JED's Tell-Tale Heart

Link to Original Story: Tell-Tale Heart - JED

Holy crap, this was fun to write. I mean, seriously, this may have been the single most fun-to-write story I've ever written. We should do this more often. I wonder what I could make of Crime and Punishment…knowing me it would probably end up involving care bears or something. Anyway, I loved writing in Poe's style. It's so distinct and so over-elaborately anachronistic that it's easy to get it into. Like putting on a nice comfortable overcoat you found in your grandparents' closet. And doing it as a dark comedy was that much better. I'm not sure how actually funny it was, and it sure as hell wasn't subtle, but it made me chuckle at my own cleverosity while writing it. The paranoid maniac who actually is having the universe conspire against him is neat, as is putting in all that homage to Poe. JP had one brilliant suggestion that I wish I had thought of: at the end we should have seen that the cross-stitch actually read "I love Poetry." That woulda been brilliant.


I really like JED’s take on the main theme, and the puns, or references, or whatever the heck you want to call them vary between clever and just plain absurd; either way, they left me smiling. I must say, however, he takes a little too long getting there. I was well past page one when I realized the story wasn’t meant to be serious, and then I just got confused up until the policemen showed up. It seems kind of disjointed that way; a seriousy-poe-y type beginning with a seriously jokey type end. The whole thing shouldn’t necessarily be a farce, but I definitely think the beginning could be smoothed over to make way for the punchlines. If this story were tightened and streamlined, it could be seriously fun. As it is, much like a watermelon blow-pop, you have to tough through a drawn-out beginning and confusing transition to get to the delicious bubble-gum finale.