Thanks for the comments, Hazel.
I'm glad you liked it. I had fun putting it together.
As for the revelation, that was a problem for a lot of people. A fair number didn't even understand how it happened.
Not sure what I can tell you about it, though. As it says in the archive description for the story, it surprised even me. Looking back at the story, I don't think I'd have chosen to put it in. Somehow, though, it wrote itself, and I have a standing policy of not interfering with stuff that comes up like that when I'm writing.
Basically, I started with the challenge idea. Write something happy and carefree. Okay. I remembered a favorite story from the comic book "Astro City." It was issue #1, and the story title was (coincidentally) "In Dreams." It was a first person present tense story about a superhero who isn't quite Superman and how much he enjoys flying. There were monsters and battles and emergencies and all sorts of other stuff, but I came away from the story with this lovely and truly WAFFy feeling about how it must feel to be able to fly.
So, I set out to recapture that feeling without using any of the actual elements of the story I'd read. I put myself in that mood again and went to the keyboard to see what came of it. "Okay, Clark. Here's your motivation: You're flying, you're happy, you don't have a care in the world. Life is good. Ready? Go to it!" Everything just unfolded by itself from there. I did not expect Lois to show up, but, like Clark, I can't say I was surprised when she did.
So Clark took Lois flying, and somewhere in there, she let go of her inhibitions and recognized him through the soulmates bond or something (which I generally don't like to write about). I was very surprised and confused when it happened, but Lois and Clark insisted that it had. Who was I to argue?
I don't think it really made sense to anyone, but as I was writing, I just couldn't see the story without it. Besides, it gave me an ending. So, there it is.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but that's the only way I know how to explain things.
Anyway, thanks for the explanation about the "n/a." I'm still confused about how it should be counted, but the consensus seems to be zero rather than one. I can see arguments for both, really. Personally, I'm not sure what I'd have done. Doesn't seem fair to peanlize you for the fact that the story didn't need dialogue, but it doesn't seem right to reward you for clever banter that wasn't there, either.
Maybe a 5/10 is the fairest way to go about it (which is basically what you got, on average), but that's not quite right, either. Not if you consider that with the contest so close those "missing" points could make a huge difference in placement. Maybe there isn't a truly fair answer.
All of which goes to say that it's very hard to be a judge. So, thanks again to the judges for all their hard work.
Thanks, too, to those who posted their scores so that we could have this discussion. As I've said before, to me this was the best part of the whole thing.
Paul
