The funny thing is, I thought I knew what Ariadne's thread was, but just to be sure, I googled it —what on earth did we ever do without Google, or for that matter, Wikipedia, we had writer's block is what— and quick-skimmed named for the legend of Ariadne, is the term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means right, that's what I thought, solving a problem all at once, and sailed on with my argument, because it fit with what I wanted to say about how you work all the threads at the same time, because who this character is gives you a clue about what this character will do, which is plot, and at the same time what happens in the plot drops hints about your characters, and all around the web like that.
Just so you know that I know, Ariadne is the one who gave Theseus the ball of thread to wind through Minotaur's maze, and Arachne is the one who had the spinning contest with Minerva and got turned into a spider:
| Ariadne | Arachne | |
| thread | yes | yes |
| maze | yes | no |
| web | no | yes |
But anyway, I actually got around to reading the rest of that sentence:
of proceeding - such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle, or an ethical dilemma - through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. It is the particular method used that is able to follow completely through to trace steps or take point by point a series of found truths in a contingent, ordered search that reaches a desired end position. This process can take the form of a mental record, a physical marking, or even a philosophical debate; it is the process itself that assumes the name....well, that's not what I meant at all. I've a good mind to edit this right now. No no, I won't. Remember that about Wikipedia, though. That I could.
In any case, it fits with this other thing that I want to say about writing it all down. Did I ever tell you that my dad used to count the microwave popcorn kernels that didn't pop & plot them on a graph? The ear doesn't fall far from the stalk, is all I'm saying. Not to be corny.
But anyway I wrote this all inadvertently, when I meant to write about whether I'm going to write this fall.
