Hey, Zachary, I don't quite get what he's doing with the strips and the door. Are we supposed to 'get it' or will we understand based on what happens next? Is he going to 'test them on the colours' and then check the code himself?
I don't think it's a problem not to get it, because it's a desperate and irrational act in the first place.
His thinking is that he stacked the color strips in a certain order (marked on his "key" card) and closed them in the door. If the observers open the door while he's gone, the strips will fall to the floor and get mixed up. Since Alex also doesn't know the order, the observers won't know the order either, so they'll put them back in the wrong order, which will prove to Alex that they've been there.
Hah! I think I was sidetracked by my own efforts. I was thinking, when they open the door the strips will fall - but no, he must have stuck them on because he wants them to see the order they are in. But then are they in the order of the ones in his pocket? And what if they don’t look up if they come in. And then I thought, I must be missing his grand plan here … If you do another edition, maybe explain his thinking a little, to save the reader the confusion … well, that’s your choice, because in this type of book the reader doesn’t mind doing some work. How do your other readers feel about this bit?
Hey, Zachary, I don't quite get what he's doing with the strips and the door. Are we supposed to 'get it' or will we understand based on what happens next? Is he going to 'test them on the colours' and then check the code himself?
I don't think it's a problem not to get it, because it's a desperate and irrational act in the first place.
His thinking is that he stacked the color strips in a certain order (marked on his "key" card) and closed them in the door. If the observers open the door while he's gone, the strips will fall to the floor and get mixed up. Since Alex also doesn't know the order, the observers won't know the order either, so they'll put them back in the wrong order, which will prove to Alex that they've been there.
Hah! I think I was sidetracked by my own efforts. I was thinking, when they open the door the strips will fall - but no, he must have stuck them on because he wants them to see the order they are in. But then are they in the order of the ones in his pocket? And what if they don’t look up if they come in. And then I thought, I must be missing his grand plan here … If you do another edition, maybe explain his thinking a little, to save the reader the confusion … well, that’s your choice, because in this type of book the reader doesn’t mind doing some work. How do your other readers feel about this bit?