The ultimate test of a story is Time.
Five or ten years from now, when those who defend
Ambulance graduate from high school or college, look for jobs or find work, and immerse themselves in society and reality, may their hopefully wiser selves look back on Paul's so-called "journey" and ask themselves: "Would I take this journey again? Would I want to put myself in Murakumo (FLEET)'s place and let Damon Polchow stab me in the head and brainwash me into his cranky but utterly obedient slave? What if I was the child in the truck that Damon murdered to supposedly spare it? Is Damon the hero that I want?"
I want these people to look up the origin of the name Damon. It's easy. Google "behind the name - damon".
Behind The Name said:
Derived from Greek
δαμαζω (damazo) meaning "to tame". According to Greek legend, Damon and Pythias were friends who lived on Syracuse in the 4th century BC. When Pythias was sentenced to death, he was allowed to temporarily go free on the condition that Damon take his place in prison. Pythias returned just before Damon was to be executed in his place, and the king was so impressed with their loyalty to one another that he pardoned Pythias. As an English given name, it has only been regularly used since the 20th century.
You see, assuming Paul put some thought into naming his protagonist, he probably picked "Damon" based on its direct translation, "to tame", which is what he had supposedly been doing to the FLEET ship-girls.
Knowing Paul, he probably picked it because it sounded like "demon".
(All I got out of
his surname Polchow is a place in Germany. No idea why he picked that.)
But he missed the
true and best potential of the name he gave to his edgy protagonist.
The legendary Damon
loved his friend Pythias so much that he was willing to take his friend's place in prison and death.
That is heroism. The original Damon did not need to walk the wastelands murdering anyone who stood in his way to be called a hero.
He offered up his most important and irreplaceable possession: His life. And he did it for his friend.
No one else needed to die to make him a hero. But he was willing to die for his friend. And that made him a hero.
George R. R. Martin may have said that:
"There are no heroes...in life, the monsters win."
but during
an interview on Fantasy Hotlist, he also said:
My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.
(Bold and colored fonts mine.)
Tell me when Paul can crank out something like that on the fly. Then he can be considered to be a good writer.
For my part, I consider myself a successful writer, an Author. I may have started as a crappy writer -we all do-, but I improved and adapted and grew.
I started writing at ff.net in 2003. My first story was a
Magic Knight Rayearth AU slice of life. It was silly and childish, but I loved it all the same.
It is 2016. Thirteen years later, I am still writing. I am more prolific than ever; I daresay I exceeded my high point as a
Gunslinger Girl writer, creator of the popular
Life Goes On, or my more recent dabbles in the
Madoka franchise, where
The Many Lives of Mami Tomoe won me limited immortality through a
mention in the Crossover section of the Fan Fic Recs page of Madoka's TV Tropes article.
Five years, ten years,
twelve thousand years may pass. But I will
never be ashamed of my KanColle stories.
I will always love them.
I poured
my love and my heart and my hopes and my dreams into
Eternity and
Tsun Silent, Tsun Deep and
New Ironsides and
Sister Iku and all of the short stories I've made. Even the parodies that I cranked out for this thread have my love.
I can show them to the ones I love and rest assured that I will not hurt them. My two youngest brothers know of strangers, girls, who love
Life Goes On and wish it would continue, many years after I abandoned that tale due to depression and exhaustion.
Will Paul show
Ambiance to his future wife and children, saying "I wrote this story where my protagonist enslaved sentient robot girls and murdered babies! Doesn't that make me look cool?"
Will his readers share
Ambiance with their girlfriends and boyfriends and nephews and nieces and strangers, saying "This is the story that made me happy? Won't you read it and be happy alongside me?"
Ask his defenders those piercing questions. And though they try to muster up their reserves of denial and reinforce their minds with propaganda, their heart of hearts know the answer.
The human heart tells tales without need for words.
