Random Reading and Posting Challenge - No Greater Love by Joana Dey

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

For various (very boring) reasons, I've come late to the party. But party I did. My Random Button came up with No Greater Love by Joana Dey.

Now, I don't mind Joana Dey, counter-intuitively, by dint of its being on-line, Joana Dey's Life Goes On was the first in the Gentle on My Mind saga which I was able to read (and, although I've still to acquire - and read - chapters four and five, I'm not sure it isn't the best).

This I found a bit choppy, and I'm not the greatest lover of a romance heavy plot, but it has an interesting situational backdrop and will probably go down well if you are OTP minded.

I'm not, maybe I will be struck by the lightening of epiphany in my rapidly advancing dotage, but I'm more of the 'he's an irritating old grump, but I put up with him for reasons I can't quite put a finger on right now' camp - admittedly as an acronym 'HAIOGBIPUWHFRICQPAFORN' leaves a lot to be desired.

And whilst having discovered the joys of a smutty Pros read, I also like Gen (well ish, I don't mind a bit of adult language and suggestiveness - i.e. the lads being themselves).

So I thought, can you Gen (ish) a Slash story? Especially one where the lads are caught in such intimate circumstances?

Once you've read 'No Greater Love', why not judge for yourself (with apologies to Joana Dey, whose permission I have no way of asking).

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if this party just went on and on - more like a series of visits, perhaps!

I've read most of the Gentle on My Mind series, but that was partly for the personal challenge of just getting through the damned thing, as it's all a bit soppy for me. I don't really remember Dey's addendum, except that perhaps it wasn't as soppy!

Can you gen a slash story? I'm sure you can - but I really wouldn't want to, I'm afraid! For me it would take away most of the joy of reading Pros entirely - but of course you'll have more luck convincing the Pros gen people out there... *g*

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm thinking they would be an easier sell! :0)

Funny how it seems to be controversial to Slash a Gen story, and not so much vice versa...maybe because Gen is more of a minority sport?

Over at MFU it's not unkown for someone to post both a Gen and Slash version of the same story - maybe I should try it myself sometime?.....ponders....

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Funny how it seems to be controversial to Slash a Gen story, and not so much vice versa...
Sadly I suspect it's usually more to do with the non-normative direction of slashing a gen story, compared to the "making them normal" implications of "fixing" a slash story.

When I wrote my Red Nose Day story, one of the prompts given was to turn it into a gen story at the end. I tried to do it, but ultimately just couldn't - it would have taken away the whole point of the story, and without the point there was no story, so it would have been like pulverising the whole thing... Technically it could have been done, of course, but not in a way that kept it the same story.

Whereas, oddly, turning a story slash feels more like adding something - which it is, really...

Mmmm

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Well, since I see all non-canon slash as AU, I suppose it is adding an extra ingredient.

Because I like both, I just let the story take me where it will - sometimes it feels slashy and sometimes it feels matey.

If I do this again, maybe I'll do it the other way about - the random button just threw up slash (probably, unsurprisingly) this time.

It was the premise of this particular story which intrigued me - because, physically, they're plastered so close together, so - if I did the same with a Gen story - I think it would have to be something where they were very close emotionally, but not physically intimate.

And sadly, that thought crossed my mind too - Genning a story is 'fixing' it.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look into reading No Greater Love, but I wasn't crazy about Life Goes On, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Of course, my biggest complaint is that she brought Doyle too far back, much further than anyone who was supposed to have the brain trauma that he had could possibly go. And by doing that, she completely changed the tenor of the storyline. I know that doesn't have anything to do with actual writing, in how easy it would be to read, but I wonder if, going by what you've commented about this one, if that's just the way all her stories tend to go. Everything all right in the end, no bumps in the road, heavy on the romance.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

To be fair all the medical stuff in GOMM is a bit dubious, but I thought she equalised the relationship a little more - gave Doyle more independence...but of course, that's the point you were making.

I think you might like this better, on that front at least - consistency.