Alcyone wrote:
Consider me appeased. I read your reply to my comment last time and thought that perhaps it was a case of my personal preferences horning in. I think this fic moves forward more through facts and events. I haven't noticed a lot of description, but quite a bit of dialogue (to the point that it seems that you mean to describe using dialogue). If I'm correct, I think that's what throws me off, since I often look to description automatically when I make my inferences (well, in the abscence of introspection). But this says more about how I read than the story itself.
I'm glad the epilogue satisfied you. My training in writing has always stressed that an author should 'show' the characters and the action and not 'tell' about them. The first moves the story more quickly (usually, anyway) and the second tends to be pedantic unless the author is highly skilled. I haven't arrived at the 'highly skilled' level yet, so I tend to put that which might be boring into interesting dialogue. It seems to work.
And thank you so much for your kind words! They make this old wannabe author wriggle with glee.
Ann, thank you for expressing similar sentiments about the ending. There's no way to satisfy everyone, of course, but you and others were right to point out that we needed to know that Clark didn't forget what happened with Bill Church.
Ann wrote:
Your Clark, however, has been a much more closed-off and difficult character to me. I have not found it easy to get near him. I haven't found it easy to see what he really thinks and feels.
I hadn't thought about it in these terms, Ann, but I think you're right. After contemplating the conundrum, I believe that the reason I tend towards Lois's viewpoint more naturally is because she's such a complex character and has so many flaws to exploit, as opposed to Clark, where "what you see is what you get." That isn't entirely true, of course, but Clark is at once more opaque than Lois is and far more transparent. His motives usually aren't difficult to judge, and his actions are almost always altruistic. He's not nearly as sneaky as Lois is, not nearly as unprincipled ("Don't break into the office, Lois! It's illegal!" "Who cares? We need that file!"), and not nearly as driven. It's something I intend to work on in the near future.
Tank wrote:
What a horrible, terrible thing to do to Lois.
Sorry, oh frigid northern one, but as Nan pointed out, the natural consequence of marriage is children. (But I know you really do love the little monst - er, tykes.)
Nan also pointed out:
Not all terrible things that happen in life have only bad consequences in the end.
This is probably the second life lesson Cath needs to teach Lois. Of course, there's that new little baby to show everybody how life really works, and that life is something that happens whether we want it to or not. And, there's another little one on the way soon, too. Maybe this one will be an almost-Christmas baby. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Maria, Lisa, AnKS, thanks so much for staying with it till the end. I appreciate your comments no matter how long or short they are.
And thanks to all the readers who read but didn't post feedback for one reason or another. We'll meet again soon, I'm sure of it.
