I have a question...

[smg01]

... So I turn to you, oh wise flist who know all.

"It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This is true. It's called life."

The above is part of prompt that I selected for a story for the sg1friendathon. (If you're an SG-1 writer, and you haven't already, you should head over and claim a prompt. You know you want to, it'll be fun!)

Anyhoo, I understand that the quote is a Pratchett quote. Could someone who's a Pratchett follower give me any context for the lines? I'm fairly certain that I already know the angle I'm going to go for with my fic regardless, but I'm curious as to whether there's anything in particular behind the quote itself.

Comments

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

the book is the last continent. there's a character rincewind, who is always attracting trouble (and Death), and sees death (the personification, who is a character in the books too) sometimes when he might possibly die (and death is sort of fascinated by rincewind, because his probability of death is completely messed up, so even death doesn't know when he actually WILL die).

i don't have the book here right now, but at one point when he might die, death is there and rincewind asks if it's true your life passes before your eyes before you die, and death says YES (death always talks in caps), and rincewind is all oh, no, what if this is it? what if this is my life passing before my eyes. and death says:

I THINK PERHAPS YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. PEOPLE'S WHOLE LIVES DO PASS IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES BEFORE THEY DIE. THE PROCESS IS CALLED 'LIVING'. WOULD YOU LIKE A PRAWN?

death is my favorite discworld character after the witches :) (he has a pretty white horse named binky, too -- he tried a flaming skeletal horse but decided he preferred a living one)

(edited for lots of spelling oopses)

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Ooo. That's not even terribly far away from where I was thinking of going with my story.* It's actually giving me some more ideas. (That I'll hopefully be able to narrow down to something coherent.)

Thanks!!

*Well I wasn't, and don't plan to, have a character named death. But the meaning behind the quote was something I was moving toward.

\o/

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

i love it when a plans comes together *g*