Dana, could you link it (if you have already, I missed it)? I'd like to read it too.

I didn't link to it here, actually.

Bereft

Oh, Fay, my darling peddler of HP fic, thank you, thank you. I put ajhall on my LJ friends list just so I can track her progress on the sequel to LoP.

My new Xander story's been garnering some "helpful" reviews on fanfiction.net, like it would probably be an even better story if I'd just kept typing. Oh, and one person thanked my for editing and proofreading the story. I just smile mentally and send brief notes back thanking them for their interest.

But, still, when someone asks about what they perceive as a plot hole or characterization fault after the story's been "published" to the lists and everything, that's pretty much academic, isn't it? I know I think it's pretty well finished the way I want it once a story's out in the cold, cruel world.

Holy cow, Dana. that's just amazing.

Thank you.

What in LFN would breed HR? I mean, Nikita's messed up, Michael is messed up, innocents die, bad people live.

That's why I watched, anyway? I can see the romance in, say, Due South, but LFN has doom written all over it.

I've seen the movie, but only a couple of episodes. Still, I think anyone who doesn't believe she'd do that is viewing Nikita pretty romantically. She is perfectly capable of doing the ruthless thing, and of being guilt-wracked for doing it at the same time.

I liked that, of course, but I think what I liked best was Michael's dispassionate research, with the horrible realization that he's hiding from just waiting.. very nice build up of tension.

What in LFN would breed HR? I mean, Nikita's messed up, Michael is messed up, innocents die, bad people live.

No, no, no.

Nikita's an innocent victim of Operations and Madeline's manipulations. Michael is a dark brooding tortured hero type. And what we all want is to see those two crazy kids live happily ever after, in a house with a white picket fence, with Adam and whatever other children the two of them churn out.

Guh.

Those people are crazy. Not that the con didn't convince me but .. I just can't wrap myself around that disconnect.

I wonder if it was over-familiarity with the fandom? I didn't have any trouble getting your point, but I'm working off of a knowledge of the basic plot of the show and a viewing of about one-and-a-half episodes. So I saw the end coming in the first couple of paragraphs. (Not a criticism, by the way.) But if you're wired to expect something happier, or not wired to look at a piece of fanfic of that length with that tone in the writing and look for the twist...

But, still, when someone asks about what they perceive as a plot hole or characterization fault after the story's been "published" to the lists and everything, that's pretty much academic, isn't it? I know I think it's pretty well finished the way I want it once a story's out in the cold, cruel world.

Okay, here's a question, then, as a fanfic reader who's working on buildilng better habits about sending feedback. What kind of feedback do you like to get? (I'll open that question to the floor, actually.) I mean, I want to feel like I'm being constructive, and I mostly focus on "well, I thought this worked and I thought this was why," but then I feel like I ought to talk about the things that didn't work for me and why too.

Mind you, I wouldn't ever frame that as "you should have done this," but as a personal reaction on my part.