Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - Necktie of Truth

I had fun writing it--I hope you had fun reading it.

Story is here: Necktie of Truth

Hi Shallowford,

I'm starting to fade away for the night, so I'll be saving the pleasure of reading your story for another day, but I did decide to sneak in a peak at the introductory comments, and wanted to respond ASAP to the following:
You're welcome, but, ummm... May I request a clarification? I hope by that you did not mean to say that I did a lot of plagiarizing. I never intentionally plagiarize and would not want to have posted anything that had copied someone else's words without attribution; if you can point me to any other stories with phrasing such as what I had posted, I will delete the earlier post ASAP and will make my profound apologies to the original author.

Or did you simply mean that my reply to this thread exemplified the sort of revelation one might see in a lot of stories? I would agree with this last item -- but exemplification and plagiarism are two very different things. To the best of my knowledge, my wording was completely my own. I was not looking at any other authors' works when I wrote that paragraph; I wrote it off the top of my head.

Sorry if my reaction seems a bit panicked or overboard -- as a college instructor who deals with actual plagiarism every semester (and with the serious repercussions to students who do plagiarize), I am extremely sensitive to the issue and to what does, and does not, constitute plagiarism. An accusation of plagiarism is not to be taken lightly.

I am looking forward to reading your story.

Joy,
Lynn

p.s., As I wrote above, I have started to fade away for the night. If I had been more alert, I would probably have gotten your meaning earlier. After I posted the above, it dawned on me what you may have meant, and I glanced through the story (again, I plan to read it properly when I am more alert) and confirmed that by the quote above you meant that you made extensive use of my earlier post in your story; in other words, you were trying to say that you plagiarized me, not that I had plagiarized anyone. *whew*

I am honoured that you liked my response in your earlier thread enough to use it as the basis for a critical part of your story. And since you did, more or less, give attribution (if not in correct APA or MLA format ), and since you did do some paraphrasing (a lot more than some of my students do, at any rate), your "plagiarism" would be borderline, at worst. (I'm too tired to compare the original to the final product, but I do know that I liked your wording better than my own.)

And now I'm off to get some much needed rest...

Yay! I was looking forward to this, and it was absolutely worth the wait!

Hilarious, Shallowford. My favorite part was Lex's 6-foot plummet: I actually laughed out loud. It's a shame Lois didn't get to share any secrets, but I guess Clark's right: they already had enough confessions that day.

That was hilarious! I loved it when Lex started confessing all his crimes.

And now Lois knows the truth, and she doesn't hate Clark.

That was great! Lex spewing all of that info before the city (and the world) was priceless! Glad I could "convince" you to write this!

Hi Lynn,

I was horrified when I saw the beginning of your post. I was trying for "humorous attribution" and genuine thanks, not accusation. I'm sorry that it came off poorly. Thank you for your post script.

I agree with your position on plagarism. Wherever possible, I prefer attribution and use with permission--or at least a smartass warning as below. When I started writing Clark's confession your "I'm Superman" post was exactly what was needed.

I hope you enjoy the story when you have a chance to read it in full.

Hi Shallowford,

No worries... Had I not been half-asleep when I read your original post, I would probably have interpreted it correctly the first time. My tendency to take things literally increases along with my exhaustion level.

So don't worry -- I won't send an "Academic Honesty Infraction" form up to the Dean of Instruction's office about this incident. And as I wrote, I am flattered that you chose to use my response in the earlier thread as the basis of part of your story.

I've read the first two thirds or so of your story so far and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Joy,
Lynn

Great job, Shallowford ...

I loved it, beginning to end. Clark's confession was awesome--and I really enjoy the idea of there not being secrets between them so early on. Lex's admissions--and made on a public stage, to boot!--were written amazingly. Hilarious.

Oh, and I have to agree with Queenie, you had me LOL at Lex's 6 foot plummet, too .

Wonderful!
Laura

I particularly liked the idea that Lois was so blown away by Clark's announcement that he was in love with her that the admission that he was also Superman was lost in the noise. It took him mentioning that he was attending to receive the Key to the City not to cover the event to bring that realization to the front of her mind...

The 6 foot plummet was also amusing. I will have to re-read this when I am not so pushed for time to get the logistics of how they were going to get control of the lasso threads so it did not destroy the world as we know it. It began to get a bit confusing for me at the speed with which I was reading it...

Mike

Hi Shallowford,

I have finished reading the story; what fun! I agree with the high points others mentioned (especially Lex's non-death-defying plummet from the stage). I also liked the way you made it clear what a good thing it is that Wonder Woman keeps such close tabs on her lasso. I shudder to think what such technology could be used for in the wrong hands. And having Bobby Bigmouth save the day was a stroke of brilliance.

Well done!

Joy,
Lynn

That lasso certainly could do a lot of damage! I wonder what Lex is thinking while he's sitting in jail..."What the heck just happened?!" LOL

I'm glad someone is thinking on their feet. Yes, this "technology" in the wrong hands would certainly be bad.

Lois seemed to have some difficulty actually believing Clark each time he confessed that he was Superman. Okay, she was distracted by his love the first time, and then later, when she told him to lie, she actually thought he was lying, despite him telling her that he had these abilities.

What confused me was why Clark still told Lois that he was Superman despite the tie being in the next room (after she took the tie off him and brought him into the conference room). Did it have a delayed reaction? Maybe they weren't exaggerating when they said being near the lasso compelled someone to speak the truth.

It was so Lex Luthor to steal Lois's tie without asking. He deserves everything he received. I, especially, enjoyed the scene of his confession at the Key ceremony and his dive off the stage. Well done.

Thanks to all for the kind words.

I'm glad that everyone liked the plummet and faceplant. It's funny--that was one of the first scenes that I knew had to be in there.


She asked him to tell her something outlandish, genuinely believing that Lex had burned the tie out. After all, Dr. Klein never really defined what a "short lifespan" was. I figured that Clark started telling fun, outlandish stories like she was expecting and she got distracted because she was having a good time. On the other side, Clark could have told her the tie still worked from the start but saw the humor in doing it this way.


As I understand it, the Lasso can't ordinarily be removed by a person under it's influence and it compels an immediate response. I thought Clark should have a little leeway in how he reacted. He was able to remove the tie when a normal person couldn't have. He was also able to delay, slightly, his answer to Lois. (BTW, if this is wrong, please bear with me, I'm a Marvel transplant. Please note the Loki quote.)

One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to get the tie on Luthor after the story insisted that there would be a revelation. Clark's limited resistance helped with that. The next hardest part was trying to write the first part of Luthor's speech so that it was potentially complementary to Superman but still ambiguous.

Sorry I‘m a bit late to the game
Some variant of Fly Hard?

Oh, figuratively.
LOIS: Duh!
Well…to be fair, with Lois such statements can always swing the other way, too.
LOIS:

That and a certain Lulu, huh?

Was that before or after Lois asked how Santa would be able to get down the chimney with his potbelly so he could kiss Mommy under the Christmas tree?

Men lie during dates and press conferences. Men also wear ties during both occasions. It seemed like a natural fit.

Her date?

Best and well

Oops? Also, see? Self-assembling.





:p

So…oops, then?



Poor dear…



Nice touch!
LEX: Yes, they were very nice to touch.



Good thing they cleaned up to doggy poo first, huh?



In China? Maybe back home is a bit more comfortable.

Fun one!

Michael