Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Why no "Lois moving on" fics?

Lately there's been a bit of discussion about 'moving on'.

But, with one exception, I can think of no fics that are exclusively about Lois moving on - where Clark is either dead or Lois gives up hope for a life with him and, by the end, has moved on to be with someone else while Clark remains alone.

I'm really curious why this double standard exists. { I'd like to leave discussion of "immortal Clark" out of this because that's been discussed before. Besides it gets us into the 'soulmates' discussion which is not what I'm getting at. I mean the 'normal age' Lois and Clark fics.)

So why the dearth of "Lois moving on" fics?

In another thread, Nancy wrote:
[QUOTE] I am glad that she finally got a dose of her won [own] medicine! ( much later edit: it wasn't Nancy who said this but Sheila) /QUOTE]
So, is it this "Lois must be punished" idea?
But why?

Is it because she wanted to be the best at her job? (but that "uppity female" argument doesn't apply in 2007, does it?)

Or because she loved Superman, rather than Clark, in most of Season 1? (although on her wedding day, it was Clark she loved and so said no to Luthor)

Because she didn't figure out that Clark was Superman in S1?

the Mary Sue thing?

Or because we believe Clark can do no wrong? He is always lovable, regardless of what he does. (what my psych text calls the 'halo' affect) ?

Other reasons?

And why such a harsh punishment?

Now perhaps Sue's "Platonic" will become a Lois moves on fic (although I hope not ) since it deals with the aftermath of Clark's dumping Lois at the end of ... you all know the ep the title which I've forgotten ) In that circumstance, Lois could fall into a passionate love affaire (after all, Sue is posting this in nfic ) with some amazing new character and then marry him at the end?

Maybe I've just missed the "Lois moves on fics"? And there's not this double standard in fics at all?

c.

Would "Ad Aspera per Aspera" be the exception by chance? It's a magnificent example of what you're describing, I think.

And this may not qualify, since L&C do end up together in this fic, but I think Demi's "Heaven's Prisoners" does a lovely job of showing Lois moving on. It's been a while since I read it, but my sense was that had Clark not come back into her life, Lois would have moved on and could have been happy with someone else. It might not have been the exact same happiness she had with Clark, but it wouldn't have been meaningless either. She gives Clark another chance because she loved him first and because they were married and that means something to her, but not because her life was totally empty and worthless without him.

In the end, however, I think the dearth of "Lois moving on" fics can probably be attributed to the fact that so many of us are hopeless L&C shippers. I know I wouldn't write it, just because I'm here because I love to see Lois and Clark together, even if I torture them a little along the way. There may be a slightly greater number of "Clark moving on" fics, probably because of the likelihood that he'll outlive her, but they're still in the minority.

Caroline

Interesting, Caroline. But neither of the fics you've cited fit - In Ad Astra, Clark moves on as well as Lois. So no double standard.

And in Demi's amazing Heaven's Prisoners, L & C are together at the end. In that story, Clark, too, was on the verge of a relationship with someone else, but like Lois with her boyfriend, he couldn't bring himself to take it to the next level. The title says it all

As well, I wanted to exclude the 'elsewhere' super long-lived Clark because that raises a whole different set of issues and has been discussed here and elsewhere.

No, it's the 'normal age" Lois and Clark fics I'm asking about. Yep, they're a minority of fics - but the double standard does exist, both with readers and writers, and I'm curious abut why it does.

Me too.

c

I think it's mostly the hopeless shipper thing I don't want to see either of them "moving on." As long as they're both alive, I'm not going to want to see either of them happy with anybody else.

But then I'm famous for demanding happily-ever-afters

PJ

Oops. My eye skipped right over the part where Clark had to be completely alone. Probably because my poor heart can't take it

Well, you're right. I can't think of one like that!

C.

Ditto. I'm 100% with you, Pam. Lois & Clark forever.

Perhaps there is a unconscious thought that if *we* had Clark (we being the women FoLCs), *we* would never treat him in such an abominable manner. Lois did, and therefore she should be punished by remaining alone for life. I think if we were to take a survey, not many would admit to this feeling, but it may be underlying nonetheless.

Come to think of it, I can't offhand think of any fics where Lois is indeed alone for life. All the separation fics I can recall (before 9am ) have Clark coming back in the end. Looks like I need to catch up on my archive reading!

But Clark treated Lois pretty badly, too, at times. So why no "punish" Clark fics? And there really are none. Is it as simple as the gender thing - we still are harder on own sex than on men?

or is it like the line from the book -"She'll forgive a man for anything if he's good-looking enough". (I think it might have been Anne of Green Gables, believe it or not )

Btw, I was asking about not just the "Lois left alone" fics, but also fics in which Lois dies prematurely. There aren't many, as Caroline, says, but unlike the Lois parallel there's more than one of them.

c.

Hey ccmalo!

I think part of why there are maybe no "moving on" fics is because as authors, we tend to write what we think will be enjoyed by the readers. For the most part, I don't think any of us want to see Lois or Clark "move on". We want desperately for them to end up together - one way or the other.

I'm positive that's why I haven't written a "moving on" fic.

However, I'm not above writing a "torture Clark" fic. <g> I'm always up for those. I'm attempting to do a little bit of torture on him in 50 First (with Sue's help).

But this is definitely an interesting topic. I think I'd be afraid of being run out of town on a rail if I wrote a fic in which Lois dumps Clark (or vice versa) in a permanent fashion and gets together with someone else. But I'm a little insecure that way. <g>

-- DJ

Interesting... Hey how about the super-evil story..

Marry In Haste

Ah, yes, but everyone knows that Tank is hugely preferable to Clark Kent. I mean, no contest!

btw, I'm not asking for "Lois moves on fic"- far from it !

c.

Because I won't stand for it. They have to be together! *stomps foot and pouts*



Seriously, I think most of the readers and writers are incurable romantics, and we want to see our favorite couple end up together. Some rocky parts are fine along the way, but we don't want to see a big Dead End sign at the end.

Because a fic that focused on Lois wouldn't really interest me, either to write or read. Same with fics focusing on Jimmy, Perry, Cat Grant, Martha, Jonathan, etc, etc. I like reading about Clark - which I know is pretty narrow-minded of me, but there you go. I am what I am.

Yvonne

I like reading fics about them moving on after each other, but it depends on the premise and I like reading about how they would deal with seeing each other again after X amount of years. Which is why I love Demi's 'Heaven's Prisoners. They both have moved on, but the moment they see each other agin the old feelings are back and suddenly how do they deal with it? Does she marry the man she is currently seeing or go back to the man who although broke her heart she is still in love with. Clark probably wouldn't really be able to move on even if Lois did. It would kill him to see her with another man, but he loves her too much to hold her back and so he would let her go.

I think it's a matter of Lois' attitude from the beginning and the fact that she was always the one who had the choice in the relationship. Clark knew what he wanted, but he could only have it if Lois wanted it, too. If she didn't -- and let's face it, most of the time, she not only didn't know whether she did or not, she did her damnedest to fight it, hide her feelings and demonstrate her appalling taste in human men.

We don't need "punish Clark" fics; even if, as I do not think, Clark deserves equal "punishment", most of the first two years of their relationship is "punish Clark", coming to a head after the Sardine appears and is not immediately shot for lowering the human average IQ.

As for "Lois moving on" fics... well, why bother? On the simplest level, the name of the series is "Lois and Clark", and it's the pair of them together -- the idea that Superman is more than just Clark Kent in a pair of tights and a cape -- that makes the series concept work. Without Clark, Lois has no reason to exist. There can be strong female characters like her, but Lois Lane has been part of the Superman mythos right from the start, for nearly 70 years now, and without him, she may as well be... oh, I dunno, Wanda Detroit -- and I, for one, am not particularly interested in reading "The Adventures of Wanda Detroit." I can just about cope with "Clark moves on after Lois' death" fics because I'm a long-time Superman fan (though not of late), but there's still something wrong about them -- which is why I like the "soul mates" idea; it allows decades-hence tales of "Lois" and Clark to be told. (Hi, Nan! )

I could go on, but won't; it's late, and the prospect of opening more worm-cans holds no attraction. And besides, I'm with Caroline and Pam (as you might have guessed ); I don't like that sort of story and will not read it -- not even so-called "amazing" stories like Heaven's Prisoners, which, FWIW, I thought was horrible.

Phil

CC, I understand what you are asking but you make it sound like there are this great quantity of Clark moves on fics, and not many of the Lois moves on type. Actually, if you exclude the fact that Clark will inevitibly outlive Lois, there aren't too many of the Clark moves on type of fics either. Granted, Lois, being mortal, is a little more suseptible to being killed than Clark and that can give him a slight advantage.

But,let's face a couple of L&C fanfic facts. First, there are more women than men on these boards and they tend to gravitate toward Clark as the focus of their stories. The other (which was mentioned) is that folc don't particularly want to read stories where either Lois or Clark wind up without the other. That being the case, the desire to write such stories in not all that great either.

The truth is; Lois is probably better equipted emotionally to 'move on' without Clark, than Clark is without Lois.

Since I am a Lois fanatic, I tend to care more about Lois in stories than Clark, and have made her the focal point in my stories more often than I have Clark (which is why Yvonne hates my fics ).

I've written at least two fics(that I can recall) where Lois is without Clark as her significant other. The first was 'The Choice' which places Lois in the situation where she loses Clark and has to make a choice as to how to spend the rest of her life. The other one (which I have to say I got quite a bit of flak for) was 'Sometimes Love isn't Enough'. That one presented Lois as the one who had decided to end her marriage with Clark and strike off on a life of her own, though she remained friends with Clark.

Even though I'm not all that enamored with Clark Kent I usually have Lois end up with him because she's shown that she's rather fond of him.

Tank (who figures that this thread will probably ignite a spate of Lois goes it alone fics)

Just wanted to say that I'm not advocating "punish Clark" fics anymore than I like the idea of "punish Lois" fics. I think both approaches miss the point of what each character was about - they miss the nuances that were there.

But, Phil, how can you forget about Mayson Drake who served the same purpose in the series as Scardino? Both Lois and Clark/Superman each did their share of "punishing" the other in the first couple of years of the series. At times, neither was at their best. But more often they were wonderful.

Tank, with respect, I'm not sure your two stories quite fit because Lois doesn't move on to a new relationship in them, although 'The Choice' is a Clark deathfic. Btw, I always thought that "Sometimes' ended on a note of hope that they would re-unite. But you mean .... oh no!

Phil said:
Couldn't agree more.

c.

I saw a couple of interesting things here.

Interesting, but speaking as the Sassy Town Cynic here, I could have easily acted the same way as Lois did. Maybe not quite to the degree she did, but I wouldn't punish her for it. I'd say 'she's only human', but she's a fictional character. <g>


That flashed like a control tower to me. I could easily see Lois berating herself for not being able to have more time with Clark once she finally realized what a catch he was. I think she'd have to break through that before she could move on.

But then again, I'm not really into the soulmates thing, fictionally speaking or not. I don't think there's just-one-and-only-one right person for everybody.

JD

I quite agree. I was just postulating a theory. But I myself have screwed up a few times in the relationship department myself, so I can't see myself writing that type of fic just to punish Lois. But others might, and it may even be subconscious.

Snazzy avatar, Jen.

Maybe it's not about punishment. My theory is that Lois comes across as a normal human woman, albeit very strong and willful compared to average perhaps. Clark is the romantic, who we swoon over partly because of his rare, unshakable monogomy.

In other words, it's obvious that Lois could move on just as well as any other woman. Superman may be a tough act to follow, but Lois can endure. We know she can, so we don't need to "watch over her", so to speak.

Clark, on the other hand, is clearly lost without Lois. So in the mind, his personality and behavior actually *beg* the question "Could he move on? Is he capable of it?"

Thus, that gets explored more often.

My 2 cents.