Laur-el, eh? Well, I knew the name must have something to do with that "L" magic in the Lois and Clark universe. And I thought perhaps it was a variation of Lara, Clark's Kryptonian mother's name. But in either case, I thought Laura or even Lara would be a better name than Laurel, since with that name, the image of Apollo chasing Daphne keeps intruding on my mind. The idea of the god trying to rape the girl, you know? And the only way she can get away from him is to turn herself into a laurel tree - and stay that way, mind you! And seeing, too, that Superman and Lois are a little bit like a god and a girl themselves, I really, really don't want to associate that brutal Greek myth with them in any way. That's why the name of Laurel actually made me cringe just a little. You've got to understand that I'm Swedish, too, and I was honestly not aware that Laurel is a standard girl's name in America. But - hey! Laur-el!! That's great!! Thanks for pointing that out to me. Now I like that name a lot!
You say you deliberately misled some people about the link that exists between Superman and Lois, by making Lois talk about it in such a way that it was easy to think about it as a figure of speech. That's how the narrator of the story interpreted it, and that is certainly how I saw it too, so that I could actually even name the Bible verse I thought it was referring to! I felt as dense as a lead-lined wall when I realised that Lois's words were describing the actual, literal truth about her relationship with Superman. So, were you being too cryptic in your way of writing about this? No, I definitely don't think so. You made your point clearly enough, and anyway, I don't much like stories that never let us figure out anything at all for ourselves. Personally, I got a second kick out of your story when I fully realised the nature of the link between Laurel and her boyfriend!
Does it make sense that Laruel's link with her boyfriend should be stronger than Clark's link with Lois? Actually, it you ask me, no. The existence of the link must be a Kryptonian thing, because it is something that Kryptonians have with their life-mates. So Laurel's link with her boyfriend should either be as strong as Clark's link with Lois, or else it should be weaker than the link between Lois and Clark. Of course, since the Lois and Clark universe doesn't exist in the first place, we are free to make up many of the rules for ourselves. Suppose it's true that Laurel's link with her boyfriend really is stronger than the link between her parents, and that it is stronger precisely because unlike her father, she is half human. Does that mean that if Laurel and her boyfriend eventually have children, then their children's links with their life-mates will be even stronger? And after a couple of generations, the Kryptonian element of the DNA makeup of Clark's descendants will be so diluted that they have no superpowers left whatsoever, but they have an absolutely incredibly strong link with the person they love? Can't say I really believe this, but it is a fascinating thought!
Finally, you say that there are things in your story that are clear to you but you couldn't make explicit, and you'd like us to help. Well, Rogue, it's not easy for us to know what was so clear to you in your mind, if you couldn't express it. And I don't mean to sound too ironic. I think the leasson to be learned here is that once you let go of a story, once you share it with others, it is not really, really your story any more, or at least not exclusively so. Because every person who reads your story will read it and interpret it through the filter of his or her own beliefs, wishes, dreams, likes, dislikes and hangups, and that way they will turn it into a story that is different from what you had intended. I'm sure that if you try tell us more of what you tried to achieve, we can give you more feedback and more suggestions as to how you can perfect your story. But believe me: You will never be able to write your story so that every person out there will see exactly the things in it that you would like them to see.
Talking about a story, though, is a great thing. You share your own thoughts with others, and they tell you about the things that they have seen. That way all of us can find more and more of the riches that are hidden in the fabric of that story. If you want to say more about what you really wanted to say with your story, Rogue, then please come back here and talk about it some more!
Ann
