From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG9808A" ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 14:57:53 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Re: Man of Steel Bars on Sky 1 In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.16.19980731205814.49d71b80@vmspop.isc.rit.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <3.0.1.16.19980731205814.49d71b80@vmspop.isc.rit.edu>, Gary writes >At 12:25 AM 8/1/98 +0100, you wrote: >> >>>Not quite sure where the >>>feet idea comes from, >> >>Well ok .. let me explain and see if you can follow me ... >> >>Feet = Speed (Superman runs and sprints here and there) >> > >You're thinking of The Flash, he runs at superspeed. > >Superman flies at superspeed. Ok if I said "runs and sprints here and there" I wasn't using the right words. It was a brief comment made in passing and it really doesn't need analysing. I *know* that Superman flies at Superspeed .. I'm not that dumb :-) Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 09:59:51 -0500 Reply-To: eed2@Ra.MsState.Edu Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Elizabeth Eve Davis Organization: Mississippi State University Subject: Re: Man of Steel Bars on Sky 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Not only does he fly at superspeed, but he also runs at superspeed. In fact, in the comics he once raced the Flash and to make it fair, he couldn't fly. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 18:18:59 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: The occult, questions, etc. On Friday, July 31, 1998 4:34 PM, The Zoomway[SMTP:Zoomway@AOL.COM] wrote: > In a message dated 98-07-31 14:44:54 EDT, you write: > > << I totally agree. I am strongly opposed to the episodes that contained > occultic influencenes, ghosts, druids, or voodoo etc.. I really did not > like NOAS and I didn't like the character Baron Sunday at all. > >> > > > I admit I'm one of the minority (even among minorities it's a minority ;) who > liked Baron Sunday. , Maybe you're part of a minority, but then, so am I. Not only did I like Baron Sunday, I liked the actor who portrayed him, and wished they would follow it up with a story where Sunday came back and found out (some way) that Clark really hadn't tried to hurt him...and forgave him. So, I'm a sentimentalist, too. They left it with one of those, "I'll be back" and wide open endings with him slithering off with his almost-Vincent-Price-ish laugh. (I don't like it when it gets *too* weird, but none of them did...now, Outer Limits is another story altogether :) Any fans who don't like the supernatural definitely shouldn't read the Supergirl comics, either. It's been pretty bizarre ever since it came out...but I did get a kick out of a character in a recent issue (who was the Dean of a college where there was some racial unrest...and Supergirl intervenes) being called "Dean Kane"...I know Peter David wrote that in on purpose. I never got a response when I posted asking if anyone had heard anything about a Supergirl movie being made. I had hear 'net rumors of Supergirl and WOnder WOman tv series. Also, any news about whether the Superman Lives movie has ever gotten off the ground at all...hard facts, only, please. I've read "Ain't it Cool News" on teh net til I'm red-eyed and no hard facts. Later, FoLC, Regina -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 20:19:43 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Mar Smith Subject: a question... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi FoLC - I've had a minor problem with my computer (lighting struck my house and killed my computer in grounding it's self.) Now that I finally have a new computer to work with. I was wondering if anyone had the address to the archives (I had it but it's on the dead computer!!) Thanks Mar- Mar Brian@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 20:26:02 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Chris P Subject: Re: a question... Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 08/02/98 12:20:08 AM !!!First Boot!!!, MarBrian@AOL.COM writes: << I was wondering if anyone had the address to the archives (I had it but it's on the dead computer!!) >> If you mean the fanfic archive, its http://www.ixpres.com/chrispat/lcfanfic/ Chris P. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 19:23:23 -1000 Reply-To: shore@maui.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jamee Jones Subject: Re: Fanfic Fifth Seasons MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Kathy Brown wrote: > >>Hey, don't go insulting us or you might not get any. << > Oh no we don't want to do that!!! We'll be good!! :) > >> I also know that I couldn't give enough of my time or > attention to a full S6 without either dropping all my other projects, > getting a divorce, or going insane. << And we really don't want you to do that! > >>So, I decided right up front that I would rather have this project > turn out > 11 (or less, if that is necessary) high quality episodes than scramble > for > 22, and be so stressed-out over the project that it wasn't fun. So, > we > decided that this project would be fun. :) > > Eleven is better than nothing, after all. ;)<< > You're right! I have to admit, I was incredibly bummed when I first read that I won't be getting my fix of a new S6 fanfic every week throughout the season, but I totally understand! I know I couldn't do it! Thanx again for making time in all of your already busy lives to write again for us this season! > Jamee(chomping at the bit for S6!!!!!!) > > ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 23:14:26 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: Feedbacks: Love 'em or hate 'em (I know I'm late on this one!) OK, I know I am SOOO late on this. However, my modem got fried, and I have been offline for 2 weeks now. This was just such a great thread that I had to reply. So, sorry if I am irritating ya'll. I'll try and restrain myself. :o) >Hello folcs: Hey, there, Grace and all other FoLCs. >It's been awhile since I posted anything, but I was thinking of this >last night and I just had to get this out of my system. >I know all fanfic writers like feedbacks, wheather it's complimentary >of disparging. I admit as a writer, I'd like feedbacks. (although I've >only written two fanfics) I love feedback too. I've only written 3 (almost 4!!!) fanfics. >However, as a reader, I hesitate to send feedbacks to the authors, no >matter how good the story is. Because I don't know what to write to >them. Should I just say: Hi there, I really like/love you story or >should I describe in details what I like/love about it? As a reader, I almost always send feedback. I know how great it makes me feel when I get em. So, I try and do unto my fellow FoLCs as I would have them do to me. Used to be I would just say, "I loved your story!!! Keep up the good work!!!". Now I prefer to give reasons why I loved it or just liked it. This is much more fun for the writer hiding deep down inside me. When, I don't know what to write, I usually try and remember what part(s) of the story made me react the most. Whether I was laughing or crying, I try to let the writer know. I don't know of anyone who would be mad if you compliment their story in the "wrong" way. If all you can think of is "Great fic!", write anyway. Those words alone make me happy. >I found that writing my thoughts down are harder than saying them out >loud (i.e. I express myself better orally than in writing-you can tell >by the amount of fanfics I write:) If you find talking easier, just think about what you'd say to the writer. I'd imagine it feels awful to write a fic and not get any replies at all. So, just try! :o) >Also, I wonder if the writers may also be confused by the feedbacks >readers give. Of course it's nice to receive an email saying: I >enjoyed your fanfic. >But what did they enjoyed about it? Was it the plot that's original? >Or is it because the way the writer experssed the characters' >feelings? If I recieved a confusing feedback, I would email you and ask you about it. IMHO, if the writer cares what you think and doesn't understand, they'd do that. But that's just me. >I'd like to hear from both writers and readers on this subject. For >writers-what kind of feedback do you appreciate the most? I appreciate the lengthy type of feedback that tells why the reader enjoyed my story. However, just three words from my favorite fic author would leave me happy. In fact, I still have the email Crystal sent me about my first fanfic. This is because I hold her opinion in high regard. Sorry, if that embarrasses you, Crystal, but you *are* my favorite fanfic author! >For readers-do you enjoy sharing your thoughts with the author or do you >find it hard to >tell them about your feelings (like me :P) I think I already answered that one. :o) >Best regards, Grace Grace, great topic! Definetly worth delurking for. :o) In conclusion, I love feedbacks. :o) As a matter of fact, they are the only reason I write. I wrote my first story in two hours just so I could spit it out on the list for feedback. That feedback I recieved is the reason I am still writing (though not as quickly :o)) Cristin (who has 500 more emails to read b/c of the burnt out modem. Hi ho, hi ho! It's off to read I go!) PS- My first fanfic ever written can be found on the archive. It is titled "Valentine's Day at the Daily Planet". It's by me (Cristin Whitley). ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 15:36:04 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pellis Subject: Re: the movie (?) Superman Lives Comments: To: lloydr@ldd.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Superman Lives was supposed to be the latest Superman movie...starring NICHOLAS CAGE of all people in the title role. It started off with promise. Even though Tim Burton was supposed to direct it, the script writer was a long-time Superman fan (Kevin Smith - he wrote Chasing Amy and Clerks.) But Hollywood producers got hold of it, revamping everything and basically ruined it. Now, Cage and Burton have moved on to new projects and the movie is in limbo. Paul -----Original Message----- From: LLOYD RALSTON To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@listserv.indiana.edu Date: Friday, July 31, 1998 7:18 AM Subject: the movie (?) Superman Lives >Has anyone else heard about this? Is this a real movie? I ran across >the script while I was searching for a Titanic one. > >Go here to see what I mean: http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml >(if that link don't work, get rid of the "s" in "shtml"..) Scroll down >to u get to the script link entitled Superman Lives. Or you can go >directly to the the script with this one, I think: >http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8657/homer-th.txt > >Anyway, thanks for your help! >--cc aka Jodi-- > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 16:32:40 -0400 Reply-To: NightSky@erols.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Re: Never On Sunday; Superman Lives; Webpage updates MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Somebody wrote (Wendy, was it you?) > << I totally agree. I am strongly opposed to the episodes that contained > occultic influencenes, ghosts, druids, or voodoo etc.. I really did not > like NOAS and I didn't like the character Baron Sunday at all. I'm going to agree with Regina and Zoomway (yes, I do ocasionally agree with Zoom ) and say that I liked Never On Sunday. It had a disgusting scene showing a de-composed corpse (Ziggy), making it one of only two episodes that had my daughters running from the room in fear. (BGDF is the other one -- they couldn't handle Tez. Ruth (age 6) wasn't crazy about the kissing in the elevator in BY -- "I hate it when the open their mouths when they kiss!" -- but she just turned her head for that one. But Tez and Ziggy really scared them.) It was also, I think, one of the first Supernatural episodes. We'd seen the druid episode, but Mxy and Ghosts hadn't happened yet, nor magic stones (IGYUMS), not even pouring souls from one container to another (or from clone to clone). Compared to what came afterwards, NOS seems pretty tame, especially since it tries to tie itself to reality be invoking voodoo and hypnotism and the power of suggestion, although we could probably argue over how well they suceeded. For me, the selling point for Never on Sunday was that it had Clark as the main character. It was *Clark* that Baron Sunday was out to get, not Lois or Superman. We got to see some of Clark's background and we got to see Clark's youthful mistakes. Like Regina, I thought this episode cried out for a sequel. Sunday was still out there, and still gunning for Clark. I'd have like to see Clark make some kind of amends for damages done to Sunday, and, as Regina suggested, Sunday forgive him. (Or at least decide to to try to kill him anymore, forgiveness might be a bit much.) This episode cries out for a sequel. Fanfic, anyone? Regina said: > I never got a response when I posted asking if anyone had heard anything > about a Supergirl movie being made. I had hear 'net rumors of Supergirl and > WOnder WOman tv series. Also, any news about whether the Superman Lives > movie has ever gotten off the ground at all...hard facts, only, please. > I've read "Ain't it Cool News" on teh net til I'm red-eyed and no hard > facts. The Superman Homepage has a section on Superman Lives which is updated frequently. It's probably a really good place to check for information. And I need to update the Lois and Clark section on The Superman Homepage so if anyone knows of any good links (especially ones in other countries), please let me know. Also, does anyone know what's happened to Rocci's site? It seems to be missing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve "One may smile and smile, and yet be a villain." -- Hamlet ;) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:04 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic Alert : New IRC Round Robin Fanfic Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi everyone , The IRC round robin writers have been at it again and I have the pleasures of posting our latest offering :). This story is a bit of a departure for the group since it doesn't have any A plot at all . It's just Lois and Clark on a mini vacation exploring the world and each other in celebration of the anniversary of Clark's arrival on Earth. We enjoyed writing it and we hope you enjoy it as well. As usual, feedback will be appreciated. Cheers, Eileen Eraygun@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:06 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic: A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 1 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A WHOLE NEW WORLD An IRC Round Robin by Chrispat (cp13607@aol.com); Eraygun (Eraygun@aol.com); Mackteach (Mackteach@aol.com); Nekanuq (Nekanuq@aol.com); Zoomway (zoomway@aol.com); Missytoo (Missytoo@mindspring.com); ChiefPam (jernigan@compuserve.com) [chrispat] Clark reclined on the bed watching Lois pack for their long delayed honeymoon trip. They had a few days off and had decided to make a quick trip around the world, courtesy of Superman Express. Lois opened her lingerie drawer and glanced over at Clark with a mischievous smile. She slowly removed various bits of lacy silk and satin, holding each piece up for his inspection. "What do you think? Should I take all this?" Lois laughed at his look. "Okay. I won't tease you any more...at least not now." She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm really looking forward to this. Just you and me four whole days?" [Eraygun] Clark grinned in response and pulled her down on the bed next to him. "We've earned this vacation, honey. We've both been working nonstop for the last couple of weeks." Lois nodded and moved closer to Clark, resting her head on his chest. "I know, I've barely seen you the last few days," she sighed. "We could take some time to become reacquainted if you'd like to take a break >from packing." Lois giggled, rolled off the bed and began tossing items back in her suitcase. "Uh uh. As much as I *loved* our honeymoon, this time we are leaving the bedroom." Clark pouted in mock-disappointment. "Do we have to?" Lois stared at him. "Yes we have to! You promised me that we would. And everyone knows that Superman never breaks a promise ..." Clark sighed dramatically and fell back even more into the pillows. "Ack! Done in by my own image and reputation ... the horror of it all!" Lois laughed, shaking her head at Clark's histrionics. "You're looking forward to this as much as I am ..." She pointed a pair of her lacy undies at him. "And *don't* try and tell me otherwise." She continued to pack. Clark chuckled and came to a sitting position on the bed. "Guilty as charged." He watched Lois pack a burgundy bathing suit. "I can't wait to show you some of the places I've been, honey." "Don't forget that we're going to some places *I* want to visit too ..." Clark came off the bed and walked to stand behind his wife. His arms encircled her waist and he hugged her to him. "Anywhere in the world is fine with me, Lois ... as long as I'm with you ..." Lois smiled and placed her hands over his. "Me too." She turned in his arms, her hands coming up around his neck. "Now ... I have a favor to ask ..." Clark leaned down and began to nuzzle her neck. "Anything ..." he murmured against her skin. Lois squealed in delight before giggling at the ticklish feeling Clark was giving her. "Le ... le ... um, let me ... um, finish packing." She closed her eyes reflexively, melting against Clark. Clark smiled and moved his head away from her soft skin. "If you say so. Who am I to argue with Ms. Top Banana?" He reluctantly released Lois. "I'm gonna go do some work downstairs ... you're too much of a distraction." He walked toward the bedroom door. As Lois watched his retreating back, she smiled and whispered. "Ditto." Clark turned in the doorway, hearing her whisper, the word never sounding more sexy than it did right then. "Lois? I have a favor to ask, too..." he said softly. "Anything," she said, her knees turning to jelly at the low burr in his voice. He moved back into the room. "Before we leave, I want to take you around the world one more time." The smile that spread over his face turned into a rakish grin. "Please," she said, and they were in each other's arms again. [Mackteach] ***** Afterward, they lay there in the silence, enjoying the feelings of completeness. As Clark ran his hand through his hair, he heard Lois' soft giggle. He turned to look at her, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "What?" "Oh, I don't know ... it's just that ..." Lois' voice trailed off as she tried to find the words. "What?" Lois looked into his eyes. "It's nothing ... just that with how often we seem to be undressing each other ... I'm amazed that we did enough work to justify a long weekend." Clark chuckled. "Trust me, honey. Perry knows how important it is to keep his reporters ... happy." He turned onto his side and quickly kissed her. "Besides ... neither of us had taken any sick days, so we've earned it." Lois smirked. "Easy for you to say, Mr. I-Don't-Get-Colds-Unless-There's-A- Kryptonian-Virus-Around." Clark chuckled and moved his hand across her midsection. "Well, let's just see if I can help you build up your ... immunity." "Oh! Is it ... inoculation time?" "Mmm hmm. After all, you're taking a trip around the world ... gotta make sure your shots are all in order ..." Lois giggled and pulled his head toward her. "Make sure you give me the ... prescribed dosage." "Oh, absolutely." Clark closed his mouth over hers. [Nekanuq] They were late leaving, but picked up a tail wind on the way to their first destination, and made up for time not lost, but well-spent. They arrived in the dark, the lights of a foreign city below them, and Clark looked for a suitable place to land inconspicuously. "Here, we are, milady," he said, setting Lois down. [zoomway] Lois stood on a balcony, a slight breeze ruffling the collar of her blouse. She leaned her head against Clark's shoulder and sighed. "It's beautiful. We never did get that trip to Paris for dinner," she said, and then looked up into his eyes. "You were going to propose to me here, weren't you?" Clark crooked his arm so that he could pull her closer, and stroked her hair. "I guess I hoped it would be ... inspiring." She wrapped an arm around his waist, hooking a thumb in the yellow belt of his costume. "I guess I spoiled it when I jumped the gun and did the proposing," she said as she looked down as the 'City of Lights'. "Don't ever think that, Lois," he whispered. "Nothing ever touched me more than that night. I could hardly speak." He kissed the top of her head. "You looked like a little girl. My heart knew better though," he laughed. She nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "I was scared," she confessed. "I knew what I wanted, and it was a 'now or never' thing." Clark shrugged. "You just wanted your own way." Lois laughed and nudged him. "That too." "Come here," he said, and lifted her back into his arms and flew her to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Lois felt her breath catch. "I was hoping you'd do that." "I know," he said matter-of-factly. Lois laughed again. "So I get my own way telepathically, too?" "It's not telepathy, it's that 'Danger Mouse' complex you have, Lois. But Everest is out." "Ah, shucks." He quickly, impetuously kissed her. Lois felt herself almost losing her balance, but needn't have worried; they were floating again. Clark wasn't always easy to figure out. She was usually the one who had to make the first move, but sometimes ... the boy scout had some nice moves of his own. After the kiss, Lois just hugged him. It was that connection to him that stopped any ache. His warmth, kindness, love, it was all in his embrace, and she held on tight as they began to move to their next destination. [^Missytoo] Lois felt happy and free in Clark's arms, enjoying the scenery beneath them. He flew southeast toward the Rock of Gibraltar. Lois was fascinated as they flew above the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean and followed the wind currents eastward. He avoided the major islands, instead choosing a tiny island east of Sicily. He landed gently in the gray pre-dawn light and they watched breathlessly as the sun slowly rose in the east. "Clark, where are we?" "Well, when I was in college, I read about this place. Santorini is a very small, island now... but about forty years ago, it was bigger. Until the volcano exploded. There's plenty of good food, and friendly people, and not a lot of tourists.. so naturally, I wanted to see for myself how beautiful it was." Lois looked around, seeing the rugged, yet beautiful terrain of the tiny island. Small whitewashed buildings dotted the rocky hillsides all the way >from the sea. She decided that whatever Clark had in mind, it must be wonderful. The deep blue water and the black, rocky soil seemed like something out of a travel brochure.. Continued in part 2 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:13 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 4 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A WHOLE NEW WORLD continued from part 3 ________________________ [Eraygun] A few hours later Lois found herself dodging bikes and pedestrians on a busy street in Shanghai. "I will never complain about Metropolis traffic again," she said as she made it to relative safety on the sidewalk. Clark chuckled. "It is a little intense here. But you get used to it." Taking her by the hand again he led her past the busy market area. "So where are we going now?" "Well you said you were hungry and I thought you'd appreciate a visit *here*," Clark replied, indicating a small restaurant. Lois eyed the place carefully, then she smiled. "This is it, isn't it?" "Yep." "Well, I hope the food hasn't changed in four years. I really loved those dumplings." [zoomway] They walked into the restaurant and Lois inhaled and then exhausted the air with an appreciative sigh. "It smells wonderful." He held out a chair. Other couples looked up at the obvious 'westerners'. "I guess we kind of stick out," Lois whispered. "I could spin into the costume and take the onus off you, honey." "Sit down and shut up," she laughed. "Remember what I can do with chopsticks." A waiter handed them a menu, bowed, and then departed. Lois raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe if I just point I'll hit something I like." "I can order that assortment I ordered way back when you couldn't stand me." Lois lowered her menu. "I could stand you. I just hid it well." Clark nodded and chewed the inside of his cheek. "Uh huh." "I did like you," Lois said defensively. "But I didn't want you to know I liked you because I could tell you already liked me, and by 'like' I mean 'like', not *like*, the way I think you--" Clark raised a hand. "Honey, it's okay, really. You don't have to explain...please," he smiled. "Besides, as long as I rattled your cage when I was wearing that towel--" "Oh, God," Lois said, and put the menu over her face. "You can put the menu down. I can see right through it, and you're a lovely shade of red." "Clark, you acted completely innocent. What a faker!" "I just didn't want to take advantage of the moment. Your large appreciative eyes and that small spot of drool was thanks enough." "I hate you." "I know," he sighed. "But you'll get over it the next time I'm in a towel." Lois laughed loudly, noticed she'd drawn the crowd's attention, and turned it into a cough. "Want me to pat your back, honey?" "You're asking for it." "I'm *counting* on it." Lois reached across the table and took his hand. "If I haven't said it lately, I like you a lot, Clark Kent." Clark lifted her hand to his lips. "I like you too, Lois Lane," he whispered, and kissed her hand. Lois looked at her husband thoughtfully. "I didn't think I'd ever have fun being married." "I always knew we'd have fun, assuming I could get you to the altar." "It was long before the altar, Clark. I started having 'fun' with you even when I was still pretending I couldn't stand you." [^Missytoo] "If something's not fun, it's not worth doing." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then rubbed at the lipstick smear she'd left behind. "You got that right, mister. I'm tired from all the *fun* we've had today.. think we could get the food to go?" He smiled, and signaled for the waiter to approach their table. The man took Clark's order, and smiled at Lois. "Okay, what did you say?" "I said that the pretty lady had the airplane disease, and we were going to go back to our hotel." "Airplane disease?" "Jet lag, Lois." "Oh," she smiled. "So I've got a love hangover, and we should just call it' Clark Lag' ?" He grimaced at her. "Ugh, no.. we should think of something better than that." He picked up her hand, and rubbed a thumb across the palm. "You can't think of anything?" "Not right now when you're touching me, I can't." "You feel like going back to Santorini for the night, or do you wanna stay here?" [Eraygun] "Actually I've got someplace else in mind." *************** Lois watched as Clark spread his cape out on the sand of a deserted beach and neatly arranged the bamboo baskets of takeout food. The moon was just beginning to rise and she shivered as a slight breeze came off the water. Clark looked at Lois with a trace of concern. " Are you cold? Would you like me to light a fire?" "No I'm fine," she said snuggling closer into his welcoming arms. "It's just a ploy I use to get attention from you." Clark laughed. "Let's eat, and I can promise you all the attention you could possible want." They sat beside each other, and Lois gazed up at the night sky. "I always wanted to go to Tahiti," she sighed. "I remember." "I told you? When?" "At the Bachelor's Auction my first year in Metropolis." Lois blushed. "I did? I don't really remember much about that night. Not after I lost *you*, anyway." "You never lost me, Lois. I was always yours and I always will be." [Mackteach] Lois looked at Clark, her love and unshed tears of happiness making her eyes bright in the evening. "And I'll always be yours, Clark." They leaned together and sealed their vows of love with a kiss, moving into each other's arms and lying back against the white sands of Papeete's beach. Breaking off the kiss, Lois laid her head on Clark's shoulder, her hand lightly roaming over his chest, feeling his warmth even through his shirt. They looked up at the stars. Unhampered by city lights, their brilliance made them appear to be diamonds against a velvet background. Lois sighed contentedly. "This has been wonderful, Clark ..." Her voice trailed off into another sigh as she snuggled closer to him. Clark curled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "'Has'? Who says that it's over?" Lois raised her head and looked at his profile. "It's not?" A slow smile began to spread over her face. God, this man was full of surprises. Clark answered her growing smile with one of his own. "I've always wanted to take a moonlight swim in the Pacific Ocean." Lois' smile faltered. "But, we don't have the bag that has my swimsu --" Lois' words were cut off as Clark quickly and effortlessly scooped her into his arms. He walked purposefully toward the beach's edge. "Who said anything about a suit?" And with those words, he walked straight into the ocean, the splashing that his stride made accompanied by the squeal of delight from Lois. "Clark!! Our clothes ..." Continued in part 5 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:11 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic : A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 3 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A WHOLE NEW WORLD continued from part 2 ____________________ [Mackteach] Lois wriggled closer, looking around her as Clark flew by the pyramids. His grip suddenly tightening on her caught her attention. "Hmmm?" "Look straight ahead." She turned and looked. Her mouth opened in surprise and awe as the head of the Sphinx loomed closer and closer. Clark stopped a few feet in front of it, hovering as the ancient monument filled Lois' field of vision. "Oh wow ..." was all she managed to say as Clark softly whispered the history of the statue in her ear. Clark slowly moved around the Sphinx, allowing Lois a view that probably no one else had ever had. Pulling her gaze away from the ancient stonework, she placed a soft kiss against Clark's lips. "Wow ..." she murmured again. She leaned back and looked into his eyes. "It's incredible." Clark smiled softly, knowing that after everything they had been through it took something very special to leave Lois virtually speechless. "Now you know how I feel every time I look at you." Lois smiled tenderly and placed her hand against his neck, feeling his steady pulse against her palm. "Spaceman, you say the nicest things." "I'm only telling the truth, Lois." They stared for a moment longer into each other's eyes, their mutual love shining brightly. Turning away from the Sphinx, Clark asked. "So ... where to now? The Congo? The Sudan? How about Mount Kilimanjaro?" Lois thought for a moment. "Maybe we can come back to Africa some other time. How about ..." She whispered in Clark's ear, her smile widening as she spoke. Clark grinned back at her. "As you wish ..." With a final look back at the Sphinx, they flew off to the east. [zoomway] Lois rested her head against Clark's shoulder. She felt exhausted, but the excitement level was a good counter-acting tonic. "You think von Daniken was right?" she asked after a moment. Clark smiled. "Ancient astronauts building the pyramids?" "Yeah." He thought a moment. "Nah, my dad said only humans would build in the middle of nowhere." Lois laughed. "Hey, I should have asked to visit that Nigerian princess who taught you ballroom dancing." Clark glanced and caught her eye. "Jealous?" Lois tried to look uninterested. "No, just curious." "Well, she was quite beautiful, actually." Lois frowned. "Really?" "Yeah," Clark said wistfully. "She was kind of short though, about four foot three. Then again, she was only nine and had to stand on my feet when we danced." "Ah," Lois smiled. "You were irresistible to nine-year-olds." "I think I just looked lost, and she was so serious, but lonely. She felt sorry for me when I said I never learned to dance, and told me that a gentleman should at least know the basics." Lois kissed along his jawline. "She taught you pretty well as I recall. Though we don't dance as often as I'd like." "That's because you don't fit on my feet as well, honey." The last comment got Clark's ear nipped harder than Lois had initially intended. "Ouch, sorry," Clark said, and started descending. Snow capped peaks were at eye-level, and Clark flew by them very close. Lois laughed as she dragged a hand through the snow, watching it drift down in flaky balls. Clark loved watching her. Clark loved her...period. As they descended, the air warmed and the snow became scarce. Dark outcroppings of rocky terrain started to fall away as well, and they ended up under the canopy of a steamy forest. Rangoon in May was a hot, breathless place. [^Missytoo] Clark set her down gently, careful to let her get her balance on the soft earth. After spinning into shirt and slacks, he took a moment to look around, curious about the utter silence of the place. "What's wrong?" "Shhhhh, there's no noise.. this isn't right." He listened closely for moment or two more. "I guess they're quiet because of us.. let's hope so." He held her hand a moment, and then kissed it. "You feel like a hike?" "How far?" "Oh, just up that ridge." He pointed to a peak in the distance. "I don't know if I can go that far..." "Well, let's see how the walk goes, and if you get tired, you tell me, okay?" "What's up there?" "You'll see." He smiled mysteriously. She decided to let him surprise her. He was the only man in the world that could get away with it. Somehow, that seemed only right. They walked carefully through the dense jungle, avoiding suspicious-looking plants, and stepping carefully to avoid anything dangerous. The birds eventually began their usual chorus of calls. Lois was enchanted at the peace she found there. She sighed, tiredly, and Clark gave her a careful inspection. The light sheen of sweat that ran down her neck, and into her blouse caused it to plaster itself provocatively against her body. He decided it wouldn't do to have her totally exhausted by the time they arrived at their destination. He reached out and picked her up, smiling when she giggled at him, then tucked her head under his chin. He floated them upwards, carefully maneuvering through the canopy overhead, and flew them to the small clearing on the top of the distant hill he'd pointed out before. In the clearing was a small spring surrounded by exotic flowers and vines growing amongst the rocks. "Is this the surprise?" "Yes... I was here once before, and thought it would be a magical place to make love, someday." [Mackteach] He looked deep into her eyes. Lois gasped, continually surprised at the depth of his love for her. "And ... 'someday' is ..." "Today," Clark finished for her before his mouth captured hers. Her hands came up between them and eagerly went to the buttons on his shirt. They seemed to come undone of their own volition, the buttonholes well-used by now. They moved apart and quickly finished undressing. As Lois stepped out of her pants, she looked at Clark, thinking that all that was missing was his fig leaf. "So's yours, honey." Clark's desire was evident in the huskiness of his voice. Lois smiled, realizing that she had voiced her thought out loud. Still smiling all the while, Lois walked toward him, the natural sway of her hips causing Clark to lick his suddenly dry lips. "What's the matter, Clark? Need something to drink?" Lois teased, knowing full well the effect her short walk had on him. All Clark could do was nod. He swallowed convulsively, finding his voice. "Honey ... if you had been in the Garden of Eden ... the devil himself would have eaten that apple ..." Lois stopped, a bit surprised at his words. Then she smiled, chuckling softly, the sound doing wonderful things to Clark's insides. "You really do say the nicest things, Clark ..." She looked at him, mischief and love twinkling in her eyes. "Want to take a bite?" Clark groaned and closed the gap between them at superspeed. His head leaned toward her throat, lightly nipping at the tender flesh, feeling the quickening of her heartbeat against his lips. Lois clung to him as he pulled her tightly to him and floated them gently off the ground. They shifted in the air until they were horizontal and then Clark lowered them carefully onto the mossy ground, the softness cushioning Lois. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to his loving ministrations. ***** When she returned to her senses, she felt Clark's strong arms around her, his long eyelashes lightly brushing against her collarbone. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her. Clark moved in her arms until their gazes were level and Lois saw the brief look of concern that crossed his handsome face. "Hi." "Hi yourself, big guy." "You okay?" Lois smiled. "Never better." She reached up and caressed the side of his face. "Thanks to you." Clark smiled. Turning his face into her hand, he tenderly kissed her palm. "My pleasure." Lois giggled. "Mine even more." Her hand curled around to the back of his head and pulled him down toward her. Just as they were about to kiss, Clark pulled back as Lois yawned. He grinned. "Tired?" Lois nodded. "A bit. Hungry too." Clark kissed her forehead. "Rest a bit, I know just where to take you for food." Lois nodded again, already half asleep. Clark shifted off her and held her in his embrace, watching as she drifted off. Continued in part 4 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:16 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic : A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 5 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A WHOLE NEW WORLD continued from part 4 ____________________________ [Mackteach] Clark used his super vision and hearing to do a quick scan of the area. "Take 'em off, honey. There's no one around." When Lois looked at him still unconvinced, he quickly added, "Besides, with me around, they'll be dry quicker than you can say 'Extra starch around the collar'." He winked and gave Lois 'the look.' Lois sighed. "Now, how can I resist when you give me your 'lost puppy dog' look?" Clark grinned. "My point exactly. Here, let me help you." His arms came out from under Lois and she floundered for a moment before relaxing and letting the salt water carry her weight, her feet barely touching bottom. Clark made quick work of her blouse and pushed it off her shoulders, its tail floating atop the ocean. "How do I know you won't just let my clothes drift off on the ocean currents?" Clark raised his eyebrow in mock surprise. "Now would *I* do anything like that?" "Yes, you would." "Lo-is!" "I'll make you a deal. I'll take off the rest of my clothes once I see that you're completely --" Clark rose out of the water and quickly spun. He slowly floated back down into the water, allowing Lois to see that he was completely - " -- naked." She sighed. "You have *got* to show me how you do that." Clark chuckled and reached for her hand. "Come on, honey. You can undress on the beach. *Then* we'll go skinny-dipping." Lois nodded and let Clark scoop her back into his arms and walk back to the beach. She quickly undressed, her skin shining with a silvery sheen in the moonlight. Tossing her shoes onto the pile of clothes, Lois turned and looked at Clark, a look of playfulness and delight on her face. Holding his hand out to her, Clark smiled, his heart filled with love for this woman. Without hesitation, Lois placed her hand in his, and with a wild whoop of abandonment, they ran toward the surf and into the ocean. They laughed and swam in the warm sea, splashing each other in between kisses and caresses. Lois floated on her back for a while, looking up into the starry night, glad that Clark was with her instead of on one of those specks of light. She sighed, hoping that Zara and Ching were as happy as she and Clark. Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud splashing of her husband. She turned her head and saw a look of almost boyish delight on his face. He looks so carefree, she thought. I wish we could stay here forever. As if he read her mind, he placed a kiss on her lips, the salt water mixing with the lingering taste of dim sum. Unusual, he thought, but then that's what makes Lois so unique. He deepened the kiss momentarily, delighting in her responsiveness. He broke the kiss off and looked into her eyes glistening brightly in the darkening night. "I would love nothing more than to stay on our own private island with you, but ..." His voice trailed off. "Yeah, I know. The world needs you. Besides, how long could we really live on a diet of bananas-on-a-stick?" Lois smiled tenderly, her hand reaching out to caress the side of his face. Shifting her weight, she floated toward him, her lips capturing his and cutting off any retort he could have made. Clark returned her kiss, knowing full well that neither of them would have stood the simple life on an island for longer than a weekend. It just wasn't them. It would have been too ... normal. No adventure, no evil villains, no investigative stories to uncover. No, somehow, "normal" just didn't describe their lives. Clark broke off the kiss and murmured against her lips. "You once asked me how long I could hold my breath ..." Lois smiled. "And ...?" "A very long time ..." With those words, his mouth closed over hers and he pulled them both under the surface of the ocean. The sudden silence that enveloped her momentarily surprised Lois and she hugged Clark to her, his solid body reassuring her. Floating upward, Clark broke the surface of the water, Lois taking rapid gulps of air beside him. Sweeping her hair out of her eyes, she turned to Clark. "You really *can* hold it for a long time!" Treading water, Clark grinned. "Uh huh." Lightly splashing some water at him, Lois returned his grin with one of her own. "What else can you do?" Clark raised his eyebrows and laughed wickedly. "Mwa ha ha." He reached out for Lois, but stopped at her next words. "Do you know that we've made love six times today?" "You've been keeping track?" "Sure. Twice before we left, twice at that hotel in the Mediterranean, and once by the spring in Rangoon." "Um, honey? That's only five times." "I was counting this time too." Clark frowned. "I don't know, Lois. You've kind of worn me out. I never knew that you were so insatiable." At Lois' pretty pout, Clark's frown turned into a grin. "But, if you insist ..." Lois grinned and launched herself at Clark, her arms wrapping around his neck. Her sudden movement threw him off balance and they again disappeared beneath the surface of the water. Clark held her to him and as quickly and carefully as he could, rolled over so that Lois came to the surface of the ocean, and he was slightly below it. He levitated slightly so that she was just skimming the surface of the water, confident now that neither of them would now drown. "Cl ... Clark?" she gasped breathlessly. "Hmmm?" Clark murmured, the word vibrating against her. "Um ... oh ... re ... remind ... me ... ah, god ... to ..." Lois' words collapsed into an incoherent moan of pleasure. Clark raised his head, his eyes not completely focusing. "Huh?" Lois' mind cleared for a moment. "Remind me ... to call about waterbeds ... " ***** [zoomway] Lois felt drowsy as Clark buttoned her blouse. She had attempted it herself, but between the sun, the water and Superman, she was beaten. His heat vision had dried their clothing nicely though. Lois smiled down at Clark as he knelt to fasten the last button. "You know," she said airily. "You'll be a good father, Clark." She stroked his hair. "You're patient, and you can button from the front." Clark laughed. "It's not exactly brain surgery, honey," he said, rising from the sand and brushing his knee. "Besides, I've gotten good at unbuttoning from the front, and so I just reverse the process." Lois stretched her arms out to him, "Hug." Clark hugged her to him and smiled. "Isn't this where you call me 'lunkhead'?" Lois laughed, tickling his ear. "Do you remember everything?" "Everything worth remembering, and so my memory starts about five years ago." Lois pulled back and looked up into Clark's eyes. They had that 'look'. They were slightly glazed, his heart was full of emotion. She drew a finger along his jaw. "Let's go home, Clark," she said softly. Clark lifted her gently. "We've got vacation time left. You don't want to make any more destinations?" he asked as they drifted upward. "It's funny you should word it that way - 'make a destination' - because that's what we've done." Clark looked completely perplexed. "We've made a destination?" Lois smiled her crooked smile, that grudging smile that betrayed her every time. "Utopia." The couple suddenly lost altitude rapidly. "Clark!" Lois shouted just as they skirted the shoreline and landed back on the beach, or rather, crash landed. Lois stood and rubbed her rump. "I guess that was bad timing, I should have waited ... Clark, honey, are you all right?" she said, hurrying to where he seemed content to stay crumpled, his head bowed slightly, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He finally glanced up. The glaze in his eyes had spilled to his cheeks. Clark was not a man who cried easily or openly, but he was crying now. Lois knelt in front of him and took his hands. "I'm sorry I told you that way." Clark shook his head, tried to speak, but couldn't. He threw his arms around her and they both cried. After a long moment, Clark took a deep breath. "I love you," he said, and then laughed, even as the tears flowed again. Lois mirrored his words and actions. She was a goner seeing him this vulnerable and moved. She hopped into his arms. "Let's go home, but maybe via Kansas?" He kissed her as they rose into the air. "I think that's best. Only I could catch my dad if he fainted." THE END ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 17:20:09 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic: A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 2 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A WHOLE NEW WORLD continued from part 1 ________________ [Missytoo] Clark quickly looked around and spun into his everyday clothes. Slipping his sunglasses over his eyes, he took her hand. "Come on, they'll be expecting us." He led her down the rocky path, watchful to see that she stepped carefully. Finally he smiled and deciding the last thing he needed was a bride with a twisted ankle, he scooped her up and proceeded to carry her down the hill. He strolled into the village, refusing to put her down even when she began protesting that everyone was staring at them. He grinned, shouted something to the onlookers, and received a hearty shout back. She looked at him suspiciously. "Clark, what did you say to them?" "I just said you were too beautiful a nymph to let loose once I'd found you..." He finally put her down, but took her hand, and lead her down the small, crowded streets to a tiny building sitting on the very edge of the rocky cliffs. They walked into the small entrance, and Clark spoke briefly to the man behind the desk. The man smiled in welcome and handed him a key, then looked around for their bags. Clark held up the one small bag he'd managed to hang onto. The older man smiled, and said something that made Clark laugh. They followed him upstairs to a small, sparsely furnished room. Clark thanked him and tipped him, and the man smiled and tipped his hat to Lois. After the door closed behind him, she looked around the room. "Clark, the only furniture in the room is a dresser with a mirror, and that ... that... " Her breath caught in her throat as she realized the bed was carved out of the very walls.. in fact, the entire room had been carved out of the rock, and whitewash was the only decoration. The mattress was thick and inviting, with mosquito netting above it. Everything in the room was white, except the dresser. "Wow.." Clark smiled at her. "You like it?" "It's.. like some .. fantasy. You've been here before?" "Yes, I worked on a fishing boat for a while.. even helped build this hotel. I told them I'd bring my bride back here someday." "So what did he say to you downstairs?" "I told him this was all we brought and he said you were too beautiful to wrap in anything but satin sheets. I must say, I had to agree with him." [Mackteach] Lois looked around. "I don't see any satin sheets, Clark." Clark looked around innocently. "No?" Lois smirked and crossed her arms. "No." "Well, we'll just have to remedy that, won't we?" "We?" Clark smiled. "OK ... me. Let's see ..." And with that, he yanked down the mosquito netting. "Clark!" "Feel it, honey." "It?" Lois' mind raced with the possibilities of what "it" could be. "The netting, honey. Feel it." Lois eyed the netting suspiciously, not sure if Clark was teasing her or not. Sensing her hesitation, Clark smiled encouragingly. "Trust me, Lois." The low huskiness in his voice convinced Lois that Clark wasn't playing a joke on her. She touched the netting tentatively, fully expecting to feel a rough and scratchy texture. Her eyes widened and she looked at Clark with surprise and delight. "Clark! It's so soft ..." Not anymore, he thought, but then realized that she was talking about the fabric that her hand was now caressing. He cleared his throat. "I know it's not satin, honey ... but will this do?" Lois smiled as she continued to caress the satin smoothness of the mosquito netting. So soft, she thought, so luxurious. I wonder how it would feel against ... Clark's question caught her attention. "Do? Do what?" Clark's smile broadened as his mind thought of the possibilities. "To wrap you in ... will this do?" Lois considered Clark's question. "For now ... but, later ..." Clark raised an eyebrow. "Later?" "I still want the satin sheets," Lois finished. Clark chuckled. "Deal." Still holding the netting in one hand, he pulled Lois into his arms. Fixing his gaze on her bright eyes, he cautioned her. "Hold on." ***** Clark raised his head and looked into her eyes. "God, Lois ... what you do to me ..." Lois smiled tenderly, seeing the love shine through his eyes. "Only giving back what you do to me, love." He smiled and kissed her, breaking off unexpectedly as he tried to stifle a yawn. "Whoa ... sorry about that." Lois chuckled softly. "It's okay, honey ... let's take a short break before moving on." Clark nodded and pushed one of the stones in the wall by his head. To Lois' surprise, part of the wall opened. She peered around the door and saw a linen closet. "Satin sheets!" She turned to look at Clark. "You knew about this?" Clark grinned and nodded. "Yup. Remember? I told you I helped build this hotel." Lois nodded absent-mindedly, her hands reaching for a set of red satin sheets. She turned to Clark, a playful grin on her face. "Did you bring the bag that has the camera in it?" Clark frowned. "I think so ... why?" "Oh, I was just thinking ... red satin sheets ... me wrapped in them ... you with a camera ..." Her voice trailed off and her eyebrow twitched suggestively. Clark's eyes widened even as his grin did. "Suddenly, I'm not so tired ... shall we ... use up the whole roll of film?" "Sure ... and after ..." She paused for a moment, grinning lecherously at her husband. "Well ... I think you'll be recovered by then ..." "Count on it ..." "One ..." She moved toward the bed, satin sheets in hand. "Two ..." Clark continued, searching for the camera. "Three ..." Lois turned as she heard the rapid click of the automatic shutter. "Clark! There's 27 shots on that roll ..." Clark chuckled and continued taking pictures. ***** [ChiefPam] "Wow, Clark..." Lois sighed happily, wrapped in satin sheets, cuddled in her husband's arms. "That was ... amazing." Clark smiled, feeling like the luckiest man on Earth - on any planet, really. The past two hours had been nothing short of spectacular, as they'd been able to concentrate solely on each other. No Superman distractions, no reporter phone calls... just the two of them and a very nice bed. Lois stretched slowly, luxuriating in the feel of satin slipping over her bare skin. "So... where do you want to go next?" "You're ready to travel again?" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "I thought I was the one who didn't need recovery time." She laughed huskily. "Oh, I'm feeling all energized now, for some reason. Invigorated. You know, vigorous exercise is *so* healthy..." He reached for her, but she slipped away. "Oh no, you don't." She grinned at him from the side of the bed. "I want to see the world." "Oh, okay," he sighed theatrically. "But after that... " he leered playfully, "after that, I get to make the earth move again." "Deal!" [Eraygun] Lois snuggled comfortably in Clark's arms as they took off from a secluded spot on the island. Very quickly they were back over the Mediterranean and the sound of Clark's heartbeat soon lulled her to sleep. When she awoke she found herself in shadow of the Great Pyramid. "Welcome back, sleepy head." Lois yawned. "What do you expect after these vigorous workouts I've been having?" Continued in part 3 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 20:01:28 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Clark's College Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all:) I've finally (almost) caught up on my backlog of reading (Otherwise known as "procrastination";) I noticed that someone wondered why I didn't use Midwestern U. as Clark's College in my stories, since that was marked on the football in ASU. Well, it's like this 1) When I first wrote about Clark going to college I had only seen ASU once and I was under the impression he had played football in high school, not college. (I've since rewatched this ep and now know I was wrong Sorry Carolyn;\) 2) One of my proofers had mentioned that Ottawa, Kansas would have made the perfect "Smallville" and I discovered that the nearest university town was in Lawrence, Kansas. Since I live in Ottawa (Canada) and I needed the name of a university for Clark, I chose the one in Lawrence. It seemed a natural:) 3) Having written this as part of *my* continuity, now I can't change it;\ 4) Despite ASU, I have difficulty believing that Clark played football in *college*. By then he had learned to fly and *knew* he was different, fundamentally, from others around him. It doesn't seem reasonable to me that he would have taken the chance of playing football in as public an arena as *college*. (This is probably why I thought the football trophy was from high school;\) Bottom line: I goofed, but I'm not changing it at this late date Back to delayed lurk mode:) Margaret P.S. For anyone who is wondering: Yes, I *am* working on "Only You" Part 3...it's going to be a while longer before it gets published. The story isn't coming together as quickly as I had hoped;\ ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 23:39:59 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Grace Wong Subject: Re: Feedbacks: Love 'em or hate 'em (I know I'm late on this one!) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Grace, great topic! Definetly worth delurking for. :o) > > In conclusion, I love feedbacks. :o) As a matter of fact, they are the > only reason I write. I wrote my first story in two hours just so I could > spit it out on the list for feedback. That feedback I recieved is the > reason I am still writing (though not as quickly :o)) > > Cristin (who has 500 more emails to read b/c of the burnt out modem. Hi > ho, hi ho! It's off to read I go!) > > PS- My first fanfic ever written can be found on the archive. It is > titled "Valentine's Day at the Daily Planet". It's by me (Cristin > Whitley). I want to thank Cristin and everybody else for replying to my delurking post, especially Cristin :-), your reply sound like the sort of feedback I'd love to get one day! :-) and I'm off to read your first fanfic Cristin, and I'll remember to send you feedback when I'm through :-) Grace _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 12:08:13 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Charlotte Fisler Subject: Re: New Fanfic: A WHOLE NEW WORLD Part 1 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I am sitting here awed and somewhat speechless. Criticize - Why mess with perfection? I thought all along what a great piece of fan fiction. (Plot is never necessary - this is what a mood piece should be) Bith that ending. It took four readings to "get it" but WOW. What can I say but thank you thank you thank you. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 15:05:24 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: My website MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi FoLCs, This is to inform you that my web presence is shifting to: (Best viewed with Netscape) and is the only site with Clark's Bar...;-) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 16:00:04 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lisa M. Ramirez" Subject: Synonyms for the word "said" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I sent this to someone recently and she suggested that I send it to this list. This might be of assistance to all the fanfic writers (and editors) out there who get tired of using the word "said" all the time when writing dialog. My 6th grade English teacher gave it to me and I have found it quite useful over the years. He had this pet peeve about the word "said". He complained that students used that word too much when there were other words far more descriptive that accomplished the job even better. So here it is, a synonym list for the word "said" compliments of my 6th grade teacher Mr. Harris. SYNONYMS FOR THE WORD "SAID" added admitted admonished advised affirmed agreed answered apologized asked assured averred began begged bellowed blustered boasted boomed burst out cackled cajoled called chided chortled commanded commented complained confided congratulated continued cried declared demanded ejaculated exclaimed explained exulted gloated greeted grimaced grinned groused growled grunted informed inquired insisted interjected interposed interrupted invited jeered laughed leered mourned mumbled murmured mused muttered observed ordered pleaded promised proposed protested put in queried questioned rasped remarked repeated replied reported responded retorted returned roared ruminated scoffed shouted shuddered sighed smiled smirked snapped snarled sneered snickered sniffed snorted stammered suggested sympathized taunted thought told urged volunteered warned went on whispered yelled Lisa M. Ramirez ramirez@estuary.amrl.odu.edu To most people, solutions are answers to problems. To chemists, solutions are things that are all mixed up. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 17:14:05 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Margaret Brignell Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 04:00 PM 8/3/1998 EST, you wrote: >My 6th grade English teacher gave it to me and I have found it >quite useful over the years. He had this pet peeve about the word "said". Thanks Lisa:) Margaret ****************************** Margaret Brignell brignell@capitalnet.com Ottawa, Canada %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% My fanfic now available at: http://www.capitalnet.com/~brignell/ ****************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 18:50:29 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Those 6th grade teachers...whoever thought they'd be useful to FoLCdom? (BTW, we *still* give out that list of synonyms. I have it buried, even tho' I only teach math starting this year!) Regina > > -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 19:07:18 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: Re: New Fanfic: A WHOLE NEW WORLD To the round-robin fic'ers: I really enjoyed this one. I *loved* the flashbacks...would've liked to have spent more time on them, even...*and* I'd love to read the nfic version of this one. Thanks, Regina -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 00:28:34 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19980803171356.0069ffe4@capitalnet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <3.0.32.19980803171356.0069ffe4@capitalnet.com>, Margaret Brignell writes >At 04:00 PM 8/3/1998 EST, you wrote: >>My 6th grade English teacher gave it to me and I have found it >>quite useful over the years. He had this pet peeve about the word "said". > >Thanks Lisa:) I have to second that ... so thanks Lisa :-) Angee -- Angee Chaudhry Lois: Mr Wells, is it true what Tempus said? About being Galactially stupid? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 23:19:39 -0400 Reply-To: salymc@gateway.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandy McDermin Organization: GWNET Subject: Writers' Talk Across the Web MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello: I have been hopscotching across the web for the past few weeks looking at writing chat groups -- both subscription and not -- to see what non-fanfic writers talk about. In the spirit of Lisa's recent post, I thought I'd offer a few amusing and/or informative things I've seen written by writers for writers in my *very quick* perusal of these groups. On one list (I think it was called "Writers"), someone posted something I've wondered about: >>Short Story: 500 - 10,000 words. Novellete: 10,000 - 30,000 words. Novella: 30,000 - 60,000 words. Novel: 60,000 (very few publishers will take this) - 120,000??? 80-90K is a good bit to have these days. In earlier times, about 50-60K was good. Not anymore. It's a publisher's market now.<< Hmm. Based upon this (whether correct or not, I don't know), I've written three novellas, one novel, and no master's thesis. ***** Just today I came across the following joke posted at the "writery-cafe": >>A writer died and was met at the pearly gates by St. Peter, who greeted the writer by saying, "Which will it be? Heaven or hell? The writer was somewhat taken aback. Was this a trick question? May I visit each place first," the writer asked, "before making up my mind?" "Sure," St. Peter said. First they visited hell. Where the writer saw a long, long line of other writers, chained to their desks, slaving away even as they were whipped about the head and shoulders with lengths of hot barbed wire. "Uh, I think I'd like to see heaven," said the writer. "Fine," St. Peter answered and the two of them whoosed away to a golden portal, through which the writer saw, when St. Peter opened the door, a long, long line of writers, chained to their desks, slaving away even as they were whipped about the head and shoulders with lengths of hot barbed wire. "But that's just like hell!" the writer cried. "Oh, no," St. Peter said. "Here, their work gets published."<< ***** The following is a response someone gave to a person who critiqued his post. It was on the screenplay writers list (not something I want to do, but they are *much* funnier than novelists): >>It is nice to see posts like "Captain Red Beard"'s, who take the time to read every single word, taking great care to understand and respond to the author's query. In fact, it is gratifying to have someone *so* concerned with what I wrote. I only hope next time someone sane would respond.:-)<< ***** Finally, once again on the writery-cafe group, someone posted a URL that contains a plethora (I mean a whole heckuva lot) of information on writing -- just scroll and scroll and scroll. Not sure of the quality, but they've got quantity down real good. http://www.eclectics.com/writing/writing.html Sandy salymc@gateway.net http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 20:26:39 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <47C4C025F48@ESTUARY.AMRL.odu.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I sent this to someone recently and she suggested that I send it to this >list. This might be of assistance to all the fanfic writers (and editors) >out there who get tired of using the word "said" all the time when writing >dialog. My 6th grade English teacher gave it to me and I have found it >quite useful over the years. He had this pet peeve about the word "said". > He complained that students used that word too much when there were other >words far more descriptive that accomplished the job even better. So >here it is, a synonym list for the word "said" compliments of my 6th grade >teacher Mr. Harris. > Your 6th grade teacher should know that you can't do the following: ejaculated (ok, I really oughtn't comment on this one -- nfic anyone?) here the lesson beginneth. There is only one way to use the following word correctly. grimaced Right. Clark grimaced. "Stop it, that hurts." Wrong. Clark grimaced, "Stop it, that hurts." The difference is in the comma. You can't grimace a sentence. You can say it in a certain way "groused, growled, insisted", but you can't "action" it. Words like grimaced, grinned, etc are verbs describing actions, not methods of speaking. For instance, "Clark hopped, "Stop it, that hurts."" Now, imagine saying that hopping -- without using your mouth. Get the idea? Other words in Lisa's teacher's list that can't be used with a comma in speech are: >grinned (your character is grinning -- how can he speak and hold his >Cheshire Cat grin?? Likewise with a smile -- your mouth isn't even open to >speak.) >laughed shuddered sighed >smiled smirked snickered >sniffed snorted Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 07:32:21 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lisa M. Ramirez" Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Leanne wrote in response to my synonym list: > Your 6th grade teacher should know that you can't do the following: > > ejaculated (ok, I really oughtn't comment on this one -- nfic anyone?) Leanne, when I saw this word in the list, I *knew* someone would comment on it. I thought it would be you, Sandy, or Zoom. > Other words in Lisa's teacher's list that can't be used with a comma in > speech are: > >grinned (your character is grinning -- how can he speak and hold > >his Cheshire Cat grin?? Likewise with a smile -- your mouth isn't even > >open to speak.) > >laughed shuddered sighed > >smiled smirked snickered > >sniffed snorted Absolutely true. If I remember correctly (it's been a while since I was in the 6th grade ;) ), the point of the list was to force us observe and think about HOW people utter words. There is emotion and action behind spoken words and Mr. Harris was always one for using the appropriate word at the appropriate time. "Said" never cut it if a more apt word could be found. Spelling, of course, as well as grammar had to be perfect. He did say though, that sometimes the word "said" did the job. Lisa M. Ramirez ramirez@estuary.amrl.odu.edu To most people, solutions are answers to problems. To chemists, solutions are things that are all mixed up. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 11:59:23 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >> Mr. Harris was always one for using the appropriate word at the appropriate time. "Said" never cut it if a more apt word could be= found. Spelling, of course, as well as grammar had to be perfect. He did say though, that sometimes the word "said" did the job. << I never had Mr. Harris, but I must have had someone with a similar philosophy once -- it feels wrong to me to use "said" when I can use something with a bit more color. (And then along comes the Turkey City Lexicon (a list of jargon that describes what they consider to be writing errors) and the "said-bookism"= - according to the TCL, the word "said" is impossible to overuse and a good= writer should be able to convey emotion without being so obvious. But then I don't like the TCL anyway ) Actually, there are other tricks to use to avoid using "said" or any synonym - just put some sort of identifying action into your paragraph, a= nd that should label the speaker. Ex: Clark fiddled with his glasses. "I don't know that I look like Superman." You could add "he argued" or even "he argued, nervously" at the end of that, but there's really no need... the dialog is clearly argument, and w= e know from the show that Clark fiddles with his glasses when he's uneasy, especially about someone figuring out his secret. Leanne's example about= "Clark grimaced." is really an action, not a synonym for "said". And thanks, Leanne, for the pointers about commas vs. periods. I'm not sure I've been doing those correctly, but I'll pay more attention now = PJ !^NavFont02F04DB000FMGJHGD5MGD7HKDD9CF7 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 18:19:51 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-04 08:32:42 EDT, ramirez@ESTUARY.AMRL.ODU.EDU writes: << > ejaculated (ok, I really oughtn't comment on this one -- nfic anyone?) Leanne, when I saw this word in the list, I *knew* someone would comment on it. I thought it would be you, Sandy, or Zoom.<<<<<< Don't worry, I'll get to it in a minute > >grinned (your character is grinning -- how can he speak and hold > >his Cheshire Cat grin?? Likewise with a smile -- your mouth isn't even > >open to speak.)<<< Now this I happily disagree with. Of course we can say things while smiling. Dean provided a good example of that in Brutal Youth in fact. You can also speak while you're laughing, yawning or moaning (kersplash! ;) "I love you, Lois," Clark ejaculated. See, that's possible too (I told you I'd get to it in a minute ;) Seriously though, writing (especially dialog) should be fun and if it gets too bogged down by rules then you can sometimes lose something. I occasionally do connect dialog to actions and separate them with a comma as a personal technique for letting the moment remain fluid. A comma is a yield sign, but a period is a stop sign and when you are always that abrupt, it can lead to actions that seem removed from the dialog. Lois and Clark are often very animated when they speak, so don't be afraid to try something a bit different even if it does stray slightly from the pedantic norm. "In fact," Clark said after a moment, "You had to create Superman in the alternate Metropolis because that Clark Kent didn't come up with the idea. There was no Lois, and so there was no Superman." "Brother," Lois signed with resignation and placed the glasses back on Clark's face. "You're obsessing. I hate to be in the middle of a seduction when you're obsessing. Clark grinned sheepishly, "Sorry." Yes, I had Clark grinning while he said "sorry" ;) As I said, sometimes I'll have an action/dialog scene as 'He shook his head, "it's not likely."' (using a comma) and sometimes 'He shook his head. "It's not likely."' (using a period) In the first example I get more the feeling the person is doing the action while speaking. In the second example I get the feeling the character is doing both separately. There's also the option of writing it as "It's not likely," he commented as he shook his head.' I think it just depends on how you, the writer, want a scene and its dialog/action perceived. I wanted it clear that Clark was grinning *and* saying "sorry" at the same time just as Clark did in Ordinary People when Lois reminded him it was a campfire, not a nuclear reactor Sometimes (and maybe it's Dean) there's such a huge smile on Clark's face, he has to speak while smiling or never speak at all. In Wall of Sound when he says "Fair enough" after Lois warns that if he makes her go through an evening like that again she'll rip out his spleen, he can't keep from smiling while delivering the line ;) One of the exceptions for me is "gasp". You're inhaling when you gasp and so speaking while gasping is tough ;) Though I've no doubt slipped on that one too Zoomway@aol.com (On the other hand, if you have someone taking a toke, dialog on the inhale is possible ;) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 20:33:26 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: New Fanfic: Hi-Ho Silver Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hey, just a quickie here, inspired by the rerun of Soulmates last week...= This is a short continuation of the Old West part of the episode (what happened *after* L&C leapt home), and I used the names/backstories, etc o= f the Round Robin fic "The Lone Rider: The Beginning" (available on the archive and through my webpage). The first few lines of dialog are cribb= ed straight from the episode, written by Brad Kern (I think). You should read The Lone Rider, if you haven't already, but for you impatient types, I'll include a short list of characters :-) Micah & Hattie McCoy are the parents of Luisa "Lulu" McCoy, who is in love with Thomas Jefferson (Jeff) Higheagle who, when not sending telegrams, looks great as The Lone Rider. Rev. LeBlanc is a friend of th= e family, and found out about Jeff's little hobby in a previous adventure. HI-HO SILVER! by Pam Jernigan (jernigan@compuserve.com) ********** Sheriff Bartholomew led Tempus Tex away to a jail cell that had been awaiting him for some time, and Jeff, still dressed as the Lone Rider, joined Luisa and her parents. "So you're my parents..." Luisa murmured softly. "Of course," Micah replied, slightly puzzled that she'd need to ask. = Had Luisa hit her head upon something? Jeff leaned toward Luisa and said, "Apparently, you were left on their doorstep as a child. Isn't that weird?" Luisa smiled up at him, tapping him playfully on the chest. "I wonder if= you got my parents?" Hattie frowned slightly, recovering her wits from the stress of being tie= d to dynamite. Whatever were they playing at? They'd already told Jeff ho= w they'd found Luisa, and it had never been a secret from her. The only possibility that came to mind was that they were, somehow, trying to preserve Jeff's secret. Well, whatever game they were playing, Hattie decided she could play too. Putting on an affected tone she gushed, "You= saved our town from the evil Tempus Tex. How can we ever repay you?" She expected Jeff to make some playful mention of their daughter's hand in marriage, but instead he looked at her intently and replied, "You already have." Hattie looked up at her husband -- was he as confused by this playacting as she was? It was one thing to pretend, in public, that they didn't kno= w that the Lone Rider was really Jeff Higheagle, but this was beginning to feel very odd. "Or, uh, will," Jeff continued hastily, not really clarifying matters. Before they could inquire further, however, Mr. Wells coughed, drawing Je= ff & Luisa's attention. "It is, um, time..." Luisa turned back to her parents, reaching out one gauntleted hand briefl= y. "We have to go." "But we'll see you soon," Jeff added, completing the McCoys' bafflement. There was a strange noise from just behind them, and for a moment, Hattie= felt dizzy. She blinked, clutching her husband's arm. "Go where?" = Luisa and Jeff seemed affected, as well; they both had their eyes closed,= with a look of discomfort on their faces. Luisa staggered, and Hattie reached out to steady her. At her mother's touch, Luisa's eyes popped open, and she stared at her parents. "You're safe!" She hugged Hattie tightly, then quickly released her to hug her father as well. "But what about--" Spinning around she saw Jeff, still not recovered from -- whatever it was -- and nearly knocked him over in an enthusiastic hug. "You're safe, thank God = =2E =2E ." "Yeah, I guess I am, but . . . what happened?" Jeff's face reflected genuine bafflement. "Don't you know?" Micah asked. "You got us away from the dynamite. You= were acting a might odd, though." Jeff shook his head as Luisa finally released her stranglehold on his nec= k. "The last thing I remember is being up on a gallows, with a rope round my neck. Luisa shuddered. "I remember that, but nothing since then -- what happened?" "Micah, do you think they've been in the sun too long?" Hattie herded them back towards the shade of the general store. "I told you not to go out without a hat, Lulu." "I had one, Mother," Luisa protested feebly, "but I hit Tempus Tex with it, and he took it away..." "They can't both have had sunstroke," Micah weighed in. "And where did Mr. Wells get to this time?" "He was here, too?" Jeff asked, his voice rising in surprise. "Yes, he was with you, dear," Hattie confirmed. "He was right here, actually, but I don't see him now . . ." She looked around the town, ver= y confused by the whole train of events. "Never mind that, what happened to Tempus Tex?" Luisa demanded. "Is he still a threat?" Micah shook his head. "You two overpowered him, and the Sheriff's taken him off to jail. There's no lack of evidence against him; he shouldn't bother us again. Unless," his brow creased in sudden worry, "you married= him..." Luisa shuddered at the thought. "Ah, well, excuse me," came a rough voice from within the General Store. = Jeff whirled to see Rev. LeBlanc standing there, shamefaced, fingering a silver flask. "I can reassure you on that point, at least. There was no= wedding. And Miss McCoy, I . . . well, I can't tell you how ashamed I am= to have been part of that. I reckon I'll be leaving town, now; I couldn'= t bear to stay. But that blackguard told me about your folks being held hostage, and I couldn't think what else to do . . . . I did try to stall= things, anyway . . . but you ain't married, and that's the important part= =2E" He turned away, but Luisa held out a hand to stop him from leaving. "Reverend, I know you're a good friend to us all, and that you were only doing what you thought best. I still haven't forgotten how you tried to protect me from Judd Lucas a little while ago." "And you can't leave," Jeff added, with a note of humor. "We've got a jo= b for you." The loving look he directed at Luisa as he said it left little= doubt as to the nature of the job. Luisa's father had no trouble interpreting this. "I will not have my daughter marrying someone known only as the Lone Rider." "Well, that's easy enough to fix," Jeff replied, facing Micah squarely. = "It's time to let everyone know that the Lone Rider is also known as Jeff Higheagle." Luisa grabbed his hand, gazing at her parents with hope. Micah rubbed his chin, considering. They had worried that the townsfolk would react badly to Jeff's part-Indian heritage, but in truth, there had= been very little bad feeling as far as any of them knew. The town certainly loved the Lone Rider, and after today, they'd be hard-pressed t= o speak ill of him for any reason. Micah slanted a glance at the Reverend,= and received a slow answering nod. = Last but not least, he looked down at Hattie. She nodded. "I think it is time, Micah. They'll never love him more." "Well . . . seems like you may be right -- Son." Jeff grinned widely at the man he'd be proud to call his father, and then turned, almost shyly to the woman by his side. "Miss McCoy, could y= ou come for a little walk with me? I've something to ask you." "I'd love to, Mr. Higheagle," she sassed him, squeezing his hand. Leaving the older McCoys and the Reverend behind, they headed off in sear= ch of a quiet corner, ending up behind the telegraph office. Jeff dropped to one knee on the dusty ground, and Luisa giggled nervously, peeling off her long riding gloves. "Luisa, I haven't known you very long, but I know that I *want* to know you for the rest of my life. If you'll have me, I'll give you the best possible life I can, I . . . I love you. It's that simple. Luisa, will you marry me?" Luisa smiled tenderly down at the love of her life, amused by his apparent nerves. How could he even think she'd say no? She couldn't resist teasing him, just a little. "Who's asking? The Lone Rider, or ..= =2E " she ran a quick hand over his leather vest, and pulled out his glasses,= "Jeff Higheagle?" He blinked at the question, then smiled slowly, putting on the glasses. = "I'm asking. So say you'll marry me, woman," he threatened with a laugh,= "Or I'll revert to my Indian ways and carry you off--" She laughed with him, shushing him with a hand over his mouth. "Yes." His eyes blazed behind the spectacles, and she felt him kiss her naked palm. "Oh, Jeff . . ." she breathed, feeling her knees go weak. = He stood slowly, deliberately, and arranged her arms around his neck. = With tantalizing unhurried movements, he bent to kiss her, molding her to= his body. When they parted, a few minutes later, Luisa smiled dreamily. "Let's go find the Reverend. I hear you can get married very quickly around here i= f you know how." Jeff grinned agreement, and they set off to arrange the details. An hour later, Luisa found herself in front of Reverend LeBlanc for the second time that day. The events of earlier were starting to come back t= o her now, after a fashion. Of course, she had stood here, hoping and waiting, until she'd seen Jeff give her the high sign from across the roa= d. Then they'd struggled . . . she remembered Tempus and Jeff aiming guns a= t one another. "Willing to die for your love?" Tempus had taunted, but Jef= f had only smiled an odd smile and replied, "Wouldn't be the first time." = What had he meant by that? Oh yes, the time he'd risked his life to save= her from Judd Lucas. That must have been it. She shook her head. None = of that was important now. She looked over at her bridegroom and smiled tenderly. "Dearly beloved," the Reverend began, with somewhat more enthusiasm than usual. "We are gathered here . . . ." Luisa let the words of the ceremony wash over her, focusing her attention= on the man she loved. He looked down at her and smiled. No doubt about it, she thought happily -- this is what I'm meant to do in this lifetime.= = The next one will take care of itself . . . . THE END =2E..and a technical question for you writers -- Should I have attributed= the first bits of dialog to Lois & Clark instead of Luisa & Jeff? I was kind of going from Hattie's perspective, and she didn't know otherwise, b= ut I'm not sure that was clear... !^NavFont02F1F7E0007MGHHf802AA9 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: Ficlist INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 20:17:41 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> >grinned (your character is grinning -- how can he speak and hold >> >his Cheshire Cat grin?? Likewise with a smile -- your mouth isn't even >> >open to speak.)<<< > >Now this I happily disagree with. Of course we can say things while smiling. >Dean provided a good example of that in Brutal Youth in fact. You can also >speak while you're laughing, yawning or moaning (kersplash! ;) "I love you, >Lois," Clark ejaculated. See, that's possible too (I told you I'd get to >it in a minute ;) Seriously though, writing (especially dialog) should be fun >and if it gets too bogged down by rules then you can sometimes lose something. > And I'll happily disagree with you too. There are workarounds like you and Pam mentioned. But think for a moment. Clark has actually stopped grinning in Brutal Youth -- he is still showing he's happy. A period (or a full stop for everyone else in the world outside the US (and possibly Canada)) does not mean the action ceases and desists. Take this for example: He ran down the street. "Lois, where are you?" Now tell me: do you honestly think he's stopped to say that? For Clark to grin and then speak doesn't mean he goes deadpan to say it. Take this more complex example: Clark grinned. He loved it when Lois was in full battle mode. "You done yet?" Here we can see Clark is grinning, why he's enjoying it (so there's that extra special twinkle in his eye) and you can be damn sure he's still enjoying it when he speaks to Lois. As for yawning -- I do talk when I yawn -- and Dan always asks me to repeat myself. That could work to an amusing effect, but communication-wise, it's a dud (except if you want your character to communicate the fact they're yawning/tired) >I occasionally do connect dialog to actions and separate them with a comma as >a personal technique for letting the moment remain fluid. Agreed, Zoom, it's a personal choice, but if I ever edited a fic of yours, it would be one of the things I would comment on. In conclusion, everyone has their own little "blind-spots" and bug-bears that trip you up as a writer. Being able to recognise them and correct them is part of developing as a writer, even if it's a matter of reading back and finding them after you're done. I think it's one of the reasons people put a story away for a while so they can spot the errors when it's not as familiar. Improving doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen. If you let it. (hmm, shoulda used commas). See, I have a ways to go too. Actually, I have a *long* way to go :) Leanne PS. Pam -- where's Turkey City??? Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 00:45:15 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: peabody Organization: amarna house Subject: SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC: Dean Cain mention Comments: cc: "LOISCLA@VM.EGE.EDU.TR" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi FoLCs, I'm afraid this is off-topic for the fanfic list, but since the other list appears to be down, I'm sending this post to both lists. My apologies in advance to those of you who receive this twice. Dean Cain is the celebrity of the day for Aug.5, at the Mr. Showbiz site. The URL is: http://www.CelebSite.com/indexstar.html For those unfamiliar with Mr. Showbiz, it is a commercial site with current entertainment news and a searchable archive. The celebrity of the day is featured in a short article, with links to a number of related websites. Lois & Clark and Teri Hatcher are also mentioned *very* briefly. Pat -- peabody@mcs.com pattijean@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 05:15:00 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-05 02:11:57 EDT, you write: << But think for a moment. Clark has actually stopped grinning in Brutal Youth -- he is still showing he's happy. A period >> I think you're picturing the "so I grin" scene in the kitchen. I'm talking about the scene that's near the end of the episode, in fact he even laughs at one point while he's speaking. .. "Well I have to tell ya .." Watch the scene. He has trouble *not* smiling while he's speaking. People can and do smile on occasion when they speak. At least I do Even a sentence like "That's how it goes," he said with a grin ... would seem to indicate someone grinning while speaking. >>> He ran down the street. "Lois, where are you?" Now tell me: do you honestly think he's stopped to say that?<<< The sentence could mean he ran the length of the street giving some the impression he shouted when he reached the end of the street It also depends on what the writer wanted to convey. To make it less ambiguous it could have been written "Lois, where are you?" He shouted as he ran down the street. I likely would have written it as 'He ran down the street, "Lois, where are you?" He shouted, his tone becoming frantic -- terrified.' I like bracketing the dialog during emotionally charged scenes with both action and what the character is feeling. The original sentence conveys no emotion at all. >>For Clark to grin and then speak doesn't mean he goes deadpan to say it.<<< Sorry, Dean can and does keep his lovely lips curled into a smile often when he speaks ... I sort of love that ;) >>>As for yawning -- I do talk when I yawn -- and Dan always asks me to repeat myself. That could work to an amusing effect, but communication-wise, it's a dud (except if you want your character to communicate the fact they're yawning/tired)<<< Most of us know what it's like to say something we assumed was spoken quite clearly or loudly enough only to be asked to repeat what we said, so the yawning exclusion doesn't work >>>Agreed, Zoom, it's a personal choice, but if I ever edited a fic of yours, it would be one of the things I would comment on.<<< One of my absolute favorite editors was Rhen (Renate Brink). She would write her notes to me and make suggestions. Once I had written "Not even the sound of ice clattering in a glass." Rhen suggested "Ice *tinkles* in a glass." I wrote back "In the suburbs ice *tinkles* but in a waterfront dive in Metropolis ice *clatters*" and she agreed She was never pedantic. She liked to let a writer have an identifiable style, and if that sometimes went contrary to the rules then she encouraged rather than discouraged such 'creative license'. We worked together as most good writers and editors should. Georgia (a gift from editor heaven I think ;) is the same way about working with writers ... thank goodness! ;) I appreciate good editors more than I can say, but there are some editors who don't understand that writing is more than mechanics, it's also emotion. Not just emotion from characters, but from the words themselves and what they convey. >>>In conclusion, everyone has their own little "blind-spots" and bug-bears that trip you up as a writer. Being able to recognise them and correct them is part of developing as a writer, even if it's a matter of reading back and finding them after you're done. I think it's one of the reasons people put a story away for a while so they can spot the errors when it's not as familiar.<< One person's 'bug-bear' can be another's "individual style". To ascribe "error" to something done deliberately (not out of ignorance of grammatical rules) is to say that Picasso erred when he painted someone with three eyes A lot of people can't stand his paintings, but he knew he was painting one more eye than necessary deliberately, or he had some peculiar models ;) I think it's only after you know the rules all too well that you feel comfortable enough to shove them around a little and show them who's boss Finding a style can often mean finding a way around convention that still works and doesn't bend the rules so severely that the angels weep >>>mproving doesn't happen overnight. But it does happen. If you let it. (hmm, shoulda used commas). See, I have a ways to go too. Actually, I have a *long* way to go :)<<< Improving can also mean breaking free a little and being more aware of the emotion rather than mechanics. Again, this is not about breaking the rules out of ignorance of what proper grammar should be, but rather coloring just outside the sometimes constricting lines. I never break the rules repeatedly, but when I do break them, it's because I want to say something that doesn't fit the rules as strictly written. Even professional writers well acquainted with the rules break them sometimes. This sentence: 'The husky telephotographer of the Observatory, Beenay 25, thrust a tongue's tip across dry lips and interposed nervously, "Now, sir, after all--" comes from Isaac Asimov's short story 'Nightfall' and it's one of my all time favorite science fiction stories. He also wrote in the same story 'Theremon whistled, "What a screwy idea!" Now while I'm a firm believer that a person can smile while speaking, I don't think it's possible to speak while whistling However that's not what I got from Asimov's sentence structure. I felt he was trying to keep the dialog and action fluid. Of course I don't know that for sure, but I *do* know, grammatically correct or not, Asimov got published ... repeatedly I have to admit I can't tell you about the writing mechanics of Nightfall, but I can tell you what the story itself made me feel I can't even tell you how Dickens' writing mechanics would measure up, but I can tell you about Miss Havisham, the Artful Dodger or Jacob Marley. There probably are some mechanically perfect novels out there. Novels whose authors never once broke one rule, and if there are, I hope they also managed to weave great tales and great characters at the same time, because if not, they failed most miserably at providing me with what I buy novels for, no matter how perfectly written they are. Zoomway@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 06:41:38 -0400 Reply-To: salymc@gateway.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandy McDermin Organization: GWNET Subject: Re: SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC: Dean Cain mention MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit peabody wrote: > > Hi FoLCs, > > I'm afraid this is off-topic for the fanfic list, but since the other > list appears to be down, I'm sending this post to both lists. My > apologies in advance to those of you who receive this twice.< Hey Pat, How's the red earth of Tara. I wouldn't know if the other list was down except for the addition of posts here that seem slightly non-writerish, but that's okay cause I'm gonna contribute to it. Just saw this on the usenet group. (Can't believe that one's still goin'.) >>>On 4 Aug 1998 05:24:14 GMT, schultr@gefen.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz) wrote: >DCFan86 (dcfan86@aol.com) wrote: > >: I just heard on TNN that Dean and Mindy have called it quits. > >Was it her cigar smoking or her being the head of Metropolis's >largest organized crime syndicate that led to the breakup? > I don't know, but she sure looked good in pink! -- Mike Jones <<< Forget whether it's true or not, it's just a darn funny response. Sandy -- preparing to see "Saving Private Ryan" this evening with a friend who's wife won't see it with him. From what I've been reading about its effect on the audience, he should marry me afterwards as I'll have the "for worse" down cold). salymc@gateway.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 20:02:27 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Re: New Fanfic: Hi-Ho Silver In-Reply-To: <199808042033_MC2-5529-F7A3@compuserve.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Nice story! But it leaves me wondering if L&C will meet Luisa and Jeff's great grand kids some time... and what kind of trouble they could all get into, what with L&C knowing whta they do. Debby Debby@swcp.com who, however, won't write it... ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 05:19:50 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <199808041159_MC2-5518-EA35@compuserve.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:59 AM 8/4/98 -0400, Leanne wrote: >...it feels wrong to me to use "said" when I can use >something with a bit more color. I agree... except when I start hunting around for that more colorful word, if one doesn't pop into mind (or thesaurus) in a reasonable amount of time, I'll settle for "said"--it's a fine word after all--and see if I can't change something about the dialogue or some other descriptors to take the load of the description off that verb. [sniplette] >according to the TCL, the word "said" is impossible to overuse and a good >writer should be able to convey emotion without being so obvious. Agreed. One shouldn't do so much work as the writing becomes labored, too flowery, too obvious, which I think can remidn the reader he/she is sitting there reading. Typos, poor grammar, and "creative" construction can do this, too. >But then I don't like the TCL anyway ) Whoops ;) >Actually, there are other tricks to use to avoid using "said" or any >synonym - just put some sort of identifying action into your paragraph, and >that should label the speaker. > >Ex: Clark fiddled with his glasses. "I don't know that I look >like Superman." > >You could add "he argued" or even "he argued, nervously" at the end of >that, but there's really no need... the dialog is clearly argument, and we >know from the show that Clark fiddles with his glasses when he's uneasy, >especially about someone figuring out his secret. I like the example. It says a lot, describes a lot, without being obvious. What bugs me are the unnecessary, often overwrought (and overwritten) adverbs. I once read a warning against using -ly words (she said charmingly). Ex: "Stop what you're doing right now!" Lois screamed loudly. "Who, me?" Clark blinked innocently. If we already know who is upset and who is innocent before this, the "Lois screamed loudly" and the "Clark blinked innocently" can be totally removed. If the writer fears the reader won't know who is talking--then rewriting previous to this may be necessary, in addition to a better understanding of her/his characters. Lois tends to get upset when she's not in control; Clark tends to humor her. I wouldn't replace the first with "Lois fumed", either, because it should be obvious in the context. Also, I dislike entries from the Department of Redundancy department. However, one could write Lois threw down her notebook like a gauntlett. "Stop what you're doing right now!" Clark paused in the midst of picking up the refrigerator. "Who, me?" "Just ask me to fix something if you're hungry!" "Ah... I think I hear an emergency in... Mexico! Would you like some tacos? I could pick some up while I'm there..." Lois fumed, giving Clark time to change clothes and escape. >Leanne's example about >"Clark grimaced." is really an action, not a synonym for "said". > >And thanks, Leanne, for the pointers about commas vs. periods. I'm not >sure I've been doing those correctly, but I'll pay more attention now "When in doubt, leave commas out" is the rule I go by. Also, just saying the phrase. If one pauses in reading (mentally or out loud), then stick a comma in there. Debby Debby@swcp.com hoping her tabs stick in this stupid newest version of Eudora... ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 21:05:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: New Fanfic: Hi-Ho Silver Yeehaw! What a great story! Good job, Pam. I especially liked how you had Lulu and Jeff's whole proposal scene resemble Lois and Clark's. Cute, cute, cute! Once again, I am amazed at the ability of fanfic writer's to make me smile. :o) Thanks, Pam! ***Cristin Whitley :o)***CKandLL4ever@Juno.com*** SUPERfan on IRC Join my Dean Cain mailing list at: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/deancainfans ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 13:55:42 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Sore Throat Comments: cc: lnc-uk@cnac.gov MIME-Version: 1.0 I was just thinking ... (after seeing "Honeymoon in Metropolis" - for the billionth time - on Sky 1) .... Why is it that Jimmy knows about Sore Throat and not Lois .... I mean I can think of reasons why but what does everyone else think? Being the ace reporter that Lois is, I would've thought she would've been more likely to know about Sore Throat than Jimmy would be, after all Jimmy was a cub photo Journalist, right? Maybe that father/son relationship between Jimmy and Perry started a lot sooner than I had originally thought .... BTW ... I wonder why Lois didn't notice the steam coming off Clarks butt after he sat on the bomb :-P I thought it was so funny the way Lois didn't notice but that the steam coming off his pants/trousers was soooo obvious :-) Well that's just my pennies worth :-) Angee -- Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:17:21 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: NEW FANFIC:It's a Small World After All IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL By: Cristin Whitley (CKandLL4ever@Juno.com) Special thanks to: Zoom for the permission to use her name, Annie, Karl, and Teca for helping me in #loiscla, Crystal for helping to cure my writer's block, and all the FoLCs who answered my questions about Lois and Clark and Lucy's ages. Thanks ya'll!!!! Some things may seem unrealistic about this story. For example, I have no clue if Fort Wilderness was built back when Lois and Clark were kids. I know "The Little Mermaid" hadn't been released yet. Oh, well. It's just for fun. I hope you can live with my mistakes! < > Indicates Clark's thoughts << >> Indicates Lois' thoughts ***** Indicates a change in time "Happy Birthday, Clark!" exclaimed Kevin Robertson as he handed his buddy a gift. "Thanks, Kev. I sure don't feel any older." "You're twelve years old now, son," said Clark's dad, Jonathan. "That's right. You're turning into a young man now. Next thing we know, the girls will be knocking down our door to talk to you!" exclaimed Martha Kent. "Aw, Mom!" said a blushing Clark. "You're embarrassing me!" Kevin, Robert, Mark, and the rest of Clark's friends were trying not to laugh as Mrs. Kent told Clark what a handsome man he was becoming. "Come on, son. Let's have some cake and open up these presents," Jonathan interrupted. All the guests headed towards the Kents' kitchen. ***** "Thanks, Mom, Dad. That was a great party," said Clark as he helped his parents pick up pieces of discarded wrapping pair. "You're welcome, Clark," replied Jonathan. He looked at Martha to see if she was ready to bring out Clark's suprise yet. She nodded in confirmation. "Son, why don't you come in our room," said Jonathan. "We have a surprise for you." ***** "That's right, Kev. I'm going this weekend," Clark told his best friend. "Wow! You're going to Disney World?! That is SO cool!" "Yeah, my parents are really excited too. I can't wait!" Kevin gave Clark a weird look. "Aren't you worried about that protest group?" "What? Who would protest Disney? It's the happiest place on Earth!" "I don't why they're protesting," Kevin replied, "but I do know that they call themselves 'The Zoomway Group'." "Hmmm . . . I've heard that name somewhere before . . . ." ***** The Kents' car drove past a sign that read, "Fort Wilderness". Clark was pretty much glued to the window as his Mom drove the car towards their reserved camping spot. < I never knew Disney had a campground! This is going to be a great weekend! > ***** "Son, we're going to set up the tent. Why don't you go swimming?" Jonathan asked Clark. "Are you sure you don't need some help? I could -" "Clark this is your birthday trip," Martha interrupted. "Go have fun!" "OK, Mom! I'll be at the pool!" Clark said as he grabbed his swimsuit. "Clark, your towel!" Jonathan said as he held out a towel. Clark ran back to get it. "Thanks, Dad!" ***** < Gee, I wish there was someone to play with. > Clark thought as he looked around the pool area. It was practically deserted. < Let's see, we've got an elderly couple over there, some teenagers working on their tans, a girl who looks to busy to play, and . . . hey! That little girl looks like she'd be nice! > He got up and walked towards the young girl. ***** "Hi, I'm Clark. What's your name?" "My name's Lucy, and I'm six years old!" "Well, Lucy, I was just wondering if you want to play. You see there's no one around here that I know, and you looked kinda lonely too," Clark said. "I'd love to play! Do you know Marco Polo???" Lucy asked. "Yeah, I'll be Marco. Ready? One . . . Two . . . Three . . . ." ***** "I'm bored with Marco Polo. What do you wanna play now?" Lucy asked. "We could dive for pennies. I've got some in my bag," Clark answered. "I'm gonna get my goggles from my sister. Come with me, OK?" "All right, Lucy." Lucy and Clark walked over to a table. There they saw a young girl writing furiously. "LO - IS!!!" Lucy exclaimed. "You're still writing? Aren't you ever going to come swim??" "Hush, Luce. I'm working on a story," Lois said as she erased and rewrote a line. "But I need my goggles!" Lucy signaled Clark to move forward. "Lois this is Clark. He's my new friend, and we're going diving for pennies. You wanna play too?" << What a drip! He's playing with my six year old sister? This guy must be a total dork!>> Lois didn't even look up as she said, "Hi, Clark. No, Lucy. I can't play now! This is a very important story. I've got deadlines to meet!" < Deadlines? > Lucy pulled Clark aside and whispered, "Lois thinks she is a reporter. She writes a neighborhood newspaper. She's also the editor, and the only subscriber!" "I heard that Lucy!" Lois said putting down her pencil. "You know very well that Mrs. Bedyrman reads it, and so does Old Mr. Rathman!" "No he doesn't, but his bird, Patty, does. Right before she -" "Lucy, that's enough!" said a frustrated Lois. "If I play with you for a little while will you quit telling strangers nasty things about me? No offense, Clark." < This is one strange girl . . . . Works for her, though. > Lucy, Lois, and Clark raced to the pool, and Lois, of course, won. ***** "Clark? It's time for dinner, son. Where are you?" Jonathan Kent yelled as he entered the pool deck at Fort Wilderness. He looked around for a second before seeing Clark. Right as he started towards his son he ran into a woman who was obviously in a big hurry. "Lois? Lucy? Where are you girls?" asked a frustrated Ellen Lane. "Oh, excuse me," she apologized when she ran into Jonathan. She started to walk away when he started talking. "Ma'am? Are those your daughters over there?" He pointed towards Clark and the two girls who were racing across the pool, completely oblivious of the parents who were searching for them. "Oh, yes. They are. Thank you, Mr. ...." "Kent. Jonathan actually. That's my son, Clark, racing your older daughter." "Yes, and losing too. I'm Ellen Lane. Lois is my daughter, the one beating your son in a race. That's Lucy, my youngest, playing referee." Ellen headed towards the three kids. Jonathan was right behind her. ***** Later that night...... "This is such a great movie. I'm glad we decided to come with the kids," commented Martha Kent. The Kents and the Lanes were watching "The Little Mermaid" at Fort Wilderness' outside movie screen. Actually Martha and Jonathan were sitting together watching, Ellen was complaining to Lois about wherever her husband was and what he might be doing, Lois was trying to work on her "article" on how unbelievable Disney's heroines are, Clark and Lucy were sitting down by the fire toasting marshmallows. "Why are we even here? We took this trip to make us closer as a family, and he is off working while I watch-- what is this garbage? While I watch a singing mermaid! Some family trip!" Ellen Lane muttered more to herself than to Lois. <> Lois thought to herself as she took notes. <> "Clark do you want another marshmallow? I think that one is too burnt for anyone to eat!" Lucy asked. "Nah, I like them burned," Clark said as he started to pull it off the stick. Before he touched it he blew on it to cool it off a little. ***** "So, you're a dork, right?" "What? Lois, what are you talking about??" Clark asked, astonished. "Well, lemme see... you're twelve years old, your idea of a good time is playing pool games with my six year old sister, and you like to sing along with Ariel, the little mermaid. Yep, you must be some kind of dork." "For your information, I am not a dork. Your sister is really nice, and, you have to admit, those songs *are* catchy!" Clark grinned. "Anyway, what if I am a dork? Are you going to expose that in your 'paper'?" Lois thought about what he said. <> "Actually, I'm more interested in exposing Disney. You want to help me?" ***** "May I help you?" asked the host at the local Holiday Inn. "Yes, I was wondering, is there a group called 'The Zoomway Group' staying here? I desperately need to talk to them." "I'm sorry, little girl, but unless you're from Disney, I am not to release the room numbers." "I am from Disney!" Lois answered. "Lo-is!" whispered Clark, "That's a lie!" Lois elbowed Clark to get him to shut up. "That's right, we both are. We're ...uh... mouseketeers!" <> "We need to see the leader of the Zoomway Group right away." The host gave Lois and Clark a strange look, but he then told them the room number of the leader of "The Zoomway Group". The two kid reporters rushed towards the elevator. ***** "Lo-is! That was a lie!" Clark complained as the elevator headed upwards. "Of course it was! Do you think that guy would let just anybody know where the Zoomway Group is staying? I don't think so! Come on, Clark. This is going to be the story of the century!" <> thought Lois as the elevator doors opened. ***** "Who is it?" asked the voice on the other side of the door. "Um... it's me!" Lois answered. Clark shot her a confused look, but Lois just stood there waiting for the door to open. <> The door opened revealing a short man in glasses dressed in old-fashioned clothing. "Yes, quite. It is you. Come in, Lois, Clark. I've been expecting you." ***** "So, you're saying that you are H.G. Wells and the Zoomway Group is made up of people from an alternate world where our world is depicted as T.V. shows? I'm sorry, mister, but that doesn't make any sense." "Not just your world, my dear. Your lives. Well, what will be your lives in about fifteen years. You see, I am a time traveler, and -" "I thought you were an author," Clark interrupted. "Yes, quite, but I am also a time traveler." "Wait a minute. You mean people watch *our* lives? Like, mine and Clark's? That is one huge hole in your story, sir. Clark and I just met. We don't even live in the same city or the same state for that matter!" Lois declared. "Oh, dear. I think I have given too much away all ready. Let me explain. Your story, that is, your lives are very popular in this alternate world. There is a group which follows the story almost religiously called the FoLCs -" "FoLCs? What kind of name is that?" Lois interrupted. "It stands for fans of Lois and Clark. Our plan is to ruin Disney before your show begins. Then, they will be unable to buy the network which runs the show and cancel it. That is what they did in this other universe. You see, we are trying to destroy Disney in every universe. That way the show will run on for a long time to come." Wells looked at Lois and Clark who were standing there in awe. "Of course, you aren't supposed to know this. That is why you came here. So I can redirect you. I must take you back in my time machine and make sure this trip never happens." ***** "Thanks, Mom, Dad. That was a great party," said Clark as he helped his parents pick up pieces of discarded wrapping pair. "You're welcome, Clark," replied Jonathan. He looked at Martha to see if she was ready to bring out Clark's suprise yet. She nodded in confirmation. "Son, why don't you come in our room," said Jonathan. "We have a surprise for you." ***** "That's right, Kev. I'm going this weekend," Clark told his best friend. "Wow! You're going to Six Flags? That is SO cool!" ***** The Lane Report Editor: Lois Lane Reporter: Lois Lane Ads: Lois Lane Subscriptions Director: Lois Lane Delivery: Lucy Lane DISNEY CORPORATION FALLS APART DUE TO PROTEST GROUP By: Lois Lane The Disney corporation has finally succumb to all the factors trying to pull it down. Disney, the maker of lame movies and a theme park, is no longer in existence. No one is sure why this huge corporation fell apart. Everyone is just happy they are gone.... ***** THE END Send comments to CKandLL4ever@Juno.com ***Cristin Whitley :o)***CKandLL4ever@Juno.com*** I love Superman!!!!! FoLCs Forever!!! SUPERfan on IRC PS- My spellchecker wanted to change #loiscla to loincloth! Isn't that wacko? ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:32:07 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Debby said, charmingly: >> At 11:59 AM 8/4/98 -0400, Leanne wrote: << No, it was me, actually, responding to Leanne... >> except when I start hunting around for that more colorful word, if one doesn't pop into mind (or thesaurus) in a reasonable amount of tim= e, I'll settle for "said"--it's a fine word after all--and see if I can't change something about the dialogue or some other descriptors to take the= load of the description off that verb. << Good point, if another choice isn't obvious then maybe you're trying to make it do too much. One of the work-arounds I like is to skip adverbs altogether and go for more off-beat descriptions. "Miles hesitated between 'aw-shucks-you-shouldn't-have' and 'what did you get me??'" (this= is from Lois McMaster Bujold, my favorite author whose name I may have mentioned previously ) >> One shouldn't do so much work as the writing becomes labored, too flowery, too obvious, which I think can remidn the reader he/she is sitti= ng there reading. Typos, poor grammar, and "creative" construction can do this, too. << Well, yes. I do see that it can get in the way if you're struggling desperately to avoid using "said". I was just commenting on t= he contrast with my general attitude, which holds that "said" is plain vanil= la and can drain your prose of emotion if you're not careful. (side note to Leanne: I'm not sure where to find the Turkey City Lexicon,= I've heard about it on several mailing lists... I bet if you go to DejaNe= ws and look up rec.arts.sf.written they'll be able to help you, tho... or ev= en a web search might turn it up, I don't know) (side note to Zoomway: In my own example, "Clark fiddled with his glasse= s. "I don't know that I look like Superman.", I wouldn't picture that Clark stopped playing with his glasses in order to start speaking, but I = do think that these are two separate sentences. Gramatically speaking, they're not related. Now, if you want to belabor the point and say "Clar= k fiddled with his glasses as he said "I wouldn't say that..." then you've connected them, but, well, I wouldn't Of course everyone's got their= own style, but if you break the rules, you've got to expect people to poi= nt it out to you once in a while) >> What bugs me are the unnecessary, often overwrought (and overwritten) adverbs. I once read a warning against using -ly words (she said charmingly). << Agreed... they can be useful ("she said softly" as opposed to "she said icily") but they can also be redundant. >> Lois threw down her notebook like a gauntlett. "Stop what you're doing right now!" Clark paused in the midst of picking up the refrigerator. "Who, me?" "Just ask me to fix something if you're hungry!" "Ah... I think I hear an emergency in... Mexico! Would you like some tacos? I could pick some up while I'm there..." Lois fumed, giving Clark time to change clothes and escape. << LOL - but good use of descriptions and word choice to convey what's going= on. >> "When in doubt, leave commas out" is the rule I go by. Also, just sayi= ng the phrase. If one pauses in reading (mentally or out loud), then stick a= comma in there. << The only trouble with that is, different people hear pauses in different places; Chris and I disagreed on one just the other day (and your tabs seemed to work fine :-) PJ !^NavFont02F0A89005BMG_HG39MG3BHG64MG66HH71MH73HIB3MIB5HJ70MJ72HNeMNgHN9D= MN 9FH NFBMNFDHP{MP}HP75MP77HPFAMPFCHQ8A743B E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:47:30 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: NEW FANFIC:It's a Small World After All Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 LOL Cristin, that was very funny... I was enjoying it moderately until this line: = >> The door opened revealing a short man in glasses dressed in old-fashioned clothing. "Yes, quite. It is you. Come in, Lois, Clark. I've been expecting you." << After that, woohoo... Good job! I love the concept... and you had nice characterization going of all the players. (re: the "synonyms for said" thread, I won't analyze sentence structure, except to note that nothing jumped out at me as being especial= ly awkward or badly constructed) PJ !^NavFont02F01BB0017MGHHG45MG47HGC9MGCBHHBC9F77 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:48:16 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: NEW FANFIC:It's a Small World After All In-Reply-To: <19980805.111733.16558.0.CKandLL4ever@juno.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Cristin, You had me smiling and LOL more than a few times. Nice job. :) As for things like "The Little Mermaid" not being released back then, remember, this is the world of L&C, not our world. They have a President Gardner; they can certainly release movies at different times. Congrats on a fine effort. Kathy ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 12:59:42 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: NEW FANFIC:It's a Small World After All Thanks, Pam, Kathy. Just in case anyone was wondering, I worked on this fanfic for about a month (all others have been a one day effort), and it just struck me today to use Wells to end it. Don't you just love when a story explodes and comes flying out through your fingers faster than a speeding bullet??? (Whew, my keyboard must be tired) Once again, thanks for your FoLCy kindness! ***Cristin Whitley :o)***CKandLL4ever@Juno.com*** SUPERfan on IRC Join my Dean Cain mailing list at: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/deancainfans >LOL Cristin, that was very funny... >I was enjoying it moderately until this line: >> The door opened revealing a short man in glasses dressed in >old-fashioned clothing. "Yes, quite. It is you. Come in, Lois, Clark. >I've been expecting you." << >After that, woohoo... Good job! I love the concept... and you had >nice characterization going of all the players. >(re: the "synonyms for said" thread, I won't analyze sentence >structure, except to note that nothing jumped out at me as being especially >awkward or badly constructed) >PJ >You had me smiling and LOL more than a few times. Nice job. :) > >As for things like "The Little Mermaid" not being released back then, >remember, this is the world of L&C, not our world. They have a >President >Gardner; they can certainly release movies at different times. > >Congrats on a fine effort. > >Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 13:40:39 -0400 Reply-To: demona@shaw.wave.ca Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: demona Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------98EF86A922F68C57EF0AAA24" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------98EF86A922F68C57EF0AAA24 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >>In conclusion, everyone has their own little "blind-spots" and bug-bears > that trip you up as a writer. Being able to recognise them and correct them > is part of developing as a writer, even if it's a matter of reading back > and finding them after you're done. I think it's one of the reasons people > put a story away for a while so they can spot the errors when it's not as > familiar.<< Actually, the one and only reason I ever put a story away has nothing to do with grammatical errors. It has everything to do with creative inspiration. I used to be told all the time as a youngster in school that my writing had to be done 'correctly' while I was doing it. That was the worst piece of backwards advice I ever received in my life. Or at least, one of the worst pieces ;) Luckily for me, soon after that, one of the most influential individuals of my writing career, an author in her own right, used to say to me: "Write first, edit later. MUCH later." Thank God for her! There are writers out there who spend the bulk of their process agonizing over punctuation, infinitesimal grammatical style and pedantics. Putting it away for technical editing later, out of frustration, or repetition, when they've barely begun to unlock their creative expression. Writers who have been cut off from their own magic because they were never allowed to set if free without restriction ... And then there are storytellers... ...People who are so consumed with expressing the magic of a single moment on paper, that they'll ignore everything else for the duration of the time it takes them to set their mind free and let their imagination escape the confines of a single body. Grammar's great. So is punctuation. But there's no crime in doing it later. Or, if you're like me...having someone ELSE do it because you know your own limitations. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd resent being told I'm less valuable a writer because I don't subscribe to someone's "Technical Rule Book For Process"... And in no way do I feel that because I utilize the invaluable services of a great editor after I've completed my work, I am any less capable a writer than one who slaves over Kate Turbain's "Manual for Writers" at the end of every paragraph. I've always maintained that through any good piece of writing, a reading audience is granted a rare glimpse into the soul of the writer. I don't know about anyone else, but "great grammar" isn't the catch phrase I want people coming out of my writing with. It's certainly not 'in my soul' either. "You know my dear, your piece was really very ... interesting. But you had ELEGANT use of the semi-colon. Congratulations!" I create in writing because I know that through that medium I can achieve the kind of expression I need to. I've never been one to throw in with a web of technicalities before I've completely finished with my expression. Who needs to get lost in that when there are so many more wonderful things to explore in the process of allowing one's self to forget the 'rule book' and just ... create? You know what the problem is with teaching aspiring writers the kinds of things in all those "Rule Books"? Nothing. As long as they're taught to create first, and scrutinze later. "MUCH later". Yet we seem to see so many writers and so-called editors out there who demand nothing less than perfection in continuity and style >from every sentence. Boring. Boring. Boring. Give me a "Wide Cheshire Grin" any day! If the rest of the story stirs my heart, I'll buy it gladly, and then come back for seconds and thirds. ;) And for those who want to tell me (for arguments sake) that a smile doesn't curve that way, or an arm doesn't bend that far up the elbow on a person who's 5'4 and a half .... I'd remind anyone who feels that way that it's *my* fantasy, and if I want a smile to curve as it's never curved before ... guess what? I wouldn't pay a rusty nickel for reality anyway. It's WAY overrated. Take Care All ;) Demi (I spell checked this email too ... *after* I was totally finished writing it ;P) ---------------------- --------------98EF86A922F68C57EF0AAA24 Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="vcard.vcf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: Card for Demi Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="vcard.vcf" begin: vcard fn: Demi n: ;Demi email;internet: demona@shaw.wave.ca x-mozilla-cpt: ;0 x-mozilla-html: FALSE version: 2.1 end: vcard --------------98EF86A922F68C57EF0AAA24-- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 12:50:23 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lisa M. Ramirez" Subject: Turkey City Lexicon was (Re: Synonyms for the word "said") MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Turkey City Lexicon can be found at the following URL: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/turkeycity.html Since Leanne pointed out the word ejaculated on the synonym list and Zoom picked up the gauntlet bin her post, this is what the TCL had to say about the word "said". Pam posted most of it, but the example that the TCL used in regard to "said" had me ROTFL after Leanne's and Zoom's posts. "Said" Bookism Artificial, literary verb used to avoid the perfectly good word "said." "Said" is one of the few invisible words in the language; it is almost impossible to overuse. Infinitely less distracting than "he retorted," "she inquired," or the all-time favorite, "he ejaculated." Lisa M. Ramirez ramirez@estuary.amrl.odu.edu (who had no idea that such a little thing as a synonym list would spark such a discussion.) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:40:39 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Lansbury 1 Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello, This is in reference to the current slanderous and libelous demeaning of my client which will hence forth be know only as 'Said.' 'Said' has obtained my services to offer legal representation and in abiding to the terms of our association, I have agreed. Let me add now, I have sought for and gotten full 'Transactional Immunity' for 'Said'. Which in part means, anytime 'Said' is used either by accident or intentionally it will be deemed appropriate and highly functional. Let me add on a personal note. 'Said' has been misunderstood and yes, at times, abused in the past and these actions have given 'Said' proper cause not to allow anyone, anywhere, anytime to again tarnish the name of 'Said' again. In the words of my client, "I have spent a lifetime helping people of all nationalities write dialogue. I have been used as an important part in many decisions where both sides wanted to be heard. But, to date many have agreed, some of my best usages can be found in the holy books of the world. Now, for whatever reason unbeknownst to me there is an uprising to replace me. Let, the word go out now....I will not go quietly.... into the darkness of non-word-usage. I will fight, and I will enlist an army of other angry words who have been replaced to aid me in my cause." Thank you for your time. Annie Lansbury As a postscript let me add 'Comma' has sought for and accquired my services. I am in the process of accquiring Transactional Immunity for this client, also. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:46:35 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <4A923F828C2@ESTUARY.AMRL.odu.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I think the best Lois & Clark example would be from HIM: "Lead lined!" Clark ejaculated. "Lead lined? What does that mean?" Lois questioned. "I don't know." Clark shrugged. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | My personal FoLC/Teri website | | "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:51:57 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Annie... ROTFL!!! Enough said (ack)... there's that word again ;) Crystal ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:53:00 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Charlotte Fisler Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit <> Thanks, Annie. This made my day. Charlotte ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 15:05:38 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Annette Ciotola Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Annie, Can one have tears in her eyes and laugh at the same time..?? ROTFL Now I know where else I can go for legal representation Anne :) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:22:42 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lisa M. Ramirez" Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > This is in reference to the current slanderous and libelous demeaning of > my client which will hence forth be know only as 'Said.' Annie, Lisa says with tears of laughter in her eyes and a grin on her face, "This made my day!" > As a postscript let me add 'Comma' has sought for and accquired my > services. I am in the process of accquiring Transactional Immunity for > this client, also. I think 'Comma' has a battle on its hands. IMHO, 'Comma' has become far too prolific. I am not unapposed to "Literary License", but sometimes 'Comma' should just bow out of the sentence completely. Lisa M. Ramirez ramirez@estuary.amrl.odu.edu The problem in government isn't so much nonessential spending as nonessential spenders. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:37:56 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <5c4fb805.35c8a728@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 2:40 PM -0400 8/5/98, Lansbury 1 wrote: >"I have spent a lifetime helping people of all nationalities write dialogue. >I have been used as an important part in many decisions where both sides >wanted to be heard. But, to date many have agreed, some of my best usages can >be found in the holy books of the world. Now, for whatever reason unbeknownst >to me there is an uprising to replace me. Let, the word go out now....I will >not go quietly.... into the darkness of non-word-usage. I will fight, and I >will enlist an army of other angry words who have been replaced to aid me in >my cause." LOL!!!!! I have been enjoying this thread immensely (thanks, Lisa, for starting it, albeit unintentionally), but this post takes first prize. Too funny, Annie! Kathy (still snickering) ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 15:52:06 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >> Hello, This is in reference to the current slanderous and libelous demeaning of my client which will hence forth be know only as 'Said.' 'Said' has obtained my services to offer legal representation and in abiding to the terms of our association, I have agreed. Let me add now, I have sought for and gotten full 'Transactional Immunity' for 'Said'. Which in part means, anytime 'Said' is used either by accident or intentionally it will be deemed appropriate and highly functional.<< Very, very clever, Annie. Actually, one of the more creative submissions to hit this list. HOWEVER, that won't prevent me from editing it in light of Lisa's previous submission to the court of creativity. A "better", more literarily stylish way of saying this would have been: RE: The current slanderous and libelous demeaning of Sai-- Sa-- Ejaculated "Said," now, because of the desire for literary flair and spiffy sentences, known as Ejaculated, has sought my services as counsel and I have agreed to henceforth represent Ejaculated (formerly known as Said) in all future communications involving my aforementioned client's standing in the world of interesting grammar, language neo-usage, and creative gymnastics. Let me add, I have asked for and gotten full "Transactional Immunity" for my client. Which in part means that, anytime Ejaculated (formerly known as Said) admits to being used unimaginatively in a work of fiction, non-fiction, or any other written communication known to man, Ejaculated (formerly known as Said) cannot be substituted. >>As a postscript let me add 'Comma' has sought for and accquired my services. I am in the process of accquiring Transactional Immunity for this client, also.<< To which 'Comma' undoubtedly enjoined, I knew Said, Said was a friend of mine; and let me tell you ... Ejaculated, you are no Said! Sandy -- Please excuse me, Annie, but piggybacking on your cleverness was far too tempting. salymc@gateway.net http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 15:54:29 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Charlotte Fisler Subject: (no subject) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Demi wrote <> Perhaps off the topic, but as a reader (not writer) I would like to say that a good story also gives one a glimpse of their own soul. Thanks to all of you and don't worry about grammer, mispellings, over use of words, etc. You all 'touch me with your words!!!" Charlotte - a librarian couldn't you guess. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 16:09:16 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carolyn Schnall Subject: Combo Post Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi FoLCs: Tried twice to send this before without success, so here we go again! 1. I was flipping channels on July 31 and managed to miss seeing if either AH or ET made a fuss over Dean's birthday. Did they? 2. I was wondering if anyone had seen my post about several items regarding Dean's birthday or was the list down? 3. I'm sure you all saw that TNT played their happy birthday to Dean commercial three times. 4. Did anyone notice that TNT changed the voice over that is played just before L&C comes on? It used to say "She's an ace reporter, he's the scoop of the century" (although once the annoucner said "Scoop of the year"!). Now the announcer says something like "Join Dean Cain and the Cast of Lois and Clark" Is TNT "sucking up" to Dean for a really good reason than anyone knows of? 5. TNT's schedule for L&C for August has some mystifying times and episode orders. Does anyone know what's up? 6. Can't see Nicholas Cage as Superman but heard he wants Tim Burton to direct. Since Burton's Batman was brilliant, maybe there's a chance that his take on Superman would be interesting but after Dean, I can't see Cage as Superman or Clark Kent. 7. Does anyone know if there is any truth to the article that says Dean and Mindy split? 8. Still looking for a tape of Miracle Beach with Dean. Now there are two of us looking. Anybody got it? or Best Men? American Gladiators? Life Goes On? The Stone Boy? 9. The new Zorro movie is great with a neat score. On a recent Biography, on A&E, credit was given to the Zorro author, Johnston McCulley for creating the whole "secret identity" idea used by Superman and Batman, etc, but of course, he probably got the idea from the Scarlet Pimpernel. Any and all responses, both public and private, gratefully accepted. Thanks, Carolyn cschnall@mail.med.cornell.edu ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 15:24:09 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Cage movie, Super-split (was: Combo Post) In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 4:09 PM -0500 8/5/98, Carolyn Schnall wrote: >6. Can't see Nicholas Cage as Superman but heard he wants Tim Burton to >direct. Since Burton's Batman was brilliant, maybe there's a chance that >his take on Superman would be interesting but after Dean, I can't see Cage >as Superman or Clark Kent. By all reports, this movie is off. I believe the official word was that there were too many script problems to overcome. All I can say is thank goodness! >7. Does anyone know if there is any truth to the article that says Dean >and Mindy split? No one knows for sure until Dean and/or Mindy make an official annoucement, but the fact that neither of their PR staffs have jumped up to deny the report, despite the fact that it's been several days and many papers/radio stations have picked up on it, makes me think that they are having serious problems and are just working out the final details of the break up (like fighting over who gets custody of the puppies ;)) before going public. But that is just my educated opinion. Kathy ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 16:24:47 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Annie Lansbury, a lawyer for the ages, wrote: >>>'Said' has obtained my services to offer legal representation and in abiding to the terms of our association, I have agreed. Let me add now, I have sought for and gotten full 'Transactional Immunity' for 'Said'. Which in part means, anytime 'Said' is used either by accident or intentionally it will be deemed appropriate and highly functional.<<< Mwa ha Thanks for keeping 'Said' in good stead. My favorite book as a kid was "I Can't," Said The Ant ;) One reason I keep writing is because "Don't give up," said the Cup. Pam wrote: << (side note to Zoomway: In my own example, "Clark fiddled with his glasses. "I don't know that I look like Superman.", I wouldn't picture that Clark stopped playing with his glasses in order to start speaking, but I do think that these are two separate sentences. >> Hmm, it depends for me. I mean if he was fiddling with his glasses the whole time, I'd start picturing Oliver Hardy twiddling his tie Lastly, my dear squidge twin wrote: << used to be told all the time as a youngster in school that my writing had to be done 'correctly' while I was doing it. That was the worst piece of backwards advice I ever received in my life. Or at least, one of the worst pieces ;) Luckily for me, soon after that, one of the most influential individuals of my writing career, an author in her own right, used to say to me: "Write first, edit later. MUCH later." Thank God for her! >> Demi, at last! A writing soulmate (okay, maybe cellmate ;) Exactly. Pour your heart and soul into a story and then go back and repair the mechanics. It's funny because many episodes indicate this is how Lois worked as a journalist. She poured her emotions and thoughts into her article, but what did Clark see? "That's not how you spell 'aquifer'" and "That should be a 'spokesperson' for the FBI" Lois replied "That's why we have editors" It also explains why Lois had Kerth awards and why Clark finally, after working over a year with Lois, won a Kerth award as well. He learned that a technically correct, grammatically perfect, and spell-checked to perfection article is worthless if it lacks impact. This isn't to say Clark wasn't a good writer, he was. He likely could have made a living at the Planet writing human interest stories like the one about the razing of the old theater, or filler stories on knob-tailed geckos. Now if that's all the more Clark wanted >from his job at the newspaper, then no problem, but if he wanted to be in Lois's league ... he needed a bigger bat (mwa ha ;) As a fiction writer, however, Lois left much to be desired ;) But oh man, would I love to write with her on 'badfic' night! Zoomway@aol.com (who remembers from childhood how my mom got me to do things, "Because I *said* so!" ;) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 16:39:44 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: Re: Cage movie, Super-split (was: Combo Post) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >7. Does anyone know if there is any truth to the article that says Dean >and Mindy split? >>No one knows for sure until Dean and/or Mindy make an official annoucement, but the fact that neither of their PR staffs have jumped up to deny the report, despite the fact that it's been several days and many papers/radio stations have picked up on it, makes me think that they are having serious problems and are just working out the final details of the break up (like fighting over who gets custody of the puppies ;)) before going public.<< Ah-h! And, I had such faith in Cain-McCready Inc. Sandy salymc@gateway.net ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 16:48:19 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" I have found this whole thread interesting. Today I was reading (ugh) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (who has two little dots over the "e" that I am unable to add). This sentence stuck out to me..... "Go!" ejaculated Miss Ingram, and the man went. (page 181) So, I guess people really do use ejaculated in the place of said. :o) Apparently, they have been for a long time. Jane Eyre was first published in 1847! Weird, huh? :o) Cristin (who is on page 212... only 220 to go.... Arrrgggh!) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 17:23:49 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: Said and done Since this was originally brought up as "my 6th grade teacher" and the list of synonyms for said, and then several have talked about not caring (too much) about grammar if the story was heart-reaching...that now, teachers are supposed to encourage children to *write* what they are thinking/feeling...and if they don't know how to spell a word, do the best they can. They can always go back and edit (*MUCH* later, right, Demi) but they may never again remember to use that wonderful word...which they knew the meaning for, but 10 years ago, would never have thought of trying to write, because they'd be in trouble for not spelling it correctly. On another note: any of you ever used "Grammatik" (in WordPerfect?) I'm sure it's called something else in other programs, but it's your grammar checker. Plug in a few passages from "famous" authors/thinkers and see what you get. It's long and verbose, but I thought it was interesting: "It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of a crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Grammatik says: Try to use 'but' sparingly when beginning a sentence. "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and on the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air..." -Sir Winston Churchill Grammatik says: Sentences with several independent clauses are often hard to follow. See if you can divide this into 2 or more sentences. - and: Long sentences can be difficult to read and understand. Consider revising so that no more than one complete thought is expressed. -and: You have used "we" to begin the last 3 sentences. Consider more variety with your sentence openers. "I meant what I said "and said what I meant... "An elephant's faithful "one hundred percent." - Dr. Seuss Grammatik: Try using "and" sparingly to begin a sentence. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Grammatik says: The verb, want, usually takes an object...plus about 12 other errors that it found in this beautiful piece from the bible. Anyway, that's it. I know these may not be grammatically correct, but they are and were moving or touching in some way, and wouldn't have been had they been sanitized by the grammar rules books. Later, FoLC, Regina -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 19:15:11 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Writing rules (was synonyms for said) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 While we're on the topic of rules for writers... I thought you all might appreciate this little essay William Safire's Rules for Writers: ---------------------------------- Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs has to agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives. PJ !^NavFont02F042B0006MGHHKt478F E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: Ficlist INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 19:15:10 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: NEW FANFIC:It's a Small World After All Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >> Just in case anyone was wondering, I worked on this fanfic for abou= t a month (all others have been a one day effort), and it just struck me today to use Wells to end it. Don't you just love when a story explodes and comes flying out through your fingers faster than a speeding bullet??? (Whew, my keyboard must be tired) << LOL, yes that sounds familiar... I adore it when the story writes itself.= =2E. PJ = who wrote "Hi-Ho Silver" late Sunday night in under 2 hours !^NavFont02F017D000DMGJHHNMHPHH7EE2B4 E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:32:56 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic Alert : IRC Round Robin "I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi everyone , The IRC round robin writers have been at it again and I have the pleasure of posting our latest offering :). This story is a flashback to the second season episode "The Phoenix", and the night of Lois's and Clark's almost first date. In it we explore what happens in Lois's subconscious when that really rotten Chinese dinner from Ralph's Pagoda mixes with her anxieties about her changing relationship with Clark and her concerns about the reappearance of Lex. The result is story that is funny and *way psychological* to quote Jimmy Olsen ;). As usual, feedback will be appreciated. Cheers, Eileen Eraygun@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:33:04 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Part 2 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU continued from part 1 ____________________________ [Kirshnera] The scene was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of glitter and smoke. Lois coughed, dodging a jet of flames that seemed to explode out of the ground. It was replaced by a figure. It was tall, and unaffected by the smoke. "You dare to come here?" challenged a man's voice. "And look what you've done! You've destroyed my most trusted assistant!" His expression was pure fury, but controlled in a way that made Lois shudder. If he was powerful enough to control emotions that were that strong, who knew what else he could do? "Ah!" he exclaimed, as if realizing something. "The shoes! They're mine!" He walked steadily to the edge of the boat, where the pair of feet encased in ruby shoes was trapped. He bent over to recover the items, which were obviously objects of great power. But as he reached down, they disappeared! "What have you done?" he demanded, staring straight at Blue Suede. "The shoes are *mine*!" [zoomway] Blue Suede flicked a thumb over at Lois. "There they are and there they'll stay." Lois gasped and looked down at the ruby footwear now a part of her ensemble. The bald spectre turned to Lois. "Give them back to me. They're of no use to you." Lois folded her arms. "I happen to like the blue and red combination. Kind of clashy, but ..." The Nosferatu nightmare made a grab for them, only to recoil in pain. He snarled. "Give them back to me or I'll..." "You'll nothin', bud," Blue Suede said. "You have no power here in Memphis- Land. So skedaddle before someone drops a houseboat on you, too." The creature cringed a moment in expectation. "I'll go, but know this. I'll get you, Lois Lane, and your little gopher too!" Jimmy went snapping at the nasty apparition only to dash back yelping as the villain vanished in a puff of green smoke that coalesced into a huge dollar sign. "Well," Blue Suede belched, after downing a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. "Looks like you ticked off Wicked Lex of the West." Lois sighed. "I do that with a lot of people. All I want is to find my way back home to Metropolis. Can anyone help me?" One of the tiny Memphis-Land denizens stepped forward. "Well, if you've got something to eat in that basket, maybe I could give ya a clue." Lois blinked. "Bobby?" "Yeah, I represent the Blabbermouth Guild." Lois suddenly noticed a wicker basket was looped over her arm. She peered under the large napkin that obscured the contents. "I have Double Fudge Crunch bars, chocolate flavored cottage cheese, something burnt beyond recognition and a wallet-size photo of Superman." "Okay, give me a Crunch Bar, and I'll tell you how to get back home." Lois shrugged and handed the pint-sized informant the candy. "Well?" she asked, tapping her ruby footwear. "Ya just follow this road here. Start at the center spiral and head out. That'll take you to the Jade City, and the great and powerful Wizard can help you." Lois looked skeptical. "I don't believe in magic." Blue Suede smiled. "It'll always hold you back, darlin'." A little man dressed in an orange cape stepped forward. "For the reasonable price of thirty-nine ninety-five, I could escort you to the outskirts of Memphis-Land. It's a small price to pay for being snatched from the jaws of Wicked Lex of the West." [CrystalW] Lois stood for a moment looking at the little man, and decided she might just be better off without him. She sighed as she looked at the path... it seemed to go on forever. While the ruby slippers were a tad shorter than her normal heels, they were still higher than she might have liked for this trip. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," she mumbled as she began to walk. Jimmy trotted along beside her, prancing from one side of the path to the other, eagerly running before her and then dropping behind, then finally running alongside her. She sighed once more, and grumbled under her breath. "Youth." She had walked for quite a distance, demolishing two Double Fudge Crunch Bars in the process, when she arrived at a sort of field. At its edge was a rather well-pecked scarecrow. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitiful looking figure, although she had to admit that its fashion sense was right on target. In fact, as she got closer, she realized that the scarecrow was wearing one of her favorite brown suits, complete with matching pumps. Shaking her head in disbelief, she approached the scarecrow. It was trying with little success to lift itself from the peg that held it, using the smooth portion of the bottom of the pumps to press up on the pole giving it support. After watching its lack of success, and seeing the smooth shoes were unable to gain purchase on the equally smooth pole, Lois stepped forward. "Use your heels," she advised the smartly dressed scarecrow. She saw the head lift, and a look of enlightenment dawn on the scarecrow's face as it dug the spiked heels into the wooden pole and lifted itself from the restraining peg. The scarecrow landed solidly on its face, something Lois felt she had some experience dealing with, and then rose to its feet. "Thanks," the Scarecrow said in a breathless voice. Lois looked at it ... her ... for a moment, deciding that she might not be bright, but at least she could learn. "How long have you been here?" she asked her. "As long as I've been here," she replied. "How long have you been here?" Lois shook her head, not wanting to even answer that question. Then an idea dawned on her. She really wasn't happy about making this trip with only an extremely active Jimmy to keep her company. This was even more the case with an irritating witch who could be about anywhere, and Blue Suede not close enough to offer advice. "How would you like to walk with me for awhile?" she asked. The Scarecrow didn't answer, but did fall into step with her as she began to walk again. "Why were you out here?" she asked. "To scare crows," she replied. "That's my job. I scare crows." "But ... they were all over you. They weren't very scared." The Scarecrow stopped for a moment and looked at her, then resumed walking once more. "You're right. I'm not very smart. I couldn't think of a way to scare them. Maybe if I'd worn red instead of brown... or even yellow..." Lois shook her head, trying to hide a smile. "Why didn't you move around?" "Not smart enough," she replied. "I mean, if they'd worn glasses, I probably wouldn't have even known they were crows," she finally concluded. Lois had no answer to that, and she really wasn't sure why that bothered her. "Well," she said, "I'm going to the Jade City to see if the Wizard will get me home. Maybe the Wizard can help you out, too." "How?" "Well, maybe he could give you a brain. You obviously have a terrific fashion sense, but you could use some intellect to go with it." The Scarecrow nodded gravely. "That could be good," she answered. [Eraygun>] "Well, then I guess we're off to see the Wizard," Lois said cheerfully. The Scarecrow nodded again and fell into step next to Lois and Jimmy. Lois suddenly stopped short. "I know this is going to sound strange, but I really feel as though there should be music accompanying us." The Scarecrow arched one of its painted on eyebrows, a gesture that Lois found more than a little disconcerting. "Really?" she said. "What kind of music?" "Never mind," Lois replied. ****** They had been walking for hours (at least that's the way it felt to Lois) and unfortunately her new companion was not the best of company. She babbled incessantly, mostly about her job and her battles against the crows. As they walked, Lois found herself wishing that Clark was there. She really missed him. If he were here they'd be playing games or discussing movies. Something fun. They seemed to always have fun when they were together. She heaved a heavy sigh. "Is something wrong?" the Scarecrow asked. "No ... er, well, I guess I'm a little tired." The expression on the Scarecrow's painted face saddened. "I'm sorry," she said, then looked off into the distance and gave Lois a bright smile. "I know what will help. You must be hungry. We can pick some of these apples," she said and pointed to a small group of trees. [zoomway] Lois grimaced at the trees. "I don't know ...my stomach was upset, but maybe roughage is the answer." She walked up to pluck an apple, only to have the tree snatch it back and swat her hand. "Ouch!" The Scarecrow shook her head. "You keep forgetting you're not in Metropolis anymore." "Actually," Lois said as she rubbed her hand, "that tree is just like a clerk at the Sak-N-Pak." Lois then walked up to the tree boldly. "And the apples probably have the same phony expiration stamps on them too!" The tree, outraged, began tossing apples at Lois and the Scarecrow. As Lois began scrounging after the apples, a metal object came into view. She knocked on it and then looked up. "A person made out of tin," she said to the Scarecrow. "Kind of looks like it's wearing this ice blue satin dress I've had my eye on, but everyone thinks it's silver." Lois stood up and confronted the robotic person. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Oil can." Its voice was a squeaky whisper. "It said 'oil can'," Lois said. "Oil can what?" the Scarecrow asked. Continued in part 3 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:33:07 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Part 3 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU continued from part 2 ____________________________ [zoomway] "Oy," Lois sighed and began looking around. "Here it is!" She retrieved the oil can and squirted a dab at the tin figure's mouth. "Thank you," the Tin Person smiled. "I've been frozen here for so long. I was on a date, but didn't know what to do. I just sort of .. froze." The Scarecrow folded its straw-filled arms. "So you were already rusty before you rusted." Lois shook her head and continued oiling the Tin Person. "How could you not know what to do on a date?" "Not that it's any of your business," the Tin Person huffed, "but I don't have a heart. The tinsmith left that out. It was great for work. No distractions, but for dating ..." "It sucked," Lois nodded. The Scarecrow thought a moment, which was hard to do without a brain, but she was not as galactically stupid as most believed her to be. "Do you think the Wizard could help the Tin Person, too?" Lois shrugged. "I don't see why not. Come with us to Jade City. We're asking the Wizard to get me back home, and to get a brain for the Scarecrow." "What if the Wizard won't give me one once we get there?" "Oh," Lois sighed. "He will. He *must*. We've come such a long way already." "You call that long!" The voice of Wicked Lex of the West appeared from nowhere. [ChiefPam] "What do you want?" Lois asked angrily, staring at the materializing form of Wicked Lex. He chuckled evilly. "I want your shoes, dearie, and I will have them, too..." He began making weird hand motions, and soon was tossing a ball of fire around just a bit too casually. "Oooh, pretty," breathed the Scarecrow, leaning forward. "Do you like it?" Wicked Lex asked, smiling crookedly. "I might just give it to you ..." "No!" Lois protested, afraid for her brainless, flammable companion, but before she could do anything, the Tin Person stalked forward. "I know what you're doing," she stated. "Do you really?" Wicked Lex mused. "But don't you like it? Look how the colors shimmer..." He held the small ball of fire aloft for a moment, admiring its flickers and flares. "You don't fool me," the Tin Person replied sturdily. "You're a bad person, and I won't let you hurt the Scarecrow." "And what do you intend to do about it, you tin thing, you?" "That's Tin *Woman*," she replied spunkily, and quickly squirted the remaining contents of the oil can all over Wicked Lex. Wicked Lex was soon covered in flames. Cursing angrily, he disappeared, leaving behind his telltale green smoke. "Well," Lois exclaimed, "I guess that fixes him." "But the pretty flame went too," sighed the Scarecrow. "Never mind," consoled the Tin Woman, "I'm sure we'll see prettier things as we go along." That cheered up the Scarecrow, who liked to be cheerful anyway, and they proceeded down the lane, munching apples and chattering about the Wizard. Lois had heard that he could do *anything*. Some time later, Lois was almost becoming bored with their progress. This darn road seemed to go forever! And while the Scarecrow and the Tin Woman were good companions, she still felt lonely. Talking to them was kinda like talking to herself. If only Clark were here... You don't need him, she told herself sturdily. You can do it all yourself. And she nearly had herself convinced of that when the lion appeared. [cerise] All this time, they'd been passing through deeper and deeper woods, and it must have been Lois' thoughts that kept her from noticing the growing silence, so the sudden roar of the lion as it came bounding toward them was even louder. The lion came right at the Scarecrow and boof! knocked her into a cartwheel off the side of the road! Roaring and growling, it then turned to the Tin Woman and struck at her with its claws. Her metal body just made a loud clank--and then the lion's attention was distracted by Jimmy. He came running toward the lion, snapping and snarling, and the lion leaned down to bite at the little dog. Without thinking, Lois ran up to the lion and biffed him right on the nose. "How dare you!" The Lion, shocked, looked at Lois, and the expression on her face melted into a frown. "You hurt my noooooooose!" she cried, and began rubbing the offended area with her tail. Ya know, that might have been a bad thing to do, Lois thought. Clark would say... oh stop that! She glared at the Lion and said, "Shame on you, picking on a poor little guy--I mean dog, like that! And the Scarecrow! And Tinny here!" "I didn't hurt anybody really...I was just tryin' to scare ya." "Well, why in the world would you want to do that? You should be ashamed, picking on people like that! You're just... just a big bully!" The Lion cringed away again, and Lois softened ever-so-slightly and said, "Don't worry, you big baby. Why are you such a *coward* when you're, well, a *lion*?" "I dunno," the Cowardly Lion answered. "I just always got scared, and yelling made everybody leave me alone. I don't know what I'd do if anyone ever really fought me..." "Well!" Lois said, "some king of the beasts you are!" At her sharp comment, the Cowardly Lion was on the verge of tears again. Lois felt sorry, almost in spite of herself, and patted the creature on the shoulder. "Now, come on, buck up. It's not so bad...maybe...." She thought to herself, oh, why not. It's not like I haven't seen the movie. This one's got to come, too. She took a breath and said, "Come with us to see the Wizard! We're all going together and maybe he can help you get some courage." The Scarecrow piped up. "I'm going to get a brain!", and the Tin Woman added, "And I want a loving heart." The Cowardly Lion looked at Lois. "Do ya mean it? Can I really? Do you think---" "Yes, yes, and yes," Lois interrupted--with a smile to make up for her blunt words. "Let's get this show on the road!" [CrystalW] They walked off together, Lois and Jimmy side by side, and the three rather incomplete characters trailing after. Lois was pleased that she no longer needed to reply to the Scarecrow's incessant chatter... her new companions did that quite well... and she was able to enjoy the walk. ****** Wicked Lex looked into the hologram generated by a floating globe, and frowned. This was not going well. The companions had been designed to slow her down, to cause her to become swamped in her own failures and inadequacies, and yet still she walked forward. She had no hope, and yet still she trudged on, wearing the slippers that had been taken from his assistant. The slippers would be his... he would tolerate nothing else. They represented power, and all power belonged to him. With a wave of his hand, he caused the hologram to waver. He wouldn't allow this to happen... he would stop her...and he wanted to watch it happen. He cast his spell, then relaxed into a chair with a tall, cool glass of liquid. He tugged on the black silk robe that tangled around his legs briefly, making himself more comfortable. This would be quite a show... ****** Lois crested the top of a hill and was stunned at the beauty before her. Poppies... a world of poppies stretched below, and just beyond that was the Jade City. She knew that there was a reason she shouldn't go down there, but at the moment she couldn't remember what it could be. She walked into the field of flowers, Jimmy leaping about her heels, and almost immediately she began to feel tired. Within moments, she remembered why she shouldn't be here. Turning back to her companions, she saw that they had already succumbed to the power of the poppies. After a few more steps, she too lay down amongst the bed of flowers, and fell into a deep sleep... The sky shimmered as a white-clad figure appeared above the sleeping Lois and her new friends. With a shake of his head, he asked, "Doesn't anybody work around here?" He shimmied his hips in his trademark manner, and a thick snow began to fall on the sleeping travelers. Even as they began to rouse, his sparkling image was dissipating as though he had never been, leaving only an echo of "All Shook Up" in his wake. [Eraygun] Lois was the first to recover. Shaking the snow from her hair and brushing the rest off her clothes she pulled her companions to their feet. "What happened?" the Scarecrow asked. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling we just received a little Blue Suede deliverance." "What?!" the Tin Woman exclaimed crankily. "Never mind," Lois replied. "It'll take too long to explain and we've got to get moving before you rust again." ****** As they approached the Jade City, Lois marveled at how much it reminded her of Metropolis. Despite its name the entire place wasn't made out of jade but some other gleaming green mineral. It looked familiar to her, and yet she couldn't quite place it. They arrived at a grand and ornate gate capped with a globe like the one outside of the Planet. Lois smiled. This had to be the place; she was sure of it. Scooping up Jimmy, and with the others in tow, she walked up to the large front door, and pressed the door bell. A small hatch in the door opened and a young bespectacled man with dark hair looked out, frowned at them, and then slammed the hatch shut. "Clark!" Lois exclaimed. "That looked like Clark!" Continued in part 4 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:33:10 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Part 4 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU continued from part 3 ____________________________ [zoomway] "Clark?" the Tin Woman asked. "I know I don't have a heart, but when you said that name I'd swear I felt a pulse." "You and me both, sister," the Scarecrow said and high-fived the Tin Woman. "Not me." The Cowardly Lion shivered. "I only feel safe with Superman." "Enough," Lois said, and kicked open the large door. "Wow," the four of them said in concert. A coachman pulled up to them. "I can take you any place in the city." "Can you take us to see the Wizard?" The coachman looked familiar, Lois thought. Maybe if he'd been wearing glasses ... "The Wizard? I can't .. I can't ...well, what the heck, hop in," he said. He took them to a place where they could spruce up a bit. They had spent so much time together that they were like a family on vacation. They cared about each other, but right now they would pay money for separate rooms. When they all met back near the guarded entryway to the Wizard, the Scarecrow regarded the Cowardly Lion. "Your hair looks like hell." Lois turned on the Scarecrow. "That was a thoughtless thing to say!" The Scarecrow shrugged and pointed to her head. "Consider the source." They turned toward the large door at the end of the hall. The guard, seeing their approach, held his battle-axe in front of him. "What's your business here?" he asked. Lois looked at his face more closely. "What?" he asked softly. She shook her head. "Nah," she said finally. "We .. um, we want to see the Wizard." "The Wizard!? Nobody sees the great Wizard. Even *I've* never seen him." "Then how do you know there is one?" The guard seemed nonplused at that logical rejoinder. "Because he ... because ... you know, I'm really late for an appointment!" Lois grabbed the guard. "Oh, no, you don't! We're here to see the Wizard, and I mean *now*!" He nodded. "Okay, Lois, I guess you can come on in." "You know my name," she said dreamily. The guard shrugged. "Well, everyone does," he said and pointed upward. "Wicked Lex kind of spewed it all over the sky." Lois and her companions looked up. 'Surrender, Lois!' was written in 14 point bold sans-serif in the sky. The Cowardly Lion waved her paws back and forth. "Oh my God, this is it!" The Tin Woman swallowed. "The Wizard will help us. Now just ca .. calm down." The four locked arms and walked down a long hallway. Only the clank of the Tin Woman could be heard as they entered a large room with a high vaulted ceiling. A fearful image appeared before them, seemingly floating in midair. Fire and smoke partially obscured the visage. "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL WIZARD! WHO ARE YOU!?" [cerise] Lois looked up, mouth agape. Now this, she thought, this is not exactly what I had in mind... Finding her voice, she stepped forward with a confidence she didn't really feel. "Hi there. Lois Lane. Got just a couple of little favors to ask of you, and we'll be out of your hair." The head spoke. "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE SHOES?" Okay, this is absolutely the weirdest...a huge head is commenting on my footwear. Aloud, Lois answered impatiently. "Neiman's. Look, all I want is to get home. And they" -- gesturing to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woman, and the Cowardly Lion behind her, -- "want a brain and a heart and some courage. How about it?" "WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU?" "Why not?" was Lois' snappish reply. The head was silent for a moment. "I WILL HELP YOU. HOWEVER, YOU MUST DO SOMETHING FOR ME." Oh great...great, Lois thought. Everybody's got an angle. What could this be? "IT'S VERY SIMPLE. RETRIEVE THE GLOBE THAT WICKED LEX HAS STOLEN FROM ME," the head intoned. Lois looked at him quizzically. "And just how am I supposed to do *that*?" "THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM. THAT'S THE DEAL." Lois gave the head her patented 'I'm a hard-bitten investigative reporter and I don't put up with this kind of bull' glare, but to no avail. It slowly disappeared, and Lois turned to her companions. "Well, guys...back to the drawing board." They walked together out of the hall. [ChiefPam] Wicked Lex of the West stared into the floating hologram and frowned, but with a speculative look in his eye. Lois hadn't surrendered yet, but on the other hand, she had emerged from the Jade City once more, and it looked like she was coming his way. He hummed an old tune under his breath and curled his fingers around the globe possessively. Watching Lois was becoming an obsession for him. He still wanted the shoes, and he would have them, but now... now he was determined to have *her* as well. Her companions he discounted. The scarecrow would be easy enough to manipulate. The tin woman, as it styled itself, could be overcome by force. And while the lion might put up a show of ferocity, it would crumble at the first little obstacle, he was sure. And then Lois would be his. That would also have the very satisfying side- effect of spiting the Wizard. Wicked Lex felt a warm glow inside. A win-win situation. "Asabi!" he called out, "do you have the hairy henchpersons ready?" Bowing low, Asabi assured him that they were in top condition. "Excellent." He pointed to the hologram, which showed Lois and her new-found friends entering Wicked Lex's realm. "Bring me the girl. Oh, and her little dog, too." ****** Lois walked forward, holding tight onto her flannel-clad bundle of fur. "Come on, people," she said crossly, as she herded the group along. "We haven't got all day here. I have a job to get back to, you know." "But I won't know what to do!" wailed the Scarecrow. "And I'll be too afraid," whimpered the Cowardly Lion. "Like I really care," the Tin Woman responded heartlessly. "Hush," Lois scolded them all, wondering what she had done to deserve these particular companions. "I have a goal to meet here, and I'm going to meet it, with or without you. You can always turn back if you want, but then the Wizard won't help you." They walked in a chastened silence for a little while, then the Tin Woman ventured a question. "Lois... what's so important for you to get back to?" "Clark," she answered automatically, surprised to hear that answer come out of her mouth. "I mean ... my job, you know, he's my partner, and my job is very important to me ...and I'm very good at it, I'm the best reporter he's got, Perry said that, I won awards..." She faltered under the patient, skeptical look of the Scarecrow. "Even I can see through that," she observed mildly. "It sounded logical to me," the Tin Woman snapped in reply. "And besides," Lois summed up triumphantly, "I have to get back to be there for Superman. He needs me, I'm sure of it..." "Sounds like a plan to me," agreed the Cowardly Lion. That settled, they began debating whether Lois should go straight back to Metropolis or take a side trip to France. Lois was arguing against France (good cheese, sure, but it's full of French people) when the evil henchmen attacked. ****** [CrystalW] Wicked Lex marched towards the entrance to his castle where his henchmen were returning with his prize. The grubby criminals could easily have passed for common, if not for the flight apparatus that was strapped to each of them. It had been worth the effort of having the technology of individual flight developed, he thought... even if it had been hideously expensive. Lois was screaming expletives at the one who held her. His face was more than slightly battered, and bore several marks that had been inflicted by her nails. She had not surrendered easily. Her companions looked a bit worse for wear as they were plopped unceremoniously next to their leader. Lois stood immediately, turning to watch the villains ascend to the sky like a pack of flying monkeys. Why was it, she thought, that the bad guys always got the cool toys? Turning to face her captor, she fairly hissed at him, "What do you think you're doing??" He smiled in his sinister way, and reached forward to snatch Jimmy from her hands. After carrying him for so long, she had almost forgotten him, and was stunned when she realized he had been grabbed. "Give him back," she yelled furiously. "I think not," Wicked Lex replied. "He stays with me," he told her, "as you will." Lois shook her head at his arrogance. She took a slight step back, to regroup with her companions, and finally got a good look at them. Continued in part 5 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:33:13 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Part 5 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU continued from part 4 ______________________ [CrystalW] The Cowardly Lion was curled into a ball, bruised and battered, whimpering quietly to herself. The Scarecrow was attempting to pull herself together, literally, as she stuffed handfuls of straw back into her brown dress. The Tin Woman's situation was even more dire, as both arms had been yanked off by the henchmen during their capture. Vaguely she wondered if yelling for Superman would do any good, but finally decided that this was unlikely. Lois was well and truly on her own here. Drawing herself up once more, she confronted the witch. "Look, we both know how this is going to come out, so why don't you just give me the globe so I can go home." Wicked Lex's smile was not unexpected, but it still infuriated her. She struck out at him with a roundhouse kick, the first thing that came to mind, and sent him sailing slightly to the side, more stunned then hurt. The kick had, however, been enough to knock the globe from its place, and it hung suspended in the air. Lois reached out towards it and was stunned when it came to her and landed in her palm with a soft plop. Wicked Lex took a moment to regain his bearings, then he dove at her in an attempt to retrieve the globe. Lois moved quickly aside and he went sprawling into a small bed of straw that had been drifting >from the Scarecrow since they had been deposited there. Slipping on the straw, Wicked Lex skidded across the entrance area, landing on his behind. Before he could attempt to stand, the Lion was upon him, clawing and scratching for all she was worth. Meanwhile, Jimmy began to jump and yip around the battle site. Lois quickly assisted the Tin Woman to retrieve her arms, and they gathered to leave. Just as the Scarecrow tossed a handful of straw into the witch's face to blind him, the Lion was thrown away from him, and Wicked Lex rose to his feet. He turned on the group, fury in his features, and pulled out a device. Pointing it at the fleeing group, he fired and sent a beam of red through the air and into the Scarecrow's dress. The material flamed, and the fire spread quickly to the surrounding straw. Near panic, Lois looked around and sighted a pail of what looked like water near the door. Not questioning her luck, she grabbed the pail and hurled its contents towards the witch and the Scarecrow. [Eraygun] As Lois had hoped, the water doused the Scarecrow's flaming dress and the surrounding straw, but it was also having an impact on Wicked Lex. She watched with curiosity as the huge figure that had towered over her and the others began to howl in agony and then shrink. It was as though he was melting into the floor. Cursing Lois, he grabbed wildly at her and the others but they deftly moved out of his way. Lois wanted to turn away from the scene, but it was fascinating to watch somehow, like a train wreck. When the witch was completely dissolved there was a moment or two of silence, then the Lion spoke. "Whoa, that was pretty impressive." The Tin Woman nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Lois shook her head slowly and gave a small smile. She had to agree that despite her initial horror she felt some small satisfaction at seeing the villain disappear that way. She was about to reply to them when suddenly the entire castle began to shake as though a major earthquake had struck the area. Grabbing the globe she dashed outside with the others close behind. They reached relative safety just as the entire structure collapsed like a house of cards, burying what was left of Wicked Lex of the West and his henchmen under tons of rubble. ****** [zoomway] The weary foursome, followed obediently by Jimmy, made their way back to the Jade City. The long corridor to the Wizard did not seem so menacing this time. They had vanquished evil, and now it was time to deal. The fire and smoke reappeared as they entered the great hall. "WHY HAVE YOU RETURNED?" the frightening visage bellowed. Lois stepped forward and placed the globe on the floor. "We brought what you asked, and Wicked Lex is dead." "LIQUIDATED HIS ASSETS, EH? VERY RESOURCEFUL." "Now that we've done what you asked," Lois said, not nearly as frightened as before, "we'd like some quid pro quo here." "Uh ... I'M VERY busy," the booming voice wavered. "THERE'S ... this cheese convention in town..." "But you promised!" the Scarecrow cried. Jimmy scratched behind his ear. He was feeling a ... doggie urge, and needed a place out of Lois' view. "GO AWAY ... AND COME BACK TOMORROW!" the voice said, trying to sound commanding again. "NO!" Lois insisted. "Yeah!" the Cowardly Lion, uncharacteristically brave, chimed in. Jimmy saw a nice length of red curtain. It had that 'bad dog!' smell, but unfortunately his checkered shirt got caught on the hem. As Jimmy tugged and tugged, the curtain started to pull back. A handsome man in a blue suit and red shirt was operating a set of controls behind it. When he noticed he'd been unmasked he grabbed the curtain and flung it closed. This sent Jimmy sprawling. "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!" the voice said. Lois scooped Jimmy up in her arms and pulled back the curtain. "Who are you?" she asked. "I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ..." he turned dejectedly from the microphone, "...Wizard," he finished in a soft voice. "You?! You're a liar! There's nothing worse!" "I ... I wasn't lying, exactly." "What was it then, *exactly*? Justification, qualification, a bid for the World Federation Wrestling title?" "A little mystery is all," the man said, in a voice that threatened to re- ignite the Scarecrow. Lois swallowed. "I like you like this better than that Wizard thing." "You think it's better than the fire and the brimstone?" "I'm not knocking the fire and brimstone. It's just that this blue and red number is more ..." "More ... what?" he asked, his face perilously close to hers. "Hold it!" the Lion roared. "This is how we always get in trouble, Lois. Think about it." Lois blinked a couple of times and straightened her shoulders. "Yes .. um. I want to go home, and you *promised.* " The Wizard Man sighed. "I guess I did, but there's one problem." Lois folded her arms. "Which is?" "I don't know how to fly. The Wizard did that, and the Wizard's not here." The Tin Woman shook her head. "No quick buzz out of this one." "Lois," Wizard Man said, "if you were stuck here with me, would it be so bad?" Lois, despite her anger, smiled. "No, not *so* bad." "Lo-is," the Scarecrow warned. "It's just that there's someone I need to get back to, and even though you're very nice, albeit a phony," she added hastily, "you're not him." "He must be pretty special," the Wizard Man sighed. "I never knew how much before, but yes, he's pretty special," Lois said, and as she spoke, all of her traveling companions suddenly combined into one, and merged with her. Jimmy yapped with excitement at the sight, and the Wizard Man raised his eyebrows. "You're good. You should be the wizard." "Well," Lois blushed, "I have my moments." At that moment a large guitar appeared in the sky and descended, and out of it stepped Blue Suede. "I hear you need a way back home?" he asked. "Yes! Can you help me?" Blue Suede shrugged. "You've always had the power to go back home, Lois. Didn't I fax that to you?" "No ... I don't recall .. I... " "Okay, it's very simple. You had to learn a lesson before you could go back, darlin'. But even if you didn't, just fake it, and the ruby footwear will get you home just the same." Lois looked longingly at the Wizard Man. She put her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you most of all," she sobbed. "I'll miss you too, Lois," he whispered against her hair. She pulled back, and on impulse, kissed him. This time, as their lips met and clung, Lois was the one beginning to melt, but as the ruby heels made contact, she felt herself transporting... "Clark!" "I'm here, Lois, I'm right here," a familiar soft voice spoke in the darkness. Lois opened her eyes. "Oh Clark, I kept trying to get back!" She hugged him. "Lois," he smiled and rubbed her back, "I think Ralph's Pagoda gave you more than an upset stomach." She pulled back. "A dream?" Clark nodded. "Didn't sound like a good one either." Lois sighed with relief and laid her head against his chest. "Some of it was nice, but ... " she hesitated, then decided not to be a Cowardly Lion. "...but without you there, it didn't matter how nice it was." Clark laid his hand atop hers. "Maybe we can go back together some time," he said, encouraged by her words, but not wanting to take advantage of a dream that had obviously upset her. "Until then," he continued, "I hear the sunrise over the marina is beautiful." Lois nuzzled her head under his chin. She was where she wanted to be. Even better, she was where she believed she belonged. THE END ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:33:01 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Part 1 of 5 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU An IRC Roundrobin by zoomway (zoomway@aol.com); CrystalW (JCWimmer@aol.com); Eraygun (Eraygun@aol.com); Kirshnera (Kirshnera@aol.com); ChiefPam (jernigan@compuserve.com); cerise (kirsch@hotmail.com) [zoomway] Lois was miserable. She groaned and held her stomach. "I should have known better than to order Chinese food from a place called 'Ralph's Pagoda'." Clark turned from his observation at the window and smiled at his queasy partner. He knelt next to the sofa. "Here," he said, and lifted her head and placed a cushion underneath. "Thanks, Clark," she said. He was such a sweetheart most of the time. Why had she fought it so long? "Some first date, huh?" Clark laughed softly. "That's okay," he reassured her . He placed his hand on her abdomen and began to rub gently. "I don't feel good," she groaned again. "I'm so embarrassed." "Don't worry about it. You should turn in. You can sleep in the bedroom." Just turning her head in the direction of the bedroom made it swim. "Uhhh, I don't think I can make it to the bedroom." "Here," Clark said, and slipped one arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders. He lifted her gently from the sofa. "C'mon." "Clark ..." Lois tried to protest. It was a silly thing, but it was like a Superman moment, though she had never held Superman so close when he carried her. She rested her head on his shoulder, almost feeling too weak to keep her head up. It was as though he gave her strength and sustenance just being so close to him, but all too soon the brief walk ended, and he set her down. "There you go. Door to door service," he said cheerfully. "If you need anything ... during the night ...just call. I'll be right out here." "Well ..." she said. "Well ..." he replied, and it was clear the short walk to the door had meant as much in an intimate way as it had to her. She rested her hand on his chest, prolonging the contact as long as possible, but her stomach again intruded on the moment, and she wrapped her arm around herself. "Goodnight, Clark." "Goodnight, Lois." She entered the bedroom and leaning against the door after she closed it, blew out a gust of pent up air. Clark Kent was really getting to her. She crumpled down on the small bed, not bothering to change. When she closed her eyes it seemed as if the bed was spinning. Oh, this would not be a good night's sleep... Lois winced. The sky was so bright on the marina. Funny, she hadn't remembered even walking there. At least her stomach felt better. She took a deep breath of the sea air and felt quite good. "Clark?" She looked around, but he wasn't there. She heard footsteps running up to her and turned and saw Jimmy hurrying in her direction. She smiled; there was something ever-faithful about Jimmy. "Hey, Lois, check it out, storm headed this way," he said, and handed her a sheet of papers. She looked down at them, but the harder she tried to concentrate on the words, the more indistinct they became. As she read, the sky grew dark and menacing all at once. She glanced up and saw a bald Lex Luthor waving from a yacht as it passed by. No one seemed to notice or care but Lois. "We'd better get off the pier!" Jimmy shouted, trying to be heard over the wind. She grabbed Jimmy by his shirt collar and ran with him to Butch Kinnebrew's hideaway, the houseboat she and Clark had used to spy on Sheldon Bender. The wind was so fierce it slammed the door behind them, and as they looked out the window, they saw that a huge waterspout had formed, and was heading straight for them. [CrystalW] Lois tried to remember what proper procedure was for circumstances like this, but she simply didn't have time to analyze it. She clutched Jimmy's collar, feeling the soft flannel and knowing that at least she wasn't facing this alone. She tried to scream, thinking that this would be a perfect time for 'Help, Superman', but she couldn't hear herself over the roaring wind. She watched in amazement as the funnel of water spun various other small craft into the air, and hoped frantically that this boat would be heavy enough to hold its own. Just as she thought the water spout was turning, that it might miss them, she felt the shaking begin. Looking out the window she saw the marina leave her view. Silence descended around her as she felt the sensation of being lifted, rather like that of being in a fast-moving elevator as it launched to the top of a building. The boat twisted as it rose into the air, pinning her against the floor, and forcing her to leave her perch at the window. Clutching flannel in one hand and a table leg in the other, Lois held on for dear life. She felt the boat rise and spin for what seemed like forever, and was relieved when she was no longer pinned to the floor. Edging to the window once more, she looked out to see boats and oars flying past. The ride seemed to go on and on, but just as suddenly as it had begun, it came to a stop. She felt the shaking of the boat begin once more, and then a distinct thud as it found its way to the ground. She tried to remain still, checking to see that she hadn't been injured by the mad flight, but soon her curiosity got the better of her. She couldn't see much outside her window, so she began to move towards the door. She had released Jimmy's collar at some point in the flight, and a quick glance behind her assured her that he was fine, and still following behind her like a puppy dog. She carefully eased the door open, revealing a magical land of bright colors and fanciful shapes that seemed far removed from the peaceful harbor she had been in a few moments before. She crept carefully from the grounded boat, and out onto the street... a rather odd street. Lois took in the surroundings with awe. Shimmering buildings were in every direction, stretching along a road that appeared to be made of bricks. The golden stone that was beneath her feet was firm, so she stepped a few feet away from the boat to get a better look. She was certain that she had seen a person peeking from behind a little house, but she couldn't see him now. She walked a bit further along the street, and saw other faces. Jimmy coughed behind her, a little bark of a sound, and drew her attention back to the boat. She noted with dismay that the boat had landed on something ... or someone. Looking more closely, she saw two feet extending from beneath the boat, feet that were encased in the most adorable ruby slippers. Just then she heard movement behind her, and turned to see a group of tiny people approaching... and they appeared to be led by a little man who looked familiar. Stepping closer, her voice barely a whisper, she asked him, "Who are you?" [Eraygun] The little man puffed himself up in an attempt to appear larger. "Who I am is not really important," he said in a voice that sounded like Alvin of those singing chipmunks. "The important questions are who are you and why have you come here?" Lois eyed the strange little man carefully. He seemed to be in charge and he might be the only source of information available, so she decided to humor him. Plastering on her friendliest smile she said, "Of course, I understand. I guess our sudden appearance here is a little disconcerting. I'm Lois Lane. And this is my friend Jimmy Olsen," she added as she glanced over her shoulder. But instead of seeing Jimmy behind her there was a small dog wearing a black and white checkered flannel shirt. That's odd, Lois thought. "Now where could he have disappeared to?" she mumbled. "Jimmy!" she called. The little dog barked as if in response. She called again. "Jimmy!" The dog barked again. Then it dawned on her. "Jimmy?" she asked anxiously. The dog whimpered in reply. Lois sighed. "Something tells me we're not in Metropolis anymore." [Kirshnera] "Metropolis? Now what in tarnation is Metropolis?" said the man. With every second, he appeared to be growing bigger. Now he was more than full sized, and wearing a strange outfit. It was a white jumpsuit covered with sequins. The man's sideburns seemed to get bushy in confusion, the way a cat's tail puffed out when it was scared. "Now, all I want to know is, are you a good Elvis impersonator or a bad Elvis impersonator?" "Elvis?" Lois asked. "I don't.... I'm not an Elvis impersonator at all! What happened to Jimmy? And who *are* you?" "Who *am* I? Who am *I*? Why, I'm just the greatest of all the Elvis impersonators! They call me Blue Suede, the Good Elvis Impersonator of the North. And as for Jimmy, is he your little dog?" "No! I mean, no. Jimmy's a person, at least he was, and... I don't know what happened. Do you know anything about this at all?" Blue Suede seemed to sympathize with Lois' obvious confusion. "Well, I know that a boat flew from the sky and landed on the Bad Elvis Impersonator of the East. And it was about time! He held all of these people in captivity, forcing them to listen to badly sung, badly played, barely recognizable Elvis tunes." "Oh! That's... why, that's terrible!" Lois exclaimed. "And so you can see why we're so grateful to you, Lois Lane." There was a giggle and a wave from the small crowd of people that had accompanied Blue Suede. This was interrupted by a scream. "Ew! Get him away from me!" a young, immodestly clothed, auburn-haired girl shrieked. She was being actively pursued by Jimmy the dog. "Gross!" "Jimmy!" Lois reprimanded. "Can't you behave yourself?" He *always* had to go after women, didn't he? Jimmy growled lightly, but gave up on the woman. He didn't seem to have much of a chance with her anyway. Now, if he were in his regular form, he could give this town something to talk about, but it was best not to dwell on the impossible. "Sorry about that," Lois said to the woman, who eyed her disdainfully. "You should see him when he's human. He's just as bad." Jimmy gave an offended bark. "You are, too!" Lois replied. Continued in part 2 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 06:38:45 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Stark Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 08:17 PM 8/4/98 -0800, Leanne wrote: [snip] >As for yawning -- I do talk when I yawn -- and Dan always asks me to repeat >myself. That could work to an amusing effect, but communication-wise, it's >a dud (except if you want your character to communicate the fact they're >yawning/tired) I agree! Yesterday I transcribed a tape full of reports by a very tired doctor. He'd ramble on, trying to stay away, yawning every so often... but not repeating the word he'd yawned through, so I had to listen several times to make sure I got the word(s) correctly. Very irritating... and interesting to remember if one uses that in a story somewhere. As she told Clark the most important moments in her life, Lois yawned. Clark sat bolt upright. "*What* was that about Lex again?" Debby Debby@swcp.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 22:07:33 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Andrea Gidusko Subject: Off Topic: A year ago tomorrow Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I know this is off topic for this list, but the other one is down and I was looking at some dates and I just realized that LAFF97 was a year ago tomorrow, well started a year ago tomorrow. I had such a blast then (in addition to meeting the oh so studly Tim Minear ) and was just curious as to how many people who attended LAFF are still on the list. I know some regulars like Zoom, Julie and Chris who still IRC, and are also on the list are still around...I'm just wondering how many true blue FoLCs still exist. Sorry if this took up anyone's time...I just wonder about a lot of stuff...it's just the weird way my brain works :) Andrea Gee...a year since I actually touched Timmy...seems like yesterday :) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 22:56:29 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Zoomster, Crystal, Eileen, Kirshnera, Pam, and Cerise, Great job!!! I especially loved the use of all the not-so-main characters. Great characterization. Ya'll managed to make me love a Wizard of Oz tale, and, to be honest, that movie drives me nuts! Now you have me wanting to watch it. Oh, the power of a good fanfic. :o) One small question: I realize that each of the four main travelers represented a part of Lois. (Which I loved! Cute, cute, cute!) My confusion lies in which Lois they were. Was each one representing a different season or were they just random attributes? Am I trying to read to much into this? You know, it's obvious you're retarted when you need Cliff's Notes for fanfics. :o) Anyway, great job, gals! Keep up the great work! Cristin (who is now somewhat befuddled "There's no notes like Cliff's. There's no notes like Cliff's!") ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:32:33 -0800 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Leanne Shawler Subject: Re: Comma vs. period in dialogue In-Reply-To: <01BDC096.A6EFC240@max-swain8.dnet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Regina wrote, and I'll get to in a minute: >Since this was originally brought up as "my 6th grade teacher" and the list >of synonyms for said, and then several have talked about not caring (too >much) about grammar if the story was heart-reaching...that now, teachers >are supposed to encourage children to *write* what they are >thinking/feeling...and if they don't know how to spell a word, do the best >they can. They can always go back and edit (*MUCH* later, right, Demi) but >they may never again remember to use that wonderful word...which they knew >the meaning for, but 10 years ago, would never have thought of trying to >write, because they'd be in trouble for not spelling it correctly. > While I was belabouring the point about the use of commas instead of periods and vice versa in dialogue, I don't ever once recall suggesting that one go over your work with a fine tooth comb *as* you write. In fact, I said: "Being able to recognise them and correct them is part of developing as a writer, even if it's a matter of reading back and finding them after you're done. I think it's one of the reasons people put a story away for a while so they can spot the errors when it's not as familiar." I am all for being creative and letting juices flow as Zoom and Demi have already stated. I think that, like Clark did with Lois, you should go back *when you're *done* and clean up. That, or leave your editor a whole lot of work to do. And yes, Zoom, my examples lacked emotion but they weren't written with emotion in mind. Just to show some sentence structure. Using a period as opposed to a comma does *not* kill emotion. If it did, sentences would never end! I wrote: >>For Clark to grin and then speak doesn't mean he goes deadpan to say it.<<< Zoom responded: Sorry, Dean can and does keep his lovely lips curled into a smile often when he speaks ... I sort of love that ;) Zoom, please re-read what I wrote I said it *doesn't* mean he goes deadpan. Of course he is still smiling, or showing something of a smile, but it's not the exact same smile as he would have if he *wasn't* speaking. You grin -- your mouth is closed -- you speak -- you change the shape of your mouth. Technically, you're not grinning but you still have the *aspect* of that grin about you. That's the reason why the two sentences are together. Unless of course, Dean is ventriloquist and can speak without moving his lips. Then all bets are off :) As for teachers encouraging children to write what they're thinking/feeling without bothering about spelling or writing. No person will be employed if they can't spell, no matter how damn creative they are (unless they're hired simply to draw -- but then, you still need that cover letter and resume to get you in the front door). I, too, as a child was encouraged to write creatively (and yes, I did get two years with someone who thought grammar was more important and yes, it did damp me creatively) but if I didn't know how to spell a word there was a big dictionary at the side of the room where I could go and look it up. It's kinda funny, I know how to spell all these words, but I never quite got the knack of the pronunciation guide :) >On another note: any of you ever used "Grammatik" (in WordPerfect?) I'm >sure it's called something else in other programs, but it's your grammar >checker. Plug in a few passages from "famous" authors/thinkers and see what >you get. It's long and verbose, but I thought it was interesting: > Nice examples, Regina (which I snipped). However, it would be worth pointing out that there are different styles of grammar and the one found in most word processors involves the "business" style which is as dry as a bone and insists on certain grammatical structures (active vs. passive, for instance) over others. Creative writing still obeys grammar rules, some authors even bend them (Isaac Asimov may have bent the rules but either a) his editor missed the comma or b) he had the last word -- and as writers, you do have the last word -- unless the editor says "fine, we won't print it then." which is probably not about to happen in the fanfic arena.) Not only that, but grammatical styles change over the thousand of years (from Bible to now) ... some grammar checkers even complain about archaic word usage if you run bible quotes through them! One of Zoom's examples was: 'The husky telephotographer of the Observatory, Beenay 25, thrust a tongue's tip across dry lips and interposed nervously, "Now, sir, after all--"' I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Asimov used the rule correctly here (if not later). The phrase "thrust a tongue's tip across dry lips" is a side-track description. You can tell because the sentence works perfectly well (well, in the grammatic sense) without it. I read it as happening sequentially *before* he interposes nervously. Zoom rewrites a sentence: 'He ran down the street, "Lois, where are you?" He shouted, his tone becoming frantic -- terrified.' While I would argue about the use of the hyphen (*Leanne ducks from Sandy's thwap -- or was it the "..." you over-used, Sandra?*), I'll turn that aside for another day (besides, I still make mistakes on that one too) and point out that in "He shouted" the H should be in lower case. Now, if you want the action to flow with the shouting, why not: "He ran down the street, shouting, "Lois, where are you?" His tone grew frantic, terrified." Now if I wanted to be emotional about it (and I was only providing *simple* examples, not works of art), I would write it as: "He ran down the street. Stopping, he flung his arms open wide to the heavens and shouted, "Lois, where are you?" (hmm, someone's being a wee bit melodramatic!) or (to use the period) "He ran down the street. Stopping, he flung his arms open wide to the heavens. "Lois, where are you?" he cried, his voice echoing through the deserted streets." I could even make do without the "he cried" and conclude the paragraph with "His voice echoed through the deserted streets." Three separate sentences, all in the same paragraph, all flowing together. Not a comma to be found. Comma vs. period (or full stop) is a nitpicky grammar thing. The kind of thing you look for when you're on your third or fourth draft after fixing plot holes, character lapses and have spell-checked the thing to death (never rely on your spell checker, incidentally, while I'm in lecture-mode *grin*) and so on. There are times when you can break this rule successfully and achieve the flow Zoom talks about -- and there are times when it makes the reader go "Whoa! How can you *whistle* and do that at the same time?" which disrupts the flow that was intended. For instance, I'll read a story that uses commas instead of periods throughout their dialogue. (I'd probably send a note: "Great story -- but do you know about the comma vs. period rule?") I'll read a story that has the odd typo or two. But I will *not* read a story that is so incomprehensible because grammar has been largely abandoned, even if I can make out that there's a potentially great story lying ahead. (You got it, I'll never read that Irish guy who wrote "Ulysses", name currently escapes me. I attempted it but it was too confusing.) You make a story difficult to follow, and you lose readers. That's why we find ourselves editors and learn stuff like grammar and spelling. Some of it may be nitpicky, but combined with all those other nitpicks it can result in a right royal mess if not followed. Grammar rules are conventions, they help the reader follow your wonderful, emotional, heart-wrenching, (whatever) story. When you break a rule, be sure your reader can follow your intentions and read on without being disturbed from the dream you're weaving them. Leanne Leanne Shawler aka Volterra on IRC (volterra@sd.znet.com) Web Design: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/design/webdesign.html Home Page: http://www.znet.com/~volterra/leanne.html Midnight Dreaming: The Original Anthony Warlow Home Page: http://www.zweb.com/volterra/anthony.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 23:40:19 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Amanda Lane Subject: Synonyms Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Other words in Lisa's teacher's list that can't be used with a comma in >speech are: > >>grinned (your character is grinning -- how can he speak and hold his >>Cheshire Cat grin?? Likewise with a smile -- your mouth isn't even open to >>speak.) > > >>laughed shuddered sighed >>smiled smirked snickered >>sniffed snorted Well, I sort of wish to disagree. For the smiling/grinning one, you don't talk while you're smiling? You always say something with a straight face? The laughing one as well I think can be done, therefore can be used with a comma. I asked the question about the whole comma thing to my mom and sister just now, and my sister started laughing about some other thing, and so I asked her to say something while laughing, and she did. Granted, it wasn't as clear as it might have been but she certainly could talk while laughing. But technically, you don't just smile with your mouth; you smile with your eyes and your whole face in general, so does the mouth part of the smile *have* to be on your face while you're saying something? The shuddering one doesn't even involved your face or mouth at all; that should be the easiest of them all. The sighing one is very easy. Just try it. Now, the last four I agree with you. Those are not as easy to talk while doing therefore should not have a comma associated with them when writing. > "Brother," Lois signed with resignation and placed the glasses > back on Clark's face. "You're obsessing. I hate to be in the > middle of a seduction when you're obsessing. Ah, sign language has been introduced into the show! I knew it would only be a matter of time. ;) I think I'm going to send this before I re-read the above and delete the whole message because I probably sounded like a fool. :) Amanda Keeper of Jarod's Pez Moments Co-Keeper of Jarod's Black Leather Jacket That Makes Him Look So Incredibly Sexy Keeper of Miss Parker's Look On Her Face When She Realized That Jarod Might Be Her Brother klane@digital.net kl08739@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~kl08739/homepage.html Updated July 12, 1998. Join my Homepages on the Internet web ring! http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7431/webring.htm ================= Woman: I can walk!! Jeffrey: You could always walk. Woman: Shut up. 'Jeffrey' ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:15:26 -0400 Reply-To: salymc@gateway.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandy McDermin Organization: GWNET Subject: Re: Comma vs. period in dialogue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Leanne Shawler wrote: > While I would argue about the use of the hyphen (*Leanne ducks from Sandy's > thwap -- or was it the "..." you over-used, Sandra?*), I'll turn that aside > for another day (besides, I still make mistakes on that one too) and point > out that in "He shouted" the H should be in lower case.<< Are you talking to me, Leanne? Omigod, you called me Sandy. We've reached an epiphany! And then you switched back to Sandra. Oh well.... I don't remember the hyphen vs. the ellipsis being my problem, but Season 5 became such a marathon of editing -- a story a week, plus writing one's own -- that I could be mistaken. What I do recall is having a "spacing problem". That is, not spacing the ellipsis properly. I'm sure I've made all the mistakes that I can't recall in the paragraph above. (I also have a horrible problem with knowing when to use the word, affect, and when to use, effect.) >> As for teachers encouraging children to write what they're thinking/feeling > without bothering about spelling or writing. No person will be employed if > they can't spell, no matter how damn creative they are (unless they're > hired simply to draw -- but then, you still need that cover letter and > resume to get you in the front door). I, too, as a child was encouraged to > write creatively (and yes, I did get two years with someone who thought > grammar was more important and yes, it did damp me creatively) but if I > didn't know how to spell a word there was a big dictionary at the side of > the room where I could go and look it up. It's kinda funny, I know how to > spell all these words, but I never quite got the knack of the pronunciation > guide :)<< Couldn't agree with you more. While the use of punctuation can be a matter of style and, for me, tended to change with whomever I had for English that year, spelling is non-negotiable. Barring the obvious differences between British English and American English (which we did battle over, Leanne, as I recall), I can't see any reason for not checking a dictionary and/or using a spell checker -- preferably both. This doesn't mean that you should halt all writing until you find exactly how to spell a word, but that you, at least, go back and look up those words you know you are unsure of before submitting it to a proofer. (A few times I have found that, not only didn't I know how to spell a word, I had its meaning wrong as well.) Frankly, as I think I may have mentioned when we were involved with Season 5 or even on this list, I never *really* rely on my proofers. That doesn't mean I don't want their help or that my work is perfect before it gets to them. What I mean is, proofers are not 100% either, so you must take responsibility for your own work if your name's going to be on it. Furthermore, it's a matter of pride. I view my proofer/editor as my first audience -- sort of like trying out the play in Hoboken. I want them to be swept up in the story not bogged down in mistakes. If they find a lot of mistakes, which they sometimes do, so be it. That's great. However, if they don't find many, hallelujah, I've done my job doubly well! >> For instance, I'll read a story that uses commas instead of periods > throughout their dialogue. (I'd probably send a note: "Great story -- but > do you know about the comma vs. period rule?") I'll read a story that has > the odd typo or two. But I will *not* read a story that is so > incomprehensible because grammar has been largely abandoned, even if I can > make out that there's a potentially great story lying ahead. (You got it, > I'll never read that Irish guy who wrote "Ulysses", name currently escapes > me. I attempted it but it was too confusing.) You make a story difficult to > follow, and you lose readers. That's why we find ourselves editors and > learn stuff like grammar and spelling. Some of it may be nitpicky, but > combined with all those other nitpicks it can result in a right royal mess > if not followed.<< Um, you mean Mr. Joyce? Actually, Joyce suits my purposes very well here. There's nothing wrong with bending the rules in the pursuit of creativity, as long as you know what the rules are in the first place. That's why, I believe, children should be taught proper grammar, whatever that is. Although this is not a hard and fast rule, generally, you can't be a Picasso, until you've learn the basics of painting. You can't be a Joyce, until you know how to write a sentence that could stave off an English teacher's red pencil. This goes for most things in life. In order to have the luxury of experimentation you should first learn the rudiments of a craft so that you can better appreciate and understand what you've created, what it's roots are, and how to manipulate it.... Of course, there are such things as idiot savants. >> Grammar rules are conventions, they help the reader follow your wonderful, > emotional, heart-wrenching, (whatever) story. When you break a rule, be > sure your reader can follow your intentions and read on without being > disturbed from the dream you're weaving them.<< Sounds good to me. Sandy -- (Guess what? Turn away if you don't want to be spoiled. The allies take the beaches at Normandy! Yea!) salymc@gateway.net http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 02:06:39 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Grace Wong Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ---The Zoomway wrote: To make it less ambiguous it could have > been written "Lois, where are you?" He shouted as he ran down the street. I > likely would have written it as 'He ran down the street, "Lois, where are > you?" He shouted, his tone becoming frantic -- terrified.' I like bracketing > the dialog during emotionally charged scenes with both action and what the > character is feeling. The original sentence conveys no emotion at all. > now see Zoom, this is exactly what makes you a great fanfic writer, I would have never written it that way. /me applaud for Zoomway, who writes great stories :-) Grace _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 05:17:03 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Eileen F. Ray" Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 8/5/98 10:42:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ckandll4ever@juno.com writes: << One small question: I realize that each of the four main travelers represented a part of Lois. (Which I loved! Cute, cute, cute!) My confusion lies in which Lois they were. Was each one representing a different season or were they just random attributes? >> They were meant to be different aspects of her personality. Since the story was set on the second season, we really couldn't have them representing her in seasons 3 and 4 I guess ;). Cheers, Eileen ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 06:08:38 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Synonyms, punctuation, pedantics, semantics etc ;) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-06 01:21:53 EDT, klane@DIGITAL.NET writes: << Ah, sign language has been introduced into the show! I knew it would only be a matter of time. ;) >> What's funny is that I copied and pasted that from the archive This is where Chris and Kathy can hit me. I think an RR already caused grief at the archive because 'fiance' was misspelled, but not until it hit the archive Though I will admit that's a classic typo for me I also type 'Calrk' a lot on the IRC when trying to type way to fast. Oh, and let me give you an idea how much Lois and Clark has become a default setting for my fingers I was typing 'Los Angeles' but typed it as 'Lois Angeles' first ;) When Dean made his appearance in St. Louis, yup, it became St. Lois. Not to mention "five o'clark in the afternoon" (sound like a good deal to me ;) >>>Well, I sort of wish to disagree. For the smiling/grinning one, you don't talk while you're smiling? You always say something with a straight face? The laughing one as well I think can be done, therefore can be used with a comma.<< Woo hoo! Another supporter of smiling while speaking Leanne wrote: >>>Zoom, please re-read what I wrote I said it *doesn't* mean he goes deadpan. Of course he is still smiling, or showing something of a smile, but it's not the exact same smile as he would have if he *wasn't* speaking.<< I think we've hit the semantic zone. Even in tonight's episode Clark, yet again, smiles while speaking and so does Lois. >>You grin -- your mouth is closed --<<< Websters New World dictionary: "grin": to smile broadly, showing the teeth. Yup, when Dean was grinning, he was showing his teeth, and he was speaking. The definition doesn't say a darn thing about the teeth being welded shut. Case closed >>>And yes, Zoom, my examples lacked emotion but they weren't written with emotion in mind. Just to show some sentence structure. Using a period as opposed to a comma does *not* kill emotion. If it did, sentences would never end!<< When did I say a period kills emotion? This is what I wrote: "I occasionally do connect dialog to actions and separate them with a comma as a personal technique for letting the moment remain fluid. A comma is a yield sign, but a period is a stop sign and when you are always that abrupt, it can lead to actions that seem removed from the dialog." See, not a thing about a period killing emotion That's just how I write a line occassionally where a flow seems better severed by a comma than a period. >>>Zoom rewrites a sentence: 'He ran down the street, "Lois, where are you?" He shouted, his tone becoming frantic -- terrified.'>>>While I would argue about the use of the hyphen (*Leanne ducks from Sandy's thwap -- or was it the "..." you over-used, Sandra?*), I'll turn that aside for another day (besides, I still make mistakes on that one too) and point out that in "He shouted" the H should be in lower case.<<<< I knew the hyphen would getcha ;) I use hypens sparingly. I use them most often when I want a conduit that connects and builds upon similar words. I also use them to simultaneously connect and separate an emotion to and from a reality. Sorry, I won't ever be able to explain that one very well I just know it when I do it ;) As to the use of ellipsis, if that's what you mean by "..." I think those dots can be pretty handy for a character speaking who is processing thoughts as he speaks, picking words carefully, or hesitating. They're not just useful for indicatating something that's been left out. There's too many terrific items available to writers that are often dismissed or discouraged out of hand, that I find it a shame not to give them a whirl now and then ;) >>>Now, if you want the action to flow with the shouting, why not: "He ran down the street, shouting, "Lois, where are you?" His tone grew frantic, terrified."<<< For me, that makes it a bit more passive. Bracketing "shouting" in commas slows the flow. In this case, the grammatical correctness has created an awkwardness. The word "grew" isn't as active as "growing" or "becoming". It has lost a stronger sense of immediacy. >>>Now if I wanted to be emotional about it (and I was only providing *simple* examples, not works of art), I would write it as: "He ran down the street. Stopping, he flung his arms open wide to the heavens and shouted, "Lois, where are you?"<<<< I agree with your later comment about this being a tad "melodramatic" >>>"He ran down the street. Stopping, he flung his arms open wide to the heavens. "Lois, where are you?" he cried, his voice echoing through the deserted streets."<<< I think the "flung his arms open wide to the heavens' part is causing the melodrama problem here Even with that left in, there is little emotion. "his voice echoing through the deserted streets" is nice phrasing, but gives no indication of what Clark himself is feeling. Maybe if the melodramatic part is cut out, and the rest reworked, it can regain its emotion and impact ... He ran down the street, his panic increasing with every step, "Lois!" he shouted, "where are you?" But as the echo died away, his heart became as empty as the deserted streets -- she was gone. That too might be a bit on the 'melo' side of drama for some, but there's no doubt Clark is feeling a sense of loss and that he's hurting and scared. Yes, I have my hyphen back too ;) I used it for an emotonal reason there, the one I tried to explain earlier about simultaneiously connecting and separating emotion to and from a reality (I know, I still can't explain it, but I do know when and why I use it ;) >>>For instance, I'll read a story that uses commas instead of periods throughout their dialogue. (I'd probably send a note: "Great story -- but do you know about the comma vs. period rule?")<<< I'd write back and say "Yes, have you heard the one about the guy who walks into a bar with a duck on his head?" ;) >>Grammar rules are conventions, they help the reader follow your wonderful, emotional, heart-wrenching, (whatever) story. When you break a rule, be sure your reader can follow your intentions and read on without being disturbed from the dream you're weaving them.<<<< When I was in school, the word "alright" didn't exist (or if it did, we sure weren't allowed to use it ;). I wrote that word thinking it similar to "already". I saw "alright" as meaning "okay" or "yes" and not as two separate words whose meaning could be more ambiguous. My paper would be returned to me with the word circled and the teacher's notation in red pencil, "'Alright is alwrong" Today, however, alright *is* a word in dictionaries and spell- checkers. I still have a tendency to write it as two separate words to this day since it was drummed into my head repeatedly and is still the more accepted usuage in some forms of writing. However, it does prove that times change and that 'hard fast' rules can be modified. So, maybe I'm not breaking rules so much as paving the way for new ones ;) Hey, I was ahead of my time with that 'alright' thing Zoomway@aol.com ("smile when ya say that" or is it "when you say that, smile!" ;) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 13:11:51 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" In-Reply-To: <19980805.225636.3702.1.CKandLL4ever@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 I just wanted to chime in and say that you wrote a great fanfic and I really enjoyed it ... although I never realised that the four main travellers represented a part of Lois as Cristin has noticed ... maybe I'm dimmer than anyone in the whole world :-) ... You know what did come to mind when Lois noticed that the scarecrow wore one of her favourite suits? Lucy Lane .... in the pilot she wore one of Lois' suits and shoes. Although the scarecrow doesn't seem to resemble Lucy at all .... Lucy has a brain :-) And I'm sure Lois never thought that Lucy didn't have a brain .... Although I have to admit that I kept waiting for a form of Clark to appear in the dream .... and I think once Lois did look at the guard and say ... 'nah' ... ---- Quote from Part 4: The guard, seeing their approach, held his battle-axe in front of him. "What's your business here?" he asked. Lois looked at his face more closely. "What?" he asked softly. She shook her head. "Nah," she said finally. "We .. um, we want to see the Wizard." ---- was she thinking he looked like Clark? I wasn't sure. I'm sorry I'm going into it too much but it just kept me wondering who was a form of who in the story. But it was a great story ... I've seen the movie so I could see where things were similar and where things differed .... I wonder if Lois had seen the film so that it entered her dream ... maybe food from Ralph's Pagoda does that to people It was great .. thanks for the ride Zoomway, Crystal, Eileen, Kirshnera, Pam, and Cerise. Sorry if I asked pointless questions about it but I enjoyed the story thoroughly ... and maybe when life isn't too annoyingly busy I could join you :-) Angee. -- Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 13:21:53 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII > > Although I have to admit that I kept waiting for a form of Clark to > appear in the dream .... and I think once Lois did look at the guard and > say ... 'nah' ... > But wasn't the Wizard, and the man operating the Wizard, meant to represent Clark and Superman? Wendy ---------------------- Wendy Richards w.m.richards@hrm.keele.ac.uk ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 07:42:42 EST Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Lisa M. Ramirez" Subject: Re: Comma vs. period in dialogue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Sandy wrote in response to Leanne's statement: > Um, you mean Mr. Joyce? Actually, Joyce suits my purposes very well > here. There's nothing wrong with bending the rules in the pursuit of > creativity, as long as you know what the rules are in the first place. I agree with this - know the rules and more importantly UNDERSTAND the rules before you break them. James Joyce, however, not only broke the rules, he destroyed them. Was it absolutely necessary (yes, I know, literary style and all that) to write the entire last chapter of "Ulysses" (in my edition that's about 30 pages) with no punctuation, no capitalization, nothing. Just 30 pages of words strung together. The only way I could even get through that section was to read it aloud. I know it was Molly's (I think that was her name) stream of conscious, but people DO think in sentences AND they mentally capitalize words. (Even Lois's mental babbling can be put into some semblance of sentences). I understand that Molly's simple thoughts,which ran together, were supposed to be the antithesis of Stephen's sophisticated thought processes in the first chapter. But the book was still a tortuous and torturous read. Please, for all the fanfic writers out there, "Don't *do* that." Lisa says this as she shudders at the very thought of ever reading something like that again. Lisa M. Ramirez ramirez@estuary.amrl.odu.edu To most people, solutions are answers to problems. To chemists, solutions are things that are all mixed up. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 09:23:49 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Georgia E. Walden" Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 01:21 PM 8/6/98 +0100, you wrote: >> >> Although I have to admit that I kept waiting for a form of Clark to >> appear in the dream .... and I think once Lois did look at the guard and >> say ... 'nah' ... >> >But wasn't the Wizard, and the man operating the Wizard, >meant to represent Clark and Superman? > >Wendy At the risk of over-analyzing this one to death, I thought this was one of the cleverest bits in the story, because it tied together a fact about the movie that I've always liked. Lois is seeing Clark everywhere she goes, and he's not only the Wizard and the 'man behind the curtain' ;) but also the other male figures she meets in the Jade City. The actor who played these parts in the movie (the driver of the "horse of a different color" and the guard at the gate) was the same actor who played the Wizard, Frank Morgan. The clues to Lois' obsession ;) were in the dialogue, as Angie noticed, which echoed real moments in her relationship with Clark. Lois must have been having a sort of psychic dream (hey, it could happen ) -- that line about the Wizard Man's suit being ... more ;) was definitely not from first or second season. Though Eileen is right about the emotional time frame being specifically second season and Lois' character elements representing her attitudes then, the writers drew from all through the show's history to embellish Lois' dream. It was weird, but it worked for 'em. ;) Georgia gwalde14@mindspring.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 09:39:16 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: Re: Off Topic: A year ago tomorrow Andrea wrote: "...I'm just wondering how many true blue FoLCs still exist." I just had to respond...I certainly consider myself a "true-blue" FoLC, even tho' I couldn't attend LAFF - in California, anyway. We've had several here in NC - "Hi, Raleigh FoLC!" . (Had planned to, but school started earlier than LAFF, so no choice.) > > -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 09:50:27 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: Re: Comma vs. period in dialogue I agree with Leanne except for 2 points...you certainly can get and hold a job without being able to spell well, at all. Einstein was a horrible speller. Many highly successful ppl are, also. They work harder, have to use more tools (spell checkers, computers,) but they hold down responsible jobs. Studies have shown that ppl are born able to spell...or not...we can memorize all the correctly spelled words we have the capacity to handle (and schools still require kids to do just that; however, they've forgotten them a day after the spelling test.) Intelligence and spelling are not at all correlated. Now, all that stuff said, I'll admit that it drives me nuts when ppl spell words incorrectly (not obvious typos) and when grammar is abhorrent. I also disagree that you should stop writing to go and look up the proper spelling of a word. It hinders the creative juices. Edit later. (And in "Grammatik," you may choose the style of grammatical editing you want...formal, business, etc.) Sorry for rambling. I don't write (unfortunately) but I do know quite a few very good ones (many of whom are on this list :) -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 09:11:36 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sheila Harper Subject: combo post: spelling, breaking the rules, and Oz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:08 AM 8/6/98 EDT, you wrote: >Today, however, alright *is* a word in dictionaries and spell- >checkers. I wasn't going to write anything on this thread, but this one tickled me. "Alright" is in my dictionary, all right . It's defined as "a common misspelling of all right". All ready/already doesn't work as an analogy because those two words mean different things: "all ready" means everything's set to go (or whatever), while "already" means by this time or previously. They're homonyms, not variant spellings of the same word. I know that I tend to be more precise in my use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. because I'm still at the "breaking into the field" stage of my career, and I've read far too many articles by editors who point out that each "error" makes a piece of writing appear a little less professional, which means that the writing itself has to be that much more wonderful than the competition if it's going to find a home. (BTW, I put "error" in quotes because I'm also referring to deliberate breaking of the rules for an effect *not apparent* to the reader. Sorry, Zoom, I never got the feeling that your use of the comma instead of the period meant that the action was going on during the dialogue, so your desired effect went right over this reader's head. Sorta like Picasso's third eye: the significance totally escaped me, so the effect was wasted and served only as a minor irritant to my copy-editor's [third ] eye.) For you rr writers on "I Only Have Oz for You," I loved the symbolism of the story. Each of Lois's companions represented a flaw in herself--either real or perceived, and all the males at the Jade (i.e. Kryptonite) City were visions of Clark. I thought you would make the Wizard--or at least his huge face--more Superman-like, but I missed that connection until Lois's return with the globe when she saw the real Wizard, Clark. Very interesting look at her subconscious perception of Clark being the person behind Superman. Good thing she didn't remember that part when she woke up! The stuff with Lex was terrific--especially his motivation in providing her with those particular companions--and I loved her constant longing for Clark to talk to, to be with. Superman was almost an afterthought, just someone to rescue her so she could get back to Clark. Nice, nice, nice :) Sheila sharper@cncc.cc.co.us ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 10:58:32 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: Re: Comma vs. period in dialogue In-Reply-To: <4BC03497DB2@ESTUARY.AMRL.odu.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:42 AM 8/6/98 -0500, you wrote: > but >people DO think in sentences AND they mentally capitalize words. Ever see Victor Borge's 'phoenetic punctuation' comedy act? >Please, for all the fanfic writers out there, "Don't *do* that." Lisa says >this as she shudders at the very thought of ever reading something like >that again. > Hmm, sounds like a good badfic... > >To most people, solutions are answers to problems. >To chemists, solutions are things that are all mixed up. > Actually a solution and a mixture are two different things. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | My personal FoLC/Teri website | | "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 11:19:51 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Amanda Lane Subject: Off Topic LAFF Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I know this is off topic for this list, but the other one is down and I was >looking at some dates and I just realized that LAFF97 was a year ago tomorrow, >well started a year ago tomorrow. I had such a blast then (in addition to >meeting the oh so studly Tim Minear ) and was just curious as to how many >people who attended LAFF are still on the list. I know some regulars like >Zoom, Julie and Chris who still IRC, and are also on the list are still >around...I'm just wondering how many true blue FoLCs still exist. I didn't attend LAFF97 (or any of them if there were more), but I was around the list then and had been for a while. It must have been right around then that I got off of the list, but now I'm becoming more interested in L&C again, and I rejoined just the other day. >You grin >-- your mouth is closed -- you speak -- you change the shape of your mouth. I don't grin with my mouth closed. I mean, I'm assuming you mean with no teeth showing (also what my mom thought you meant when I asked her), and I definitely "bare" my teeth when I grin. <--- see? Full teeth. ;) Amanda Keeper of Jarod's Pez Moments Co-Keeper of Jarod's Black Leather Jacket That Makes Him Look So Incredibly Sexy Keeper of Miss Parker's Look On Her Face When She Realized That Jarod Might Be Her Brother klane@digital.net kl08739@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~kl08739/homepage.html Updated July 12, 1998. Join my Homepages on the Internet web ring! http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7431/webring.htm ================= Woman: I can walk!! Jeffrey: You could always walk. Woman: Shut up. 'Jeffrey' ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 12:19:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carolyn Schnall Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: <68ef32db.35c8ad04@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Annie, > >Can one have tears in her eyes and laugh at the same time..?? > >ROTFL > >Now I know where else I can go for legal representation > >Anne :) Wasn't it Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias who said "laughter through tears is my favorite emotion"? Carolyn ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 17:45:00 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 > >Wasn't it Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias who said "laughter >through tears is my favorite emotion"? > >Carolyn Yup, she did .... Angee. -- Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 17:49:31 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: Re: New Fanfic :"I ONLY HAVE OZ FOR YOU" In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 In message , Wendy Richards writes >> >> Although I have to admit that I kept waiting for a form of Clark to >> appear in the dream .... and I think once Lois did look at the guard and >> say ... 'nah' ... >> >But wasn't the Wizard, and the man operating the Wizard, >meant to represent Clark and Superman? > >Wendy Yeah, you're right Wendy. Sometimes I'm too logical and forget that it's a dream .... I have to keep telling myself ... "it's a dream, it's a dream" ... and what a dream it is :-D Angee. -- Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 17:53:30 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Angee Chaudhry Subject: combo post: spelling, breaking the rules, and Oz In-Reply-To: <35C924310000006E@cncc.cncc.cc.co.us> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <35C924310000006E@cncc.cncc.cc.co.us>, Sheila Harper writes > >For you rr writers on "I Only Have Oz for You," I loved the symbolism of the >story. Each of Lois's companions represented a flaw in herself--either real >or perceived, and all the males at the Jade (i.e. Kryptonite) City were >visions of Clark. I thought you would make the Wizard--or at least his huge >face--more Superman-like, but I missed that connection until Lois's return >with the globe when she saw the real Wizard, Clark. Very interesting look >at her subconscious perception of Clark being the person behind Superman. >Good thing she didn't remember that part when she woke up! The stuff with >Lex was terrific--especially his motivation in providing her with those >particular companions--and I loved her constant longing for Clark to talk >to, to be with. Superman was almost an afterthought, just someone to rescue >her so she could get back to Clark. Nice, nice, nice :) > >Sheila >sharper@cncc.cc.co.us That is *so* well put Sheila ... I couldn't have put it better myself and I may say I have to agree ... I should have seen this, after all I got a B in English A-Level .. oops :-) Angee -- Angee Chaudhry ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 14:06:18 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Cristin J Whitley Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" writes: >> >>Wasn't it Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias who said >"laughter >>through tears is my favorite emotion"? >> >>Carolyn > > >Yup, she did .... > >Angee. >-- >Angee Chaudhry > And it was Mary Chapin Carpenter who said: "I can cry until I laugh, or laugh until I cry, so cut the deck right in half, I’ll play from either side" Good one, huh? Cristin "Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I do both, and I don't know why!" Terri Clark (song: Emotional Girl) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 15:00:03 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: Oz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit To all the RR writers of this wonderful piece: My thirteen year-old daughter (a non-reader) and I just returned from the pool where I had brought today's fanfic of choice (Oz). I began reading it and when I started chuckling, realized my daughter would enjoy it too. I proceeded to share bits of it and gave up and read the whole fic to her aloud. Many thanks to all of you for a wonderful bonding :) moment for my daughter and I (me?). She didn't catch all the allusions to different episodes, but we still enjoyed it all the same. Way psychological! Kate (the Marlyand one) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 15:55:03 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "K.M. de Castro" Subject: Re: Synonyms for the word "said" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-05 14:41:14 EDT, Annie wrote: << I will fight, and I will enlist an army of other angry words who have been replaced to aid me in my cause." Thank you for your time. Annie Lansbury As a postscript let me add 'Comma' has sought for and accquired my services. I am in the process of accquiring Transactional Immunity for this client, also. >> 'Went' needs your help too! Marie ChoirGirl2@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 17:03:31 -0400 Reply-To: NightSky@erols.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Grammar and Composition MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just some random thoughts on this .... First of all, Demi said: "I don't know about anyone else, but "great grammar" isn't the catch phrase I want people coming out of my writing with. It's certainly not 'in my soul' either. 'You know my dear, your piece was really very ... interesting. But you had ELEGANT use of the semi-colon. Congratulations!'" I, for one, would welcome that kind of comment. I have gotten some feedback where I have been told that my stories are "easy to read," and I interpret that as a compliment to my grammar and style. And I appreciate it. Very much. I spend as much time on proofreading and revising as I do on writing the first draft of my stories, maybe more. It's very nice to know that all the effort I put into buildng paralell structure, into making sure that it's clear which subject goes with which verb, into looking words up in dictionaries and thesauri worked. When Noah Webster published his dictionary in 1828, he began to standardize spelling in America. (Yes, Leanne, he's the one that got rid of the "u" in color. ) But have any of you tried to read anything from the 1600's when people spelled anyway they wanted to? It's difficult, to say the least. Rules of grammar exist for the same reason. To make the word word easy to understand. People have mentioned Ulysses -- it takes a lot of brain-power to make sense of it. I don't want to work hard when I'm reading for recreation; I want it to make sense the first time through. I don't want to have to stop, back up, and re-read a paragraph trying to figure out what the author meant. And that's one of the reasons why it's so important to have editors and proofreaders look at your story before you publish it. *You* know what you meant, so you aren't as likely to see the ambiguities. ======= Commas versus periods. You've got more of a choice besides just commas and periods, you know. English has many different words you can choose to say the same thing; it also has different kinds of punctuation. The punctuation you choose can affect the meaning of your sentence as much as your word choice. When you are revising your story, it's worth it to experiment with different punctuation marks. In common usage, we tend to call any sentence that goes on and on (sort of like Lois in babble-mode) a run-on sentence. But actually, a run-on sentence is when a comma is used between two complete sentences. One sentence is permitted to "run on" into the next. It can be handled in one of four ways: First, you can turn it into two sentences, with a period (full stop) between them. (Zoom has already given some examples why you might not want to do this.) Secondly, you can add a conjunction between the two sentences (but, because, for) to make them one sentence, and to make the relationship between the two sentences more obvious. Third, you can use a semicolon between the two sentences. This gives you less of a pause than the full stop, and is the purpose of a semicolon. (Didn't we have a discussion of semicolons here a few weeks ago? If you use it properly, you can't use it too much. I tend to use them when there is a relationship between the two independent clauses, and I want them hooked together in some way.) Fourth, you can use the commas anyway, in spite of the fact that it is against the rules of grammar. My own feeling is that this should only be done if you have tried the first three methods, and decided that none of them give the effect you want. Also, someone mentioned that she might use a comma anyway, if she wanted the reader to pause. Have you considered the lowly dash? (--) It also forces the reader to pause. I know I try to use a dash when I want to indicate a pause, and a comma would be inappropriate. It's very handy in writing dialogue. According to "The Story of English" by Robert Macneil, The King James Bible has only 8,000 different words in it. Shakespeare, on the other hand, used just about every word in the English Lexicon. So I guess it's fair to say that one can write well by either sticking to the tried and true words, or by checking a thesaurus often. It is interesting, I think, that all of the people posting on this issue are good writers, who publish good, polished stories, and yet have such different opinions and writing styles. It just proves that writing is a very private and personal thing. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve (Did you know that the King James Bible was written by *committee*, and that they were told not only to make it easy to read, but to make it sound good when it was read out loud? And the committee I'm on at work can't decide how to phrase one simple paragraph on a web page!!) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 20:03:51 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: combo post: spelling, breaking the rules, and Oz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-06 10:12:32 EDT, sharper@CNCC.CC.CO.US writes: << I wasn't going to write anything on this thread, but this one tickled me. "Alright" is in my dictionary, all right . It's defined as "a common misspelling of all right". All ready/already doesn't work as an analogy because those two words mean different things: "all ready" means everything's set to go (or whatever), while "already" means by this time or previously. They're homonyms, not variant spellings of the same word. >> It's not listed as a misspelling in mine, so we can have the battle of the Lexicons (those are dictionaries in penthouses ;) In Webster's College Dictionary "Alright: adv. adj All Right. The form alright as a one-word spelling of the phrase All Right in all its senses probably arose by anology of such words as already and altogether. Athough alright is a common spelling in written dialogue and other informal writing, All Right is used in more formal, edited writing." That way we can have it both ways Now please understand I'm not trying to change anyone. I just like more flexibility. However, even I have limits (the audience gasped ;) The word 'nobody' and the phrase 'no one' can be used interchangeably in certain instances, but I wouldn't recommend using "noone" as an amalgam since it would no doubt be pronounced "noon" and kind of remind me of that lead singer from Herman's Hermits >>>I know that I tend to be more precise in my use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. because I'm still at the "breaking into the field" stage of my career, and I've read far too many articles by editors who point out that each "error" makes a piece of writing appear a little less professional, which means that the writing itself has to be that much more wonderful than the competition if it's going to find a home<<< I can't imagine writing a line like, "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!--Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!--Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!-- Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" and certainly not wriing it with an expectation of being published, but if you ever read Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, you'll find it there Why? Well, if you find yourself in a cemetery with a dead writer, ask him ;) Actually I think it's onomatopoeia for one of the character's coughing fits, but he chose to write it out that way and not just 'say' "He had a coughing fit." I think it's grammatically correct though ;) One of my favorite run-on sentences comes from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: "It was a strange collection, like Billy Bone's hoard for the delivery of coinage, but so much larger and so much more varied that I think I never had more pleasure than in sorting them, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, the picture of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spider's web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them around your neck-- nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in the collection; and for number, I am sure they were like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my fingers with sorting them out." Brother, that is one long, cool sentence I don't know why I love it, I just do, and for me that's how it goes with writing too. It's grammatically correct as far as I can see, but would an editor today read that and let it stand without comment? I think not. Would an editor demand some periods in there? I think so Maybe it reflects the writing style of the day, or the writing rules of convention of that era, and if so, it further illustrates that rules, like 'the times', keep changing. What contemporary works will be literature a hundred years from now? No one knows, but I have a feeling someone might quote a passage a century from now and say "Wow, look at the periods they used back then!" (assuming the written word still exists, and I think it will if only to be argued over ;) >>>Sorry, Zoom, I never got the feeling that your use of the comma instead of the period meant that the action was going on during the dialogue, so your desired effect went right over this reader's head. Sorta like Picasso's third eye: the significance totally escaped me, so the effect was wasted and served only as a minor irritant to my copy-editor's [third ] eye.)<< "No Kill I" "Is that a plea for us not to kill it, or a promise it won't kill us?" A dangerous ambiguity ;) All writers want to be understood. Darin Morgan (the best X-Files writer, in my opinion) said that his script Jose Chung's From Outer Space had to be read 14 times by the director before he felt he understood it well enough to direct it as written. For me, I'm glad the director took the time. I think it is a brilliant and hilarious episode, as most of Morgan's are. I'm definitely not comparing myself to Morgan, in fact, if the opportunity to meet him ever arose, I can imagine myself falling at his feet shouting, "I'm not worthy!" Even Tim Minear referred to him as "God". Rather, my point is, I believe convention can be bucked and some will get it and some won't. That's how it is with anything. If I were to try and submit fiction professionally, I might fret over every single punctuation mark so that I could achieve that lusted after conventionality, but since I'm writing for fun, then I want to have fun while writing There are also writers who can have just as much fun dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't', so I think there's room for all of us ;) I also know that even our concept of 'fun' can change ;) "What are you saying, Clark?" Lois asked as she rose menacingly from her chair. "That I'm not a fun person? That I don't know how to have fun?" ( Lois defensive over the idea that math and chess aren't fun in PML) "This being a hard-bitten newswoman sure is a lot more fun than it used to be, " Lois said as she ducked giggling under the covers with her husband. (Lois on the lam from the law in DLW) Zoomway@aol.com (P.S. as one of the participants in the round robin Oz story, thanks to all of you who took the time to read it and give us some feedback ;) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 18:11:45 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Since we're on the subject of synonyms... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0006_01BDC165.ABE04020" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BDC165.ABE04020 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi everyone! Since we're on the subject of synonyms, maybe someone could help me out. = I'd love to get some synonyms for "smiled". As in "she smiled". What = else could I use? (Besides grin...I already know that one ;) Thanks for your help! My fanfic will thank you. Erin :) aka ELK on IRC erink@ida.net ******************** "The truth is no one knows how long they've got. Anyway, it's not the = years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." "You bet your sweet chumpy I am." ******************** ------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BDC165.ABE04020 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hi = everyone!
 
Since we're on the subject of synonyms, maybe = someone could=20 help me out.  I'd love to get some synonyms for = "smiled". =20 As in "she smiled".  What else could I use? (Besides = grin...I=20 already know that one ;)
 
Thanks for your help! My fanfic will thank you.=20 <g>
 
Erin  :)
aka ELK on = IRC
erink@ida.net
 
********************
"The truth is=20 no one knows how long they've got.  Anyway, it's not the years that = count,=20 it's the moments...right now, as they happen."
 
"You bet your sweet = chumpy I=20 am."
********************
------=_NextPart_000_0006_01BDC165.ABE04020-- ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 21:36:03 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Regina Gilchrist Ash Subject: NRTLC: My last post on grammar/spelling... I just wondered what Grammatik or many editors would say about William Faulkner's stories (or Flannery O'Connor's.) As Southern writers, they are certainly exceptional, and the length of Faulkner's sentences was extraordinary. -- Regina Ash (rash@dnet.net) ************************************************ "Science, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable >from magic." -Arthur C. Clarke *********************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 22:33:36 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: demona Subject: Grammar Check This ;) In-Reply-To: <01BDC182.53B4A9A0@max-swain44.dnet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Why, I do declare! If I have to read through one more "eloquent" discussion piece about similes, adjectives, perfunctory punctuation and grammatical precision ... I'm going to hang myself with a participle and dangle there...just because I can! ;P Mwa ha ha... you all think I'm kidding, I bet ;) What ever happened to discussing the *story*? I feel like I've just seen Brutal Youth and all people care about is the construction of Clark's cutlery drawer during the heart to heart in the kitchen. Have we all fallen so deeply into the mire that we've begun quoting the lunatic (er....gentleman ;) responsible for writing a several thousand page catalogue of all the words in our crazed language!? (I might be interested in knowing what drove him to that particularily severe form of madness, however ;) I suppose I should in all fairness admit one thing. I really do feel better now that I've probably offended an entire listserv full of *serious* writers. ;) But fear not! I'm just an amateur, after all! Take care all ye more erudite & eloquent than I ;) I'm going to go home now and write something scandalously comma-filled (she SAID!!) and then wallpaper my bedroom with it Ta ta! Demi _______________________________________________________ Demi (a.k.a) Demona or http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy/demona.htm --- L&C Site http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy --- You gotta dance like nobody's watching, and love like it's never gonna hurt. --- I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ________________________________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 23:08:51 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Grammar Check This ;) Comments: To: Blind.Copy.Receiver@compuserve.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hey Demi Grammar checkers can actually be a lot of fun... In my S5 ep, I had the line "Never argue with a pregnant woman." Word97 told me that "woman" wasn't sufficiently gender-neutral and that I should consider replacing i= t with "person" or "individual" >> What ever happened to discussing the *story*? I feel like I've just se= en Brutal Youth and all people care about is the construction of Clark's cutlery drawer during the heart to heart in the kitchen. << I think that's a bit much... The story is of overriding importance to me (though I understand it's not such a big thing to certain "literary" type people) but you have to make sure that the reader gets it, and that involves following a certain level of convention. It's like if L&C were having that heart to heart talk, but they were mumbling so that you misse= d words, or one of them was hopping around & distracting you. For most of us, I'm sure, writing just involves listening to our inner ear (yep, seems like I need a comma there) but you have to train that ear= by reading *good* prose... :-) And I don't think it hurts to know the rules, as long as you know when to break them. PJ (trying not to give Demi any participles to dangle from ) !^NavFont02F03E10017MGHHGDBMGDDHH82MH84HJE2F90A E-mail from: Pam Jernigan jernigan@compuserve.com / ChiefPam on the IRC ~~~~~ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jernigan/folc.html Find all the IRC roundrobin fanfic / Featuring recommended fanfics ~~~~~ "I'm sorry, but Miles thinks he's a knight-errant. A rational government wouldn't allow him possession of a pocketknife, let alone a space fleet." --Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, discussing her son _Mirror Dance_ by Lois McMaster Bujold Distribution: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of S INTERNET:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 06:56:26 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "C.C. Malo" Subject: Re: grammar & punctuation Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit As an inexperienced writer, I've found this thread quite useful. I fear I've been too cavalier in launching stories into cyber space without more careful editing of my first draft and with the grand assumption that I remembered, after all these years, every grammar rule that my wonderful Toronto high school English teacher taught me. I agree with Demi [some amateur!] that it's the story and the words and the images and the style but without grammar they lie in a dusty heap, powerless to take us anywhere. Carol [who has renewed her vows to lead a grammatically correct life and whose next story will show it!] ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 10:38:34 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Amanda Lane Subject: Alright Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >When I was in school, the word "alright" didn't exist (or if it did, we sure >weren't allowed to use it ;). I wrote that word thinking it similar to >"already". I saw "alright" as meaning "okay" or "yes" and not as two separate >words whose meaning could be more ambiguous. My paper would be returned to me >with the word circled and the teacher's notation in red pencil, "'Alright is >alwrong" Today, however, alright *is* a word in dictionaries and spell- >checkers. I still have a tendency to write it as two separate words to this >day since it was drummed into my head repeatedly and is still the more >accepted usuage in some forms of writing. However, it does prove that times >change and that 'hard fast' rules can be modified. So, maybe I'm not breaking >rules so much as paving the way for new ones ;) Hey, I was ahead of my time >with that 'alright' thing My mom is always drumming this into my head and forever arguing with my father and uncle about it. Alright as one word is not a word, regardless of whether it's in the dictionary or not [in The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, this is what it says about alright. The form Alright is occasionally seen as a variant of All Right, probably by analogy with Already and Altogether, but it is not considered acceptable in standard English]. The word 'ain't' is also in the dictionary, but that certainly isn't a "real" word. So, Zoom, you're right to write 'alright' (say that ten times fast) as 'all right,' even though you didn't specify if that particular two word 'all right' is how you write it. Did that make any sense? >Since we're on the subject of synonyms, maybe someone could help me out. = > I'd love to get some synonyms for "smiled". As in "she smiled". What = >else could I use? (Besides grin...I already know that one ;) What about beam, grin, simper, smirk, laugh, grin from ear to ear, grin like a Cheshire cat, snicker, or fleer? For smile on or upon, you could regard with favor, look favorably on, shine upon, bless, or grace. Amanda Keeper of Jarod's Pez Moments Co-Keeper of Jarod's Black Leather Jacket That Makes Him Look So Incredibly Sexy Keeper of Miss Parker's Look On Her Face When She Realized That Jarod Might Be Her Brother Keeper of Jarod's Line "And Give Me Back My Pez!" klane@digital.net kl08739@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~kl08739/homepage.html Updated July 12, 1998. Join my Homepages on the Internet web ring! http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7431/webring.htm ================= Woman: I can walk!! Jeffrey: You could always walk. Woman: Shut up. 'Jeffrey' ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 11:29:17 -0400 Reply-To: NightSky@erols.com Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Genevieve Subject: Re: Smiling MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Since we're on the subject of synonyms, maybe someone could help me out. = > > I'd love to get some synonyms for "smiled". As in "she smiled". What = > >else could I use? (Besides grin...I already know that one ;) > > What about beam, grin, simper, smirk, laugh, grin from ear to ear, grin > like a Cheshire cat, snicker, or fleer? For smile on or upon, you could > regard with favor, look favorably on, shine upon, bless, or grace. Or, if you're trying to be more subtle, there's: She looked amused. Her eyes twinkled. Her face brightened. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Genevieve Who hasn't any idea how I should have punctuated that list of sentences. Probably with a colon ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 11:45:38 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandra McDermin Subject: On Grammar (such as alright) & Other Blueprints Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I had never heard of Grammatik and went on a search for it. I couldn't find it in wp5.1 which is the most up-to-date version of WP on my office computer. My organization is officially pro Word and won't let me up-date it. I will look for Grammatik when I put a more up-to-date version of WP on my home computer. Anyway, I went into Word and found *their* grammar checker. I didn't even know it existed before this. I opened the story I am currently working on and tried it out. It repeatedly highlighted half of a sentence and let me know it was half of a sentence. I think the grammar checker has a problem with documents which have line breaks in them. Be that as it may, I am enjoying this conversation on grammar and the tools we can use which can help or sometimes confound us. In the time I've been on this, I've seen fanfic posted, I've seen criticism of fanfic posted and I've seen writing discussed, generally. IMO, It's all been useful and interesting. If discussions of grammar are not your cup of tea, in my humble opinion, I think the introduction of another topic is fine and eagerly anticipated. But, that doesn't negate the fact that structure as well as content is a welcome subject for a writing list -- *more than* welcome for those of us who can use the help. (Frankly, the posts *I* enjoy the most are "criticisms" of stories -- whether mine or others. I wish we did a lot more of that.) On the topic of "alright," I know the S5 writers and editors discussed this, and I remember posting part of the entry from my dictionary which says, ".... Since the 19th century some have insisted that 'alright' is wrong, but, though it is less frequent than 'all right,' it remains in common use and appears in the work of reputable writers ." For my purposes, I find the word, 'alright', to be a much better representation of the spirit of casual dialogue, and that's how I use it. Just as I find contractions to be generally better for the very same reason, unless I am purposely using the "more proper" form in order to illustrate a certain flavor, intonation, or a character's character or position relative to the language. For instance, I might use contractions less in the dialogue of a non-native speaker of English. Speaking of other topics, Gary recently posted an address for his website and I went to look at it and found that he had a blueprint-type layout of L&C's townhouse (the first floor only) on his site. I enjoyed looking at it and would have liked to have seen the second floor and/or more detail. Reminds me of that book "TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes," by Mark Bennett. Been meaning to pick up a copy, although it is criticized for not being professionally rendered. Talking about missing the forest for the trees! ; ) Seems like fun anyway. Sandy salymc@gateway.net http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 15:54:42 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: The Zoomway Subject: Re: Alright and that "I or me" thing ;) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-08-07 10:49:30 EDT, you write: << The word 'ain't' is also in the dictionary, but that certainly isn't a "real" word. So, Zoom, you're right to write 'alright' (say that ten times fast) as 'all right,' even though you didn't specify if that particular two word 'all right' is how you write it. Did that make any sense? >> Yes, I don't think I have "alright" written out like that in any fanfic. In dialog, of course, almost anything is acceptable, including "ain't" because thank heavens real people don't use proper grammar all time when they speak ;) I think ten years from now though "alright" will be more acceptable. When it's said as an interjection, "Alright!" it *sounds* like one word. It sounds like "awright" ;) Then there's "alrighty", and I'd guess that's how you'd spell it becuase if you spelled it "all righty" it tends to sound like everthing should be done or contains only those things that are correct or maybe just all things right-handed Kate Crane wrote: >>>Many thanks to all of you for a wonderful bonding :) moment for my daughter and I (me?).<<< Thanks for the sweet story about bonding with your daughter over the round robin story. That's truly a day-maker! ;) Maybe I can help you and others with that "I/me" rule. It is pesky, but there is a simple trick to getting it straight almost every single time. Take the other person out of the sentence and see if it sounds right. That is if you remove "my daughter" (major surgery ;) from the sentence and just leave yourself in the sentence ... "Many thanks to all of you for a wonderful bonding moment for me" because you wouldn't say "for I" Also, putting yourself in the sentence first can help keep it straight. Zoomway@aol.com (me, myself and I, and sometimes Y and W ;) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 16:09:30 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gary Subject: Re: On Grammar (such as alright) & Other Blueprints In-Reply-To: <85256659.00511AE7.00@smtpmta.nas.edu> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:45 AM 8/7/98 -0400, Sandy wrote: > >Speaking of other topics, Gary recently posted an address for his website >and I went to look at it and found that he had a blueprint-type layout of >L&C's townhouse (the first floor only) on his site. I enjoyed looking at >it and would have liked to have seen the second floor and/or more detail. > Okay, Okay, I'll put up the second floor. Do you want the basement, too? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | | My personal FoLC/Teri website | | "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger| =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 17:34:52 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Annette Ciotola Subject: Commercial Break---Re: On Grammar (such as alright) & Other Blueprints Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Sorry to interupt this debate ;) Since the regular list is down, I wanted to post about something new I am trying.. Ever think about watching LnC on your computer??? I have taken one of the episodes and turned it into a Real Video. You can find it, in four parts, at: http://www.simplyorganized.simplenet.com/annesplace.htm The episode I tested was Virtually Destroyed... Hope you all enjoy it.. And let me know how you like it. I am planning to try another.. Anne :) We now return you to the Great Grammer Debate, alread in progress. This commercial has been paid for by the commitee for 'Said for Congress' ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 23:00:27 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jenny Mills Subject: Re: Off Topic: A year ago tomorrow In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 22:07 05/08/98 -0400, you wrote: >I know this is off topic for this list, but the other one is down and I was >looking at some dates and I just realized that LAFF97 was a year ago tomorrow, >well started a year ago tomorrow. I had such a blast then (in addition to >meeting the oh so studly Tim Minear ) and was just curious as to how many >people who attended LAFF are still on the list. I know some regulars like >Zoom, Julie and Chris who still IRC, and are also on the list are still >around...I'm just wondering how many true blue FoLCs still exist. > >Sorry if this took up anyone's time...I just wonder about a lot of >stuff...it's just the weird way my brain works :) > >Andrea >Gee...a year since I actually touched Timmy...seems like yesterday :) > Hi Annie Thanks for your timely reminder - I am still lurking quietly here, and fondly remembering our good times together at LAFF last year (actually, the framed 'FoLCfest '97' poster hanging over my PC does it pretty effectively too ) See you Jenny ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 17:47:10 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Spellers Anonymous ;) In-Reply-To: <01BDC120.071B8440@max-swain41.dnet.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 9:50 AM -0400 8/6/98, Regina Gilchrist Ash wrote: >I agree with Leanne except for 2 points...you certainly can get and hold a >job without being able to spell well, at all. I worked for several years doing corporate consulting. My firm only hired "the best and the brightest" (as my former director used to say) and the final interview was a day-long affair, which included spending a few hours locked in a conference room analyzing a case study and writing a recommendation report to the panel of company directors. You had to compose this report in a fairly brief time, and there was no editing-by-others allowed. (You then had to stand up before this panel and present your findings, but that's another story.) We all got a kick out of one guy who came to interview -- he brought a dictionary with him! When questioned by the amused directors, he admited that spelling was not one of his strengths. They were impressed by his honesty and willingness to think ahead. He not only got the job, but did quite well at the company. :) Kathy (who didn't bring a dictionary to her interview, but when one director asked "so, what can we tell about Kathy?" another piped in "we know she can talk very fast!" ) ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 18:13:33 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Spellers Anonymous ;) In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 5:47 PM -0500 8/7/98, Kathy Brown wrote: >At 9:50 AM -0400 8/6/98, Regina Gilchrist Ash wrote: >>I agree with Leanne except for 2 points...you certainly can get and hold a >>job without being able to spell well, at all. > >We all got a kick out of one guy who came to interview -- he brought a >dictionary with him! When questioned by the amused directors, he admited >that spelling was not one of his strengths. They were impressed by his >honesty and willingness to think ahead. He not only got the job, but did >quite well at the company. :) Hmm, is it bad form to reply to your own post? I forgot to add, however, that when one of my employees would come to me with a document to proof, I would return it unread if it had spelling mistakes. I had better things to do with my time than to act as a spell-checker, and anyone who submits a document of any type to their boss without spell-checking it and preferably having another co-worker read it first from grammar/content, is asking to get points taken off at performance evalution time. But maybe I was just a tough boss. ;) Fortunately, I did have many employees thank me for all I taught them about business writing, so I guess I did OK. Even if I had to put the fear of God into some of them once or twice. Kathy ("this is the second time you've submitted this paper to me with this error. If you don't have the time to make the corrections I gave you last time, I certainly don't have time to review it." (heh heh heh, boy did he run for that spell-checker )) ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 18:14:05 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: Grammar Check This ;) In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.19980806223336.00aab560@mail.tor.shaw.wave.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:33 PM -0400 8/6/98, demona wrote: >What ever happened to discussing the *story*? I feel like I've just seen >Brutal Youth and all people care about is the construction of Clark's >cutlery drawer during the heart to heart in the kitchen. Demi, ol' buddy, that's what the delete key is for. Personally, I've started skimming the posts myself, instead of reading them all, but I support any additions to the discussion. If this stuff doesn't belong on a fanfic listserv, where it does belong? We have had several other discussions about writing techniques, and I don't see this one as being any less valid. I've actually found the discussions on writing more interesting overall on this listserv than the discussions of the stories. They certainly get a lot more in depth. But that's just me; I wouldn't expect anyone else to feel the same way. That's why listservs are interesting, because you have many different opinions/preferences coming together. Kathy (chant with me now, people ... if you are bored with a thread, start another. ;)) ______________________ Kathy Brown kbrown@webmart.net KathyB on IRC ______________________ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 19:45:57 -0400 Reply-To: salymc@gateway.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sandy McDermin Organization: GWNET Subject: Re: On Grammar (such as alright) & Other Blueprints MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gary wrote: > > At 11:45 AM 8/7/98 -0400, Sandy wrote: > > > >Speaking of other topics, Gary recently posted an address for his website > >and I went to look at it and found that he had a blueprint-type layout of > >L&C's townhouse (the first floor only) on his site. I enjoyed looking at > >it and would have liked to have seen the second floor and/or more detail. > > > > Okay, Okay, I'll put up the second floor. Do you want the basement, too?<< Do we know that they have one? Actually, I'll explain my interest. When I was a young girl, a long long time ago, I spent very little time writing. Instead, my cousin and I wiled away many hours drawing the blueprints of houses we'd like to live in as grown-ups. I took it a step further by taping lots of typing paper together and drawing designs for towns, planning where houses would be located, stores, schools, firehouses and other government buildings. My mother probably thought she had a budding zoning commissioner on her hands. I thought I was going to go to art school for the longest time until I became interested in politics and stopped drawing and sketching altogether. All was not lost, however. My cousin went to art school and now she's an interior designer. And, I'm ... not a zoning commissioner. Sandy -- who may want to get out her old art supplies. salymc@gateway.net http://www.erols.com/nightsky/Sandy/ > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > | Gary A. Rudick mailto:gar8434@rit.edu | > | My personal FoLC/Teri website | > | "What's done to children, they will do to society." - Karl Menninger| > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 21:18:30 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Laurie Stroh Subject: Re: Off Topic: A year ago tomorrow Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I have to jump in here too and say I had a great time at Laff97 and only wish we could have repeated it this year. Actually, I just recently finished putting all my laff pics in an album...I'm not usually that slow but I was waiting for some friends to send me copies of their pictures...honest, and I had a great time reliving all the memories while looking at the pictures. I can honestly say the best part was getting to meet people I had become friends with online. My "real life" friends couldn't believe that I was flying all the way to LA (I live in Florida) to meet a group of people I didn't even know. They were worried that I'd meet up with some questionable people but I knew I could count on the folcs, and I wasn't disappointed. What a great time we all had that week. It's something I will never forget....thanks for the memories guys! Laurie Stroh ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 21:27:04 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: Tabloid Report, not fanfic related Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Our regular list is apparently down again, so at the request of some people I will post here... please forgive me if it is inappropriate, but I know it will be of interest to at least some of our members. Below is an article that may be of interest... it was found in the Starr, written by Jennifer Pearson... Country star Mindy McCready has given fiance Dean Cain his walking papers just one month before the super couple was set to walk down the aisle. the fallout came just two weeks ago after a final, big blowup over the wedding date. When Dean said he wanted to wait a little while longer to get married, sources say beautiful blonde mindy went balistic and told him he could wait forever. "Dean's been worrying about his career," says an insider. "His advisers told him it wasnt a good idea for him to turn into a country star." "They told him to hold off on getting married until he got some hot acting projects under way." Dean asked Mindy if they could postpone the wedding another year and she became furious. She said, "Well, you can forget the whole thing!" A friend revealed that it was frequent seperations that made Cain, 32, have second thoughts. TV's former Superman is self-described old-fashion guy who lives in Los-Angeles. Mindy, 22, whose country career is thriving, lives in Nashville. But even after Dean made room for her in his LA home, the relationship was far from smooth. "Dean and Mindy were going in different directions," says a friend. "There was a lot of conflict over Mindy's schedule and Dean's career. "They've broken up a few times before but they got back together. This time it's for good. "There were too many differences in thier personalities so they both agreed to call it quits. She's with a friend in Europe and Dean's in LA," adds the friend. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 21:30:41 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: marlene macdougall Subject: Re: Off Topic: A year ago tomorrow Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I too was at LAFF97 and I have to agree it was wonderful. I looked forward to it for months and it lived up to my expectations. I met some great folcs that I had only known from online or fic. I can't believe it was possible to have that much fun in such a short time. Ahhh... the memories :) Marlene (macdougm@cadvision.com) We must have courage, faith and chocolate! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 01:00:41 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: demona Subject: Re: Grammar Check This ;) In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 06:14 PM 8/7/1998 -0500, you wrote: >Demi, ol' buddy, that's what the delete key is for. >Personally, I've started skimming the posts myself "Awww...do I *have* to? Shucks!" Kathy you know I do too, it's just that decent unsuspecting folks were being decimated over... punctuation ;P... and you know me, I just think there's more to life *and* storytelling Well, that and I always feel better when the underdog isn't writhing in pain all alone. Some of the feircer 'technical-editors' I've met around here can be scary for a newbie. You know, before a person has had the time to grow their own set of sharp teeth. ;) >If this stuff doesn't >belong on a fanfic listserv, where it does belong? We have had several >other discussions about writing techniques, and I don't see this one as >being any less valid. I've actually found the discussions on writing more >interesting overall on this listserv than the discussions of the stories. >They certainly get a lot more in depth. Rut Roh. You're right. And I'm sorry. No, I am. Really. Where was my mind? What could possibly be more serious on a fanfic list than good grammar, in depth. I apologize for laughing in class ... no really, I didn't mean it when I was I mean...it wasn't funny at all. This is serious. I'm sorry teach! Please don't make me write: "I will not interrupt remedial grammar 101" on the board again ;) LOL >But that's just me; I wouldn't expect anyone else to feel the same way. >That's why listservs are interesting, because you have many different >opinions/preferences coming together. Absolutely :) I am bowing my head in shame, having been thoroughly chastised. Teeheehee! Ahem. Sorry. >Kathy (chant with me now, people ... if you are bored with a thread, start >another. ;)) Ok ;) How about... An infinitive, a participle and an adverb walk into a bar.. ;) Demi (All of this, of course, in no way detracts from the fact that I happen to believe KathyB is the goddess of all editors alive...she's had to edit for MY MESS after all, and that takes nothing less than the patience of a saint ;) _______________________________________________________ Demi (a.k.a) Demona or http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy/demona.htm --- L&C Site http://fantasia.simplenet.com/lcfantasy --- You gotta dance like nobody's watching, and love like it's never gonna hurt. --- I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. ________________________________________________________