The last time I posted a ‘score’ (read: wordcount) about my THESIS, it was up to 28,712. This was before my advisor laid into it. Now, less than a week later, I’ve sliced out big, huge chunks of text and added in even bigger chunks, grafted in an all-new framework, including six subclasses of hermeneutic codes based on Barthes’ S/Z that should prove useful for understanding how we author types drive readers through a narrative and a proposal for a four-question formalist analysis to be applied to any extension in a franchise to evaluate its value to the larger whole. I’ve also done an almost shot-by-shot reading of both The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, applying those six codes to each one.
The current THESIS score: 40,471. That translates into approximately 160 pages, even after having chopped out great huge parts.
Basically, the feedback that Henry gave me has turned this into a prototype for a doctoral thesis. I am not the least bit certain as to whether or not this is a Good Thing. Maybe I’ll know in the morning.