Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Not the Years - Prologue

This is a long-arc tale beginning with "That Old Gang Of Mine" and stretching out way beyond the end of the series. There is angst, joy, pain, a soft WHAM - by that I mean that it doesn't appear suddenly out of the blue - Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Lucy Lane, and kids. Consider yourselves warned.

I want to give my team of betas the highest praise. They are, in no particular order, IolantheAlias, scifiJoan, Mozartmaid, and metro.chumpy. These folks have battled through rewrites, tears, long-winded explanations from the author, and their own Real Life problems to help me make this story better. If you like a particular passage, you can lay nickles to noodles that one or more of them had a positive impact on the tale and the manner of its telling.

I invite you to dive in. Just remember that there are rocks below the surface.

Very descriptive writing - I could easily visualize the whole poker scene in my head. And it was an apt metaphor for how Lois is bluffing in her feelings for Clark at this point in their relationship. Rocks, eh? Well, I guessed that when I saw the author's name. I'm in for the ride.

I'm curious what this story is about. So far I know that Lois likes Clark, they still play poker, and some major criminal clones are about be released on the city of Metropolis. Did Lois just hint that she was about to steal Clive Barrow's car from Perry's garage.

Are we supposed to know Sharon McClure from somewhere? The name sounds familiar but I could be wrong.

I can handle your warnings since you wrote this, Terry, and I haven't been disappointed by you yet. (No pressure or anything.) I'm worried about Perry getting that dead man's hand though.

Do you know how many parts this story will be, or is it still a WIP, or haven't figured it out yet? Also, do you know how soon we can expect new parts? Not that this part was short, I'm just ready for more.

Welcome back Terry!

Diving as quickly as I can.

Just dropping in to remind everyone of the title. I should, I suppose, have been more specific in my first comment, so let me be so now. This is a recounting of some of the important moments in the lives of our favorite couple, not a direct retelling of the series arc and the years beyond. So please don't be surprised if there appear to be gaps in the narrative. We'll fill in the holes as we go along.

Groobie, thanks for the vote of confidence. My main purpose with the poker game was to establish Lois' uncertain emotional state regarding Clark, but it could easily be a metaphor for the entire tale. You'd have to stretch it a bit, but it could be done.

So you saw the author's name and aren't surprised at the rocks? I guess I really do have a reputation to uphold.

Virginia, the other reason I brought in the poker game was to have a starting place at TOGOM, the story with so many rewrites it should have its own website. Sharon is, to my knowledge, an original character brought in to show Lois' state of mind toward Clark. And the dead man's hand was my history nerd showing. It wasn't intended to be a warning for anything.

My betas are working on the final quarter of the story, which came out to 14 parts plus prologue and epilogue. I plan to post a part every four to six days, depending on what else jumps up in front of me and screams for my attention. I'll try very hard not to leave any big gaps between chapters.

I'll confess now that I originally planned a story about 25K words. I should have known it would grow to nearly 70K. My supporting characters often push forward and demand more screen time, and usually they're right.

And thanks for not putting pressure on me.

Morgana, be careful and observe the buoys. The bottom can be treacherous.

Thanks for writing, y'all!

Terry,

Thanks for the clarification about this story. I will have to give it a try. I have found in the past your interpretation of Lois and Clark and mine not to be a very good match but this story seems to have much promise and the warning did not contain any “Abandon (nearly) all hope, all who enter here.” warning .

Thanks for writing and for this post as I was kind of leaning towards not reading based on your first FDK post and the post you made when looking for Betas for this story about it making you sad. That said the series had most of what you said this tale did (well not Batman...) and the premise sounds interesting and even dare I say fun. I also must admit that when you said long-arc tale in the first FDK I had visions of a Virginia or Corrina epic but this should be very manageable .

Mike

I love it!! Can't wait to see more. Love the premise-- at first I was thinking that it was set in black and white times or something (I had no set timeline in my head, but for some reason that's what popped up). I love TOGOM rewrites, and I have high hopes for this one too! I'm glad you've got a schedule set, gonna prepare myself.

Mike, thanks for giving me another shot. Just be warned that there are some cliffhangers ahead. And while I've written a couple of epic-length tales, this isn't one of them. It's actually close to standard commercial novel length.

Mouse, I'm glad you're reading. Not sure what "black and white times" means, unless you're referring to a setting in the past. I actually have a couple of ideas about stories set in the past, but this tale isn't one of them. We're stuck firmly in Season 2 and moving forward.

Next chapter up very soon!