This story practically wrote itself. The fairy tale challenge has been inspiring some weird ideas for me. Thanks to Queen of the Capes for (re-)issuing it. :-)

Heh, thank YOU for participating! ^_^

I like this one; it was short and cute, like the one you posted in the challenge folder. My one complaint, though, is that Lois and Clark didn't end up together. But ah, well. :p

Queen of the Capes wrote:

Glad you liked them. I had fun writing them.

And here I would have guessed that the complaint would have been that the Clarklestiltskin (so to speak) was very out of character. Either way, keep in mind that it is a *very* alternate universe...I want them together as much as the next FoLC in ours. :-)

Thanks for the feedback.

cheers,
Lynn

In this universe, I think he should have gone with "Swooperman."

It was funny!

Thanks. I have to admit, that was the bit of silliness I was proudest of. :-)

cheers,
Lynn

I love it!!!!

The fairy tale use of all the semicolons!

The fairy tale compression of time!

The wonderful fairy tale style exposition, where the main character and her impossible task are introduced to us in a delightfully LnC-fairy-tale-y way:



And the fairy tale three guesses or three questions, which are here given the most wonderful LnC twist:

Herbert, as in H.G. Wells!

Swooperman! How delightful! It is not obvious that a man who can fly should be called Superman, but a man who keeps swooping... surely he must be called Swooperman!!! (And what a take on "Superman"!!!)

Wow. Just wow. I'm afraid I don't know the fairy tale about Rumplestiltskin, but obviously that was the (impossible) name that the young protagonist of the story had to guess. You manage to make Clark Kent's name seem as impossible as Rumplestiltskin's!!!

And then they lived happily ever after - no, correction, she lived happily ever after:

I note that in this alternative universe, H.G. Wells apparently had to protect Lois Lane from getting too close to Clark Kent!

I love this fairy tale!!!

Ann

Alas, I have to agree that I want them to end up together! Maybe when she guesses his name, he's free to court her?

Short and sweet (yeah, despite KalElClarkKent flying away in shame and anger)... a fun read.

I must admit, when I saw the title, I kept thinking what would Lois have to promise in return (and the Pulitzer prize was a stroke of genius!!)

Thank you all for such favourable comments. :-) And an especial thanks to Ann for her detailed analysis -- to be honest, I had not consciously tried to do half of what you mentioned; I just thought "write fairy-tale style" and out came the story.

I'm glad you were able to get H.G. Wells from the minimal description; I had hoped that who it was would be obvious to other FoLCs, but I wasn't sure. I must admit that that was one reason for that first guess being "Herbert" -- to provide an extra hint, just in case. (I had actually briefly considered using Mike from STWTTWNK, since he is more like a fairy tale character; but I must admit I've never particularly liked him.)

I was also torn about whether the correct guess should have been Kalelclarkkent or Clarklestiltskin. The former is more LNC-ish while sounding at least somewhat similar to Rumplestiltsken, the latter closer to the original. I could still change that prior to having the story archived. Do you of you have strong feelings either way? if so, I'd love to hear them.

cheers,
Lynn

I enjoyed your story very much. I had no trouble getting the description was of HG Wells! And I really enjoyed the guessed name as "KalelClarkKent", so I guess what I'm saying is that I think the name is perfect, no reason to change it! But it is your story, so your call.

Thank you for the fun reads!
Evelyn