Lois & Clark Forums Forums Thread Like Summary - FDK: Undercover Reporter (3/3)

Hello!

Part 3 is up and Lois and Superman are making their way to the end of this mini-adventure.

If you catch any other nitpicks, moments where there isn't solid clarity, etc. let me know! As my own beta, I know I've missed things, and I'm hoping to send this one to the archive.

If anything really made an impact, I'd love to know. I always use feedback for future writing.

I wanted to thank everyone that's commented on this so far. This story has been residing in my brain for SO LONG that it's such a rush to finally get to be able to talk about it with other FOLCs. You've been such a welcoming group for my first story in this universe!

The story began here: Undercoer Reporter (1/3)
And continued here: Undercover Reporter (2/3)
Concluding here: Undercover Reporter (3/3)
...but they still have some things to solve...look for more in 2024.

SPOILERS:
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This story was actually something I'd thrown out. I have a much longer TOGOM story in progress. I'd written this scene as an ending to that, but after 80+ pages, it felt a little too easy/pat for both Lois and Clark. That story feels like it does need to have the problem solved of how you bring a man back from the dead. But even so, my mind kept coming around to Lois sneaking around this warehouse, kept safe by her ever-vigilant but now silent partner. So I thought maybe it could become something else, something a little waffy and hopeful. I moved the warehouse to another part of town, gave Woolf his own nightmare from that night, and decided to blame the whole thing on Luthor (since I can't believe he ever really leaves Lois, even in death - too much mental trauma). I'm really happy that this little story made it. And that they get a happy ending. ...for a while, at least. And while I'm sure that Luthor Corps' many arms are wreaking havoc on Metropolis, this is the end for our Undercover Reporter. I'll be concentrating on other stories - another TOGOM piece (somehow way darker than this), a spin-off of All Shook Up, and an alt-universe re-interpretation of The Rivals. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to reading more stories here, too!

Thanks for reading!

Blueowl, thank you very much! I was so happy when Henderson found his way into this one! I just love when he winds up Lois. That was one of the most fun sections to write. I've got a couple of other ideas, but they're much more basic drafts (and much longer ), so it might be a little while!

Terry, yeah, I think that's all more than fair. It's a major (major!) sticking point for me, too - that Lois didn't know what was going on. It would have to be literally the biggest secret in the world, for Clark to keep it from her . It's basically indisputable by this point that they're thick as thieves. I don't know how you solve that. (Well, actually, I do have one idea on how to solve it, but that's a different story. Literally.)
I have a really heavy background in folklore/fairy tales in the 1600-1800's, and it reared it's ugly head here. I'd been writing another story, and a big section of this scene (the whole ending) basically wrote itself one night. Once I'd read it through again, I'd felt about it the way you're describing here. But in lieu of chucking it, I thought I'd try it as a stand-alone. Maybe it's a darling that I should have killed instead of building it a house, but I just couldn't do it. The last sentence picks at me, too, but that folklore background is hard for me to bury.
I think that the one thing I can offer is that we don't get all the information we want here (how they get out of this one), but I think we get all the information we need (they do get out of it - Lois already has the story forming in her head, and she's a lot better at this than I am). I am sorry if it bruised that I wrapped the emotional plot, but not the full story plot.
Thank you for the amazingly kind words here. I've read some of your stories on the archive and I won't soon forget being described as 'masterful' by you. Any story nominations are hard to come by, and a Kerth would be quite a compliment.
A true to character by "grief-soaked" is the absolute best descriptor of the Lois I was aiming for, and I couldn't have articulated it nearly so well. Thank you for reading this with such depth!

Framework4, thank you so much for stopping into the feedback thread! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad that you liked this one!

Andreia, thank you for the kind words!

This... makes... me... CRAZY! I know the writers are trying to stretch out the dramatic tension, especially in the love triangles (love rhombus?), but I do want to physically shove Clark into action sometimes. I sincerely believe that Lois doesn't go for him for her soulmate for A FULL YEAR because he literally just isn't asking. I have to remind myself that he's never been in a long-term, adult relationship before, and so this caution of his is actually charming. And I try to see it as a super human vowing to do no harm -- and that can be hard not to over-correct. It's a slippery little slope. But great shades of Elvis, some days I want to give him that push. And so, that's what Lois does here, lol

Well, technically, for them, it's just the beginning.

I honestly hadn't considered this. That's not a bad idea.

I'm so grateful to everyone who has read this and commented! I'm trying to sneak replies in a work, so I'll be back for the last half of this thread soon! <3