Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Not a Day by StopQuitDont - July Fanfic Club Discussion **Spoilers**

Discuss Not a Day by StopQuitDont here.

First the good stuff, It's a mostly Waffy story, isn't it? Other than the (brief) melancholy of Clark not having the chance to be there for Christopher's early days, this story didn't have much down to it. Whatever made Ellen and Sam essentially eschew Lois hasn't phased Lois too much (something that I don't think could be said for the canon version).

And now the nitpicks/complaints/thoughts:

We learn VERY little about Lois's views on Superman and that bothered me a bit. In many ways, I hope a story about Superman has some perspective on what Lois thinks of him (both professionally and personally). I think a paragraph/interaction with the DP staff saying something to the effect of "Handsome" but inwardly saying not an option (because of Chris).

When I saw the cowboy "Brian Urban" I was trying to figure out if I recognized the name as the "Supermann" cowboy (until I had the "Oh" moment at the end, realizing that is was just a mashup of Keith Urban and another guy).

The few missed moments that Clark and Lois had before Perry orchestrated their reintroduction was comedic! The rest of the story from then on moved with next to no hitches. I thought there should be a hitch of some sort. No introduction to the Lanes (not even an attempt). No backlash from Luthor. Nada. I expected a LITTLE drama before the ending WAFF but it went WAY too smooth for my taste.

It didn't mean that I didn't enjoy it on a light-fare scale, though.

Well in defense of the story a bit. The majority of the drama in this story was a single woman in her 20's getting pregnant by a stranger, carrying the baby, raising the child alone for 5 years never know whether the child would ever even meet his father with the tremendous support of Ellen Lane . Now SQD did not go into a great deal of gory detail on that aspect and treated it as the back story for this tale but I doubt it was much of a picnic. Ellen and Sam's lack of emotional support for Lois during this time was alluded to early but not directly addressed as the author focused on the genesis of the story.

The genesis of the tale as told was about the finding of the long lost father, the reconciliation of the child and his father and of the mother and the father (Lois and Clark). While the story did not have the overt drama of Tank's competing tale (what IS it about Tank, Lois and firing squads anyway?). The child nearly dying saving another child was a rather dramatic twist. The story did wrap things up neatly and rather quickly and it did not make a lot of angst about the father/mother (Lois and Clark) reconciliation which could have been messy and much more stress for the child. I guess if you wanted more of that type of angst and stress for the child then SQD's Chip Off The Old Clark might work better although it progressed pretty evenly and neatly also.

Since Clark did not come to the Planet, meet Lois, create Superman, woo Lois, etc in this story it was not really clear how long Superman was around before this tale began. Lois was painted as a responsible parent in this tale who did not go breaking into buildings/offices of the bad guys so would hardly ever find herself in need of rescue by Superman so her exposure to him could have been very slight but that was not totally clear. Luthor was a minor/side character in this tale.

I liked the story BECAUSE of the fact that it did not have much down to it. I really don't go searching for downer types of story much any more as I really have to be in a good mood to even finish them these days...

Mike

The premise of this story reminded me of the premise of "Superman Returns" a little bit, although if you look at the date that this story was written, StopQuitDont actually wrote the story long before the movie came out. One thing that you can say about the story if you compare it to the movie is that StopQuitDont did give Clark a much better reason for being absent for the first 5 years of his son's life than the reason the writers of the movie came up with.

I liked seeing Clark as a father. I've often thought that he would have made a great father based on what we know about his personality, so it was nice to see him at this stage of his life.

I will say that like Christina, I probably would have enjoyed a little more drama thrown into the story, but that's just my own personal taste. I still did very much enjoy the story as it was, so I'm not really complaining.

Wow, a WAFFy story by SQD from beginning to end?! Who'd a thunk it? I love how trusting Lois is. I wish I could be that trusting. I love that Jimmy and Perry came to be Chris's supportive family when Ellen and Sam declined the honor. I'm sure that was how Jimmy met Lucy and fell in love. I don't know if SQD wrote any pre-quels to this story but that one is what I'm assuming. I like how Lois only looks forward. Chris was definitely a powerful force for good in her life.

So many things could have gone wrong in this story: from Clark not accepting Chris, Lois being bitter about being a single mom, about Chris not accepting Clark or the Kents. I did expect a scene between the Lanes and Lois and Clark, saying something negative about Clark being an absent father or something, but it probably would have detracted from this feel good story.

Yes, this story is a breath of fresh air. I was worried when Chris and Ashleigh ended up passed out in preschool. Having such a powerful gift will be a tough secret to keep and one the Kents will have to protect him from 24/7 (protect him from other trying to kidnap him to use him due to this gift).

When Lois first mentions Superman she says something to the effect that he had arrived in Metropolis only a few weeks or months earlier. Perry mentioned that he had interviewed Clark only a short while before. Therefore, Clark hadn't been in the city long.

Yes, that would have been nice. I agree. It seemed a bit odd that there was a man a) flying around Metropolis, b) with CHRIS'S EYES, and C) Lois wouldn't have cared and/or noticed. I wonder if Chris's power had something to do with his mom being more mellow.

This is a very inspiring story. Perhaps if we *all* looked for the good in others we would bring about our own Utopia, even if we never get our flying man in blue.

SQD's Family Man is also a feel good fic, but it has more angst in it. That one is supposedly based on the Nicholas Cage film with the same name. (I haven't seen that film, so I can't say how close it is to it.)

Virginia,

1. I agree about Family Man as it is one of my favorites along with My Inspiration. They both have a bit more angst but still pretty superficial. SQD has a couple of really angsty stories in "What Makes a Man" and "A Gift For Life".

2. The point I was trying to make with why Superman was not a major character in this story was first he had not been around long and second this Lois did not put herself in need of a super rescue like canon-Lois did so she may have never seen him up close and hence not noticed his eyes. I suspect had they ever met that Clark would have immediately recognized his 'Maria' so my conclustion is that they had never met and so Superman was a cursiosity not a fixation for this version of Lois.

3. I especially like stories with an emotionally strong Lois like this one and the other SQD stories we both mentioned earlier as well as many of Nan Smith's stories. I especially liked the way Darth Michael stated it in the opening of "Don't You Dare" (that I just finished reading): "if you want shy Clark and scared Lois, you will not enjoy this". That is kind of Lois and Clark are what I really like, both strong both working together to vanquish whatever problems come their way.

Gotta go for now. Will probably be back later for more discussion...

Mike

Love family man. Sorry, had to get that out of the way. Regarding 'not a day':

I concur, things do go a bit too smooth. I recall thinking that, man, real life just does not go that well. On the other hand, more drama or angst would make this a very different story. I like how it is written. The whole mood is just yknow...so happily teary eyed....(I dont like that I can't read it in public as bugs have a tendacity to fly into my eyes as I'm reading this particular story).

I think it's great so many wanted to read and discuss a story of mine. This one is an old one. And I wrote it when I was still fairly new to fanfic writing. I have a much meatier, nearly completely different story with the premise of Lois and Clark meeting, Lois having Clark's baby and raising said child on her own for a while. I had initially planned to replace "Not A Day"... Not sure now how I'll handle the two. But I am thrilled people are still reading, and apparently enjoying, stuff I've written. L&C and fanfic is one of my few passions, and I hope readers keep these boards strong for a long time to come.

Oh, and I totally agree with some of the comments. The story does lack backstory, angst, detail, and yes, Superman thoughts. That's why I wrote the much thicker version. But again, great that even the old stuff is getting read. And discussed.

So thrilled that you are back on the boards. Your writing and story telling got me back in the archives after several years of ignoring them. That led to me getting on the boards, finally posting, and you get the drift. This story, My Inspiration, and Chip Off The Old Clark were the stories that got me interested in the L&C universe after a period of dormancy. I am of the canon belief that Lois and Clark are destined to be together and to build towards Utopia. While angst is part of life I really am not drawn to stories that over emphasize that portion of life as life in general is as good or bad as you make it and the vast majority of angst is self generated...

I am so glad you are still writing (so many others have quit or moved on to other domains) in this universe and will be posting again.

Thanks for the work you have done and glad you are back.

Mike