You seem to be saying that if Clark married Jane Doe and Jane died, all before he met Lois, that Lois can never be "the love of a lifetime" for him.
No, that's not what I said at all. In fact, I did say that I could see other relationships for both (see my above comments, and in fact, the title of the thread.)
But what I have said was that if those relationships were presented as "the love of a lifetime" or "that one great love" then that premise would consequently make it inconsistent for either Clark or Lois to be presented as "the love of a lifetime" at some other point.
I wonder, Terry, if this isn't a matter of how we interpret the term "love of a lifetime". I wonder if perhaps you take the term to mean any type of love and that any individual may well have more than one love in her lifetime? Whereas I see the term "love of a lifetime" as suggesting something unique about that particular love, something extraordinary.
That different perception would account for my reading of your TRT - You wrote powerfully of Clark's love for Lana as the love of his life, and while Lois was present in the story, she was never more than a female "Jimmy Olsen" - the sidekick who helped with the A plot. Clark was not the least interested in Lois as a woman in the story at all, although he respected her as a colleague. That's why I called your story a Clark and Lana fic. A well written one with an excellent A plot, mind you, which is why I kept reading. And, to be honest, I was also expecting to see some indication that while Clark 'loved' Lana she was not *the* great love of his life. (naive, I know
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btw - Nan has always made it clear that Lori is Lois reincarnated so I'm not sure that that example quite works. As well, in BL Lois did not marry Luthor, did not even have sex with him, but came to the same realisation that she did in the TV series - it was Clark she loved.
And to repeat what I said above - sure, if Clark (or Lois) dies I can see Lois moving on, loving someone else - but no, I don't see that New Guy would be "the love of her life". He would be "a" love of her life, however.
But the series was called "Lois And Clark", and that's what I look for in fics. Both the relationship, as well as the affection and equal regard for both characters. (and to repeat, again, I do know that others don't look for those elements)
Terry, I think you're allegation of flaming is both an exaggeration of what I have written and unfair - I get the feeling you're saying that I should not state my opinions nor explain why I hold them.
I don't know what to think about criticism of stories frankly. It's hard to be dishonest but that's what I would be if I were just to say positives when I also had quibbles. Better not to post at all then, regardless of the positives?
I know criticism can be difficult - I've certainly had lots of it for my stories. On the one hand I wanted to know what people thought, and I revised stories to take into account some of those criticisims, trying to achieve an inner logic in plot, characterization, etc. But sometimes the answer was that they thought that what I had written was not worth reading and that was hard to take.
c.
