MTB 454

A war story…

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Raleigh: Picked it up at Belfast shipyards and headed for Lands End. Fire broke out on a switchboard so returned. Attempted sabotage, it was. Even the shipyards had sympathizers. Had that fixed. Asked for a letter to recommend running engines at 2000 rpm so we could plane.

481 and 454 planing

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Grandson: 2000?

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Raleigh: Yes, we were only authorized to run them at 1600 rpm. Couldn’t get up to planing speed. Wallowed along.

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Grandson: I can imagine. Like a hippopotamus.

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Raleigh: So we got up to planing speed, 20 knots or so. Skimmed around Lands End and up to Falmouth. But when we arrived we received a Morse message. Report to HQ. I was asked, “Did you exceed 1600 rpm?”

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Grandson: But you had permission?

454, remembered

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Raleigh: I had a letter, yes. But it didn’t prevent a rap over the knuckles. Carried on to Felixstowe at the designated speed.

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Grandson: But you had fond memories of 454. So much so you named your lake boat the same.

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Raleigh: Er, yes.

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Voice-over

MTBs were sprightly little vessels/warcraft, later models achieving 30 knots. Post-war, a generation of MTB sailors relived their memories, in stories, even on boats.

...

Names for fictional personae

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Interviewing an author…

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Demetrius: When you give names to characters, how do you choose those names?

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Hmm. Fagin?

Areeba: I think of similar historical figures, or foreign names. Something with a hidden meaning. Sometimes with a bit of wry humor.

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Demetrius: Names that reflect the nature of the person?

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Welcome to the
Billy Goat Tavern.

Areeba: Charles Dickens was the master of naming characters. Thomas Gradgrind and Wackford Squeers, different kinds of schoolmasters, Mr Bumble, full of bombast, and Dr Payne. Some modern writers follow a similar approach. Mike Royko with his Slats Grobnik and Dr. I.M. Kookie.

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Voice-over

And even for real-life: does the name influence the game? Usain Bolt (sprinter). William Wordsworth (poet). Nomen est omen.

...

Structures of Narrative: News stories, Magazine stories, Novels

News, magazine articles, novels…

Neo: They’re all just stories, right?

News Story Structure

Skelley: The structures are different.

Neo: Not just beginning, middle, end?

Skelley: Not at all. News stories put all the important facts at the front, magazine articles maybe start with a human interest story or a question to pique your curiosity, and novels usually build up to the important facts at the end.

Novel Structure

Neo: This is always so?

Skelley: Well, there are journalists who write magazine style, just as there are novelists who write like journalists.

_________________

Voice-over

The inverted pyramid defines the news story structure. A triangle on a graph simplifies the timeline of a novel.

…

Simpifying into Three Types...

“Great leaders are 
almost always great 
simplifiers, who can 
cut through argument, 
debate and doubt, 
to offer a solution 
everybody 
can understand.”

Colin Powell

Reductio ad..?

Branson: Why is it that people who like to simplify often divide people into three groups?

Powell: Do they? Who do you mean, “they”?

Branson: Malcolm Gladwell did it in The Tipping Point. Mavens, connectors and salesmen.

Powell: I see your point. I just ran across some postings on Quora by people who like to divide others into “puzzle-solvers”, “tool-users” and “storytellers”.

Branson: I’ve seen that distinction before. It popped up in an obscure academic book in German containing a reference to Jerome Bruner. So you say others claim it as their own paradigm? It happens. Anyway, what’s magical about three? 

Powell: Indeed. Why not four or five? Some home in on “seven”. “Seven Habits….” But I think three has a pedigree of simplicity and authority. The triple, the trio, the triangle. The tripod, the triathlon, the trinity.

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Voice-over

Mavens: Connect us with new information. They have knowledge, social skills and an ability to communicate.

Connectors: Know large numbers of people and provide introductions. They have active social networks of over 100 people.

Salesmen: Good at persuading others. They are charismatic people with charm and negotiation skills.

Puzzle-solvers: Tend to minimize emotional and social context of thinking.

Tool-users: Focus on tools to make changes in the environment.
Storytellers: Use narratives to show causal and consequential relations.

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