keenan writes based on her work.

Arch-Nemesis: Skeezy ex-professor man.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at there."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com 2006-11-14 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: James McHenry

Occupation: Photographer

Distinguishing physical features: eyepatch

Favourite hat: wide brimmed and black

Investigating style: the evidence is in the pictures.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: talking film canister Thinks he hears Sherlock Holmes talk to him.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: uncovers hollywood/terrorist plot

Arch-Nemesis: Jack Bauer Evil lawyer mother.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "Smile."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com 2006-11-15 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Name: Emma Watson-Holmes

Occupation: (police officer? Private investigator? Unassuming grandmotherly type?) High School Student

Distinguishing physical features: (clothing style, scars, tattoos, other identifying marks or quirks) Goth fashion sense, but in a cute way; Brown hair; Brown eyes; Average appearance

Favourite hat: A baseball cap that she stole from her brother

Investigating style: Ask a lot of nosy questions and eavesdrop constantly. Basic Google-fu.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: Danny Blake, the ten-year-old boy she babysits after school

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: Her father was fired due to budget cuts. With the help of her accounting teacher, she found a discrepancy in the budget, discovered the school board president was embezzelling, and got her father rehired once the money was found.

Arch-Nemesis: Holly Newcombe, Cheerleader and Honor Roll student.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "It's all in how you do your homework."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] 2-twin-devils-2.livejournal.com 2006-11-15 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
Name: Sped Pierce

Occupation: Under cover CIA working as a mail man

Distinguishing physical features: Flat feet-so he drives the truck; Wears red sunglasses

Favourite hat: Beany

Investigating style: OCD like monk!

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: set of encyclopedias

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: finds the free mason's teleportation port into the other realm.

Arch-Nemesis: apple cores

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "Never throw it too far."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] ihatedenmark.livejournal.com 2006-11-15 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
Name: Dr John Zoidberg

Occupation: Full-time doctor, part time detective.

Distinguishing physical features: Space Lobster. Wears sandals.

Favourite hat: A second hand deer-hunter cap.

Investigating style: Accusing people, then finding clues to back the accusations up, even when wrong.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: A rather clueless delivery boy, a surly drunk, and a valiant captain.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: The Case of the Broken Ship in a Bottle

Arch-Nemesis: A man known only as "The Professor".

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "To the accusing parlor!"
multiplez: (Are you for real?)

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[personal profile] multiplez 2006-11-15 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Name: Tommy Drake

Occupation: (police officer? Private investigator? Unassuming grandmotherly type?) Police officer for an intergalactic law enforcement agency.

Distinguishing physical features: (clothing style, scars, tattoos, other identifying marks or quirks) Purple hair.

Favourite hat: Helmet.

Investigating style: Sheer dumb luck.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: Four color-coded friends with a mysterious affinity for spandex.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: Figuring out who's been stealing all the diamonds in Angel Grove Newtech City Town City

Arch-Nemesis: Intergalactic crime lord Spacetron.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "It's crime-solvin' time!"

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] x5-alec.livejournal.com 2006-11-15 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
Name: Alex Chimera

Occupation: Former soldier, wrongly-accused fugitive from the law.

Distinguishing physical features: Tall, dark, handsome but imposing.

Favourite hat: Who needs a hat when you're tall and good-looking?

Investigating style: Smooth and charismatic. People trust him and he's smart enough to make a living at it.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: A couple soldier buddies with connections, but he works solo most times.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: Finding out who really killed his family and framed him for it. Not that the authorities believe him, of course.

Arch-Nemesis: The guy with a wooden leg and the government.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "It was him; the guy with the wooden leg."

Re: Make Your Own Detective

[identity profile] bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com 2006-11-15 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: Ronald Krasinski

Occupation: Boxer

Distinguishing physical features: A broken nose which only gives him a more roguish appearance.

Favourite hat: A fedora left to him by his grandfather, also a boxer.

Investigating style: Observation and nosiness.

Partners/sidekicks/mentors: Mentor: His trainer. Partner: His cop girlfriend.

"The Big Case" that puts them on the map: Ronald tracks down the person blackmailing boxers to throw fights after one of his friends at the gym is killed when he refuses the blackmailer.

Arch-Nemesis: The owner of a gym across town.

Throwaway line that becomes a catchphrase sensation: "It's a knockout!"
notajar: (scholar)

Re: Chat while solving mysteries

[personal profile] notajar 2006-11-14 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Door wonders what it says about her investigative skills that she guessed the murderer not from the clues the detective used but because the man clearly looked shifty and [spoiler]was hiding his hands[/spoiler].