Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Challenge FDK: Chi, Beta (you can read my post here first, if you want)

wow! this is much better than i was expecting! you liked it, you really liked it!

when i wrote this, i was pretty sick. the writing was going pretty slowly -- i think it about a week, maybe more -- and things felt kind of forced sometimes. i was constantly going back and forth between the fic and the script, going through everything scene by scene (except that i decided to write the whole thing from l&c's perspective, which let me cut out some material... but then i had to figure out how to add the relevant stuff back in so the story would still make sense). it was just dragging along. in the meantime, i was trying to think of what other stuff i could add in -- it's not easy to think of a good typeo to put in on purpose, and i didn't want to repeat the same gag too many times, either. far from writing itself, like most of my stories do, this one had to be prodded along every step of the way, and i had to prod myself to keep at it, too.

by the time i was done, it felt big and clumsy, with just a few gags forced in. i was still feeling sick, too. then, with the holiday and everything else going on, my BR barely had a chance to get back to me (i don't think it's my place to expand on that, but suffice it to say i'm amazed she managed to read the story. i can only put it down to dedication above and beyond). i had no idea what to expect from my readers.

let me tell you, seeing what you folcs had to say here was a very pleasant surprise. you're laughing and enthusiastic and saying it's original and... it's more than i'd dared hope.

anyway, i've now rambled on for a while, so i'm just going to respond to a few specific comments...

hazel said:

actually herb's not the only thing missing. i'd meant to add in a throw-away line at the end -- something to the effect of "I have to go see a mad scientist about some cloning research..." -- but forgot all about it when the time came. oh well. maybe i'll put it in for the archive version.

as for herb... uhm... well, you see.. he was in there, really he was. he just, uh... went back in time and edited himself back out. ... yeah, that's it. glad you forgive me for... uh, letting him get away with it.

joy, thanks so much for posting after part 1! that was especially good to hear, and then you came back and posted again! thanks!

also, thanks for this:

yes. that was my spell-checker. it did that somewhere else, too. i fixed the other one, but missed that.

jana said:

you got it. i won't tell anna. anna, if you're reading this, i didn't say anything. also, i suggest you skip reading jana's post and the bit i just quoted. you'd probably be bored.

oh, and yes, jana, the connection was free, thanks.

karen said:

thanks, karen. i did use spell check, and it found even more errors than usual. i was kind of surprised by some of them. like i said, i wasn't feeling well when i wrote the story. unfortunately, spell check can't weed out misplaced words ("pointe," for example, is a ballet term which means to arch your feet in more or less the way you would when walking on tiptoe. i learned it from my mom when she was explaining the old "pointe and flex" gym exercizes), and my BR, who ordinarlily would have caught those errors even if i'd missed them, had her own difficulties.

i'll check back over the fic before i send it in to the archives. thanks for pointing out the problem. i'd appreciate it anytime, but it's even more apporpriate for this one.

anyway, if anyone is still reading, i'm out of specific things to say. doesn't feel right, especially considering all the great comments here, but i can't think of anything to add. i can only say "thank you" so many times before it gets old. i'm just thrilled that it went over so well. thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know how much you enjoyed it.

Paul