Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related What are the all-time LnC classics?

Actually, the Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving as well, the second Monday in October. The origins of the Canadian holiday have nothing to do with the Pilgrims, but many of the American "trappings" became common during the Revolutionary War when Americans loyal to Britain moved north to Canada.

Well, as you mentioned, since this thread deals with "classics", it's not surprising that most of the recommendations are for older stories. And since many of the classics are indeed Kerth nominees/winners, the two go hand-in-hand. And of course there are "classics" that weren't Kerth nominees, so we started this thread .

Now, perhaps this doesn't conform to a strict dictionary definition, but for me, to be a "classic", a story has to have withstood the test of time. That some time (and more than just a few weeks or months) after its publication, people still talk about it, still recommend it, still hold it up as a standard-bearer in the field. So, and no disparagement of "Faustian Bargain" is intended in any way, for me it is not a classic. Yet. Although I imagine that it will be known as that in the future. It's gotten a heck of a lot of buzz, and it deserved the kudos that came its way, because it was a terrific story, but it's still too new for me to call it a classic. Nothing posted this year is a "classic" for me. Not yet.

Well, I'm not an 'icon', obviously. I've been around for a number of years now, but my posting feedback in the past year or so has dropped considerably...and I'm not a writer. But I would certainly guess that the major element stopping anyone from posting feedback is, of course, time.

Personally I marvel at the long feedback posts from Ann that begin with her statement that she has virtually no time. Yet then she posts all that. Now, perhaps her thoughts just flow out almost like a stream of consciousness, so she can just type it and hit REPLY. I don't know, but me - I have to go back and rephrase, edit, then edit again before finally ending up with a post that's nowhere near as long. I don't always have the time for that. Sometimes I'm just too lethargic, or too depressed, or unable to think of just what to say at that moment. There could be many other reasons.

My mood often influences my reading. If I've tried part/all of a story by an author that I wasn't particularly excited about, I might only skim over the next couple of things that he/she posts, looking for something that catches my interest. Maybe that will come in the next story, maybe it will be three or four stories down the line.

And maybe the time will never come. Someone (was it Jojo?) mentioned reading some Kerth-nominated/winning stories and not being particularly enthralled by them. Well, obviously enough people disagreed with her, but that doesn't make her wrong, or the stories bad because she didn't like them. They just didn't appeal to her. I can think of the stories of several authors that didn't particularly appeal to me, but then other ones that they've written that I liked very much. Sometimes their writing style has changed somewhat from one story to the next, sometimes it's the story matter.

I must admit that I wonder why it matters if an 'icon' doesn't post. Does that make feedback from one particular person more valid, more respected, somehow? Sure, I can understand the thrill an author would feel if they opened a comments thread and saw "Wow, XXXX read MY story!" But does the fact that no XXXX has posted make the feedback that is there any less constructive, any less genuine?

I feel that I may have misconstrued your comments, Classicalla, and if so I apologize. I do agree that it probably takes most new authors a while to build a reputation in any fandom. Some may "break" in more easily than others. And sometimes the "older" readers aren't reading so much, so they're being more selective in their choices. But the great thing about this fandom is that there are always new people finding us, so the readership for fanfic doesn't diminish, and L&C live on.

Kathy

Oh, and Wendy...

Well, that's the way that I learned it, but I was raised in Canada, so it must be that British influence again. Having lived in the States for about 15 years now, I've adapted to saying "zee" instead of "zed", and it's not too hard for me to write "color" instead of "colour" so people don't comment that I've spelled it wrong, but I don't plan to give up the "every day/everyday" distinction.