And it's not Doyle making the pass that's the problem, either. It's the doctor's response to it that seems to jar.
I agree that Doyle's reckless behavior seemed in keeping with his level of pain. And I could have bought the doc's response if there had been some foreshadowing.
And yes, Far Shore genuinely moves me, too. Which is rare in fanfic for me. I don't think of it as soap-opera, though, I don't feel that my emotions are being manipulated by trauma for the sheer sake of it.
I was responding to the earlier use of soap opera; I don't know that it really was soap opera so much as there's a problem with (for lack of better term) the emotional pacing. Not enough lulls between the crests.
I thought a couple of crucial bits were left out -- from the point of the surgery -- scenes that would have allowed us to watch the relationship building and deepening -- and that would have evened out and balanced the occasionally frenetic/histrionic tenor of the rest of the story.
Granted it's always tricky to know what's essential.
Her world and her vision of the lads is one she sells me. Like Kate Maclean, she's never an easy read but entirely worth the effort.
Now MacLean...whole different kettle of fish. Very accomplished and experienced writer. Clean, spare prose, tight structure, careful, even pacing (although I'd probably have chopped 30 - 40K out of Redemption, but that's just me). I think her Yellow Brick Road is one of the best things ever written in Pros.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-07-26 08:21 pm (UTC)I agree that Doyle's reckless behavior seemed in keeping with his level of pain. And I could have bought the doc's response if there had been some foreshadowing.
And yes, Far Shore genuinely moves me, too. Which is rare in fanfic for me. I don't think of it as soap-opera, though, I don't feel that my emotions are being manipulated by trauma for the sheer sake of it.
I was responding to the earlier use of soap opera; I don't know that it really was soap opera so much as there's a problem with (for lack of better term) the emotional pacing. Not enough lulls between the crests.
I thought a couple of crucial bits were left out -- from the point of the surgery -- scenes that would have allowed us to watch the relationship building and deepening -- and that would have evened out and balanced the occasionally frenetic/histrionic tenor of the rest of the story.
Granted it's always tricky to know what's essential.
Her world and her vision of the lads is one she sells me. Like Kate Maclean, she's never an easy read but entirely worth the effort.
Now MacLean...whole different kettle of fish. Very accomplished and experienced writer. Clean, spare prose, tight structure, careful, even pacing (although I'd probably have chopped 30 - 40K out of Redemption, but that's just me). I think her Yellow Brick Road is one of the best things ever written in Pros.