Hmm. I sense there might be some confusion. To clarify _my own_ canon-related arguments here as they might be easily misinterpreted elsewhere:
1.No two views of LnC canon are 100% alike, but they are both valid and often overlap. How much each are valid and overlap are subject to debate.
2.Since no two views of LnC canon are 100% alike, when I point out a subtle difference (regarding something subject to interpretation, be it in importance or some other way) in an author’s view of LnC canon as reflected in a fic—this is an opinion. Not fact. I do not hold the end-all “definitive” view of LnC canon. (of course many *opinions* say something about the overlap mentioned above and validity with regards to fandom)
Canon is not a dirty word to me, but "your canon" in terms of importance and interpretation of motivations, events, etc is not "my canon."
Topic at hand:
Labrat said--
Everyone is welcome, too, to post their opinion that a story doesn't suit them (although we do like such negative fdk to be balanced with something positive). The rule here is to remember that your opinion is only one of many and in the end the story belongs to its author, who is the final authority on how its written. What won't be tolerated is telling an author that they can't write something, that they should be posting in another fandom, or demanding that admins remove stories from the mbs...simply because they don't suit an individual's specific tastes or pov.
I think this quote is really useful. For me, this “soul mates” thing--until I see it in narrowly defined in the faq to mark it as *indispensable* element to the LnC fanfic world and thus, necessary to all fic to be here--is an "individual's specific taste." So is Lois and Clark working at the Daily Planet (here I’m thinking of of those yummy NK Elseworld fics), getting together in the first season, or second season, the comedy genre, the drama genre, etc, etc.
As far as LnC _fanfiction_ is concerned as a whole. I might read some of those fics and find them to be awesome. But some fics don’t fit into that and, hey, that’s awesome too.
More specifically, this thread, IMO (to be safe), suggests that using canon (let's take the oft mentioned episode) to "prove" to skeptics how "intrinsic"/"essential" soul mate-ness is to LnC fanfic is a shaky project. In this case, it appears to be so because its importance (in light of the whole series) and even the way the notion of 'soul mate' is interpreted varies so much from person to person.
That's a beautiful thing.
alcyone (who will make her exit on this positive note, but adds that should anyone want to debate she's always game--just pm her)
