I’ve been following this debate for a while now. And I’ve found some good arguments being made on all sides of the issue. I find myself reading one post and agreeing. Then I read the following post, which says the exact opposite, and find myself again agreeing. (Occupational hazzard, I suppose - although, it probably means I wouldn’t make a very good judge laugh ).

Personally, I’m not a big fan of death-fics. But it isn’t because of some profound reason. I just like happy endings - which, to me, means Lois and Clark being together and alive. However, if I’m simply given a ‘broken toys’ warning at the beginning, I’m fine. At least that way, I know not to become to emotionally invested in the story or... depending on my mood, avoiding the story all together.

On the other hand, death has never really bothered me. I don’t like dying. I don’t like movies about dying. But death... If a movie gets too long sometimes I find myself wishing that the author would just kill off all the characters (although, I’m not sure if that is quite the same thing blush ).

As for having deep thoughts about death... Well, on those occasions where my life has been in peril (like rolling down a hill in a car), I tend to think things like: “Oh no! I didn’t clean my house today! People are going to see my dirty house!” or “I’m wearing my holey underwear! I can’t die in my holey underwear! What would my mother say?” shock I do, however, have more problems with the thought of the death of a person I love than I do with my own death. That's a little harder to deal with or to think about.

So I guess, since the question being asked is whether I like death-fics, I’d have to say that the answer would be no, but if others feel the need to write them, that’s okay with me, too. Would I ever write a death-fic? Uhh... No comment wink .

I do have a question, though (which is actually the reason I decided to post). I would have said that a death fic was one where either:

1. Lois or Clark or both die, or
2. the main focus of the story is on death.

I wouldn’t have thought that stories that kill off the other characters, but where the focus of the story isn’t on that fact, would qualify. For example, at the beginning of Heaven’s Prisoners, Demi kills off Martha and Jonathan. Yet I wouldn’t call that a death fic. Or in one of Tank’s stories, I remember him killing Cat. I thought it was very effective in the story (and I must admit to shedding a few tears), but I wouldn’t consider that story a death fic. So... how do people catagorize them? And should there be warnings if you are going to kill off a supporting character at some point in the story? confused

ML

(btw, Carol, I really enjoyed that thread about Lois and Clark's marriage in the comics on Zoomway's boards.)

She was in such a good mood she let all the pedestrians in the crosswalk get to safety before taking off again.
- CC Aiken, The Late Great Lois Lane