consider the humble tiktaalik.

the idea i had for this story was the concept of 'what happens to an unrealized or unfinished idea after its creator is gone?'

here's the blurb i wrote to pitch the concept:

"Finding out that someone online has died is an entirely different feeling from a death experienced in-person. Because the online self is not the person. The online self is only whatever is presented in the digital space. They come on and offline, but without the physical presence, the closure never quite feels the same. As if the "online" light could tick green again at any moment, if you only wait long enough. That they might respond to your comment or message, if you only reach out one more time. Oftentimes when someone you know in person dies, you don't get to remember the last thing that you said to one another. But an online self embeds this information forever. The last public facing statement, the last dm. You can reflect forever and ever. Comment like a votive candle. Explain to others what seems to have happened, to a person you seemed to have known, but might have never known you at all. And there's this keen sense of loss when the online self is still alive as long as you can go back through and read the posts, the messages. It makes them alive again.