Subject: Answer. (nm)
Author:
Posted on: 2011-10-10 21:54:00 UTC
-
Ardo and Noir tackle their first mission! by
on 2011-10-04 19:22:00 UTC
Reply
You heard right!
Follow the new Agents Ardo and Noir together with seasoned Agent Nathan as they take on the fearsome daughter of Gregory House in the House, M.D. badfic "Samantha House"!
The mission: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1lrwylbZw64szAdKvnRPPo9asbhfvj4AJsXvxyO7Dig0 (39 pages, warning: contains some language)
The fic: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3753632/1/Samantha_House
Rescues: Iris the Eldritch Eye (claimed by Ardo), Luna and Andy Priestly (currently in FicPsych, free NPCs after therapy)
Minis: Forman the Mini-Cane
Loot: two (2) hacker goggles (claimed by Ardo and Nathan), one (1) pushcart, one (1) soapbox, a pile of denium overalls (sent to DoSAT for further research)
Also, huge thanks again to July for beta-ing this! -
Review! by
on 2011-10-10 19:37:00 UTC
Reply
I would've responded sooner, but I wanted to make a proper review of it, since it's such a long piece. I'm addressing it to a singular "you," but please interpret as necessary according to who did what bits.
First, that fic was definitely mission-worthy, so good choice of target. I really like House, at least the earlier seasons. I also like bizarre medical mysteries, and I like to think I know a bit more about that sort of thing than the average person, but I STILL wouldn't try writing a House fic. (I have considered a crossover that gets House in the same room with Robin Cook's medical examiner characters, though, because it would be fun to watch House and Jack Stapleton butt heads, but I digress.) And then, canon subject material aside, to not even really include the canon characters at all? Argh. I almost wish I could have sporked it myself. Nume would've had a field day. {= P
Second, the concrit. There are a few specific mechanical things I noticed that could use work:
1. Sentence structure. Not so much later on, but the very first sentence in particular is a bit long and hard to follow, and it uses the "as" convention, which is a pet peeve of mine ever since "The Girl and Her Dragon." *shudders* In that particular case, I'd say drop the "as" and just make the next bit a new sentence: "[Noir] was sitting on the floor playing Solitaire," etc.
2. Dialogue tags. It isn't possible to "gesture" a sentence unless the character is using sign language, and I never got that impression of any of the three. {= ) Similarly, shrugging, nodding, or smiling speech is physically impossible. You can still use them, but as actions after a terminal period in the dialogue. So, for example:
WRONG: "Sure, go nuts. …Not literally, of course," Noir shrugged as he . . .
RIGHT: "Sure, go nuts. …Not literally, of course." Noir shrugged as he . . .
Also, it is okay to use "he said." It's one of those things readers tend to be blind to, so repeating it isn't really an issue, and I got the impression you were trying to use anything but. The trouble is, words like "uttered" are unusual and attract attention, especially if they come up more than once (I counted five). They should generally be reserved only for times you really mean it; in the case of "uttered," when a character is having to make a physical effort to speak for some reason. "Uttered in surprise" is good; not so much when "he uttered" a comment about the charge list.
3. "Plopped." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. (I suspect you were going for "popped," as in "popped into existence.")
4. Just another quick correction—people can just discuss things. They don't need to discuss about them. They can talk about them, though.
Okay, so much for mechanical stuff. Now, content. I was a bit confused about some of your choices. For instance, the randomly-appearing girl. She only turned up twice, didn't really do anything, and was never explained. I think July mentioned that she worked with you on taking out a fourth agent, so did those couple of spots get missed in the clean-up, perhaps?
I'm also not sure about the whole thing with the RA. For one, I feel like not having a way to get out of the fic and back to HQ should have caused a lot more concern than it did. I saw some of that from Noir toward the end, which was great, but I would have liked a lot more from all of them, maybe some scrambling to think of an alternative, or a way to at least contact HQ, or something.
The fact that they ended up having it all along kinda makes me wonder if having it "missing" just added unnecessarily to the length the mission. The parts with the flashbacks and disclaimers in particular felt slow to me, especially since the agents themselves commented about how pointless they were. I imagine they could have been skipped.
And that's that! Now, the good stuff, because there definitely was good stuff. Like I said, I really enjoyed the end, where everyone was split up and Noir was faced with his demons. It might have happened sooner than you wanted, but it has definitely gotten me interested in his character. The hints about what kind of world he came from were good, too. It's like a puzzle where all the pieces are hidden, and you have to find them before you can put them together. ^^
I'm also keen to see how Ardo handles the role of CAD, though I tend to agree it's probably healthiest for everyone to rely on the devices when possible. Still, given that how Sues describe themselves and how they really behave is often so different, I can see his empathy opening an interesting window into that discrepancy. Too bad he can't use Bleeprin, though, for his sake. I guess Suebuprofen wouldn't be any better, either, since it has the same effect.
Iris is awesome. You got the creepiness across nicely, and I don't envy Noir having to put up with it. >.
The Junior reference was good imagery, too, at least for me. Not pleasant, of course, but well done.
I'm sorry if I don't say much about Nathan, but he was really just along for the ride, and he did fulfill his role as guide appropriately. (I do note that Nathan "said" things, though, so that's good. ^~ )
Oh, and the Technus bit! That was really well done. It was a nice obstacle, and a nice action sequence, and the resolution was brilliant. Chekhov's ipod, that's a new one. I liked the dialogue between Nathan and Noir afterward, too. Seriously, Noir, I know not everyone can think of witty one-liners, but ouch. I hope he never gets better, either. ^_^
Anything more is just gonna be nattering, so I think we're done here. Congrats on the first mission, Flare! {= D
~Neshomeh -
Answer. (nm) by
on 2011-10-10 21:54:00 UTC
Reply
-
I hate my touchpad. by
on 2011-10-10 21:57:00 UTC
Reply
Okay, this was supposed to be in that post above this one.
About the unknown girl: Her role was bigger, story-hogging big, so to say, I'm afraid. Still, there's stuff up with her. I haven't talked to Flare about it yet, but from my side, unknown girl is going to appear more often. I think we kinda overdid it with the cuts. -
Okay. by
on 2011-10-10 22:53:00 UTC
Reply
Still, if you didn't have room to get into it, it probably would have been better just to introduce her another time, especially if she's not going to be a feature in Flare's spin-off, since this was Flare's pilot episode. As is, I don't think her appearances add anything to this mission (except confusion).
Cuts aren't a bad thing. Rule #1 of editing is "omit needless words," after all—or, as Stephen King puts it, "kill your darlings." Even the best sentence/paragraph/character/whatever that you've ever written needs to be cut if it doesn't serve the story. The good news is you can always find a place for it later if you keep writing. {= )
~Neshomeh -
Good job. by
on 2011-10-07 15:30:00 UTC
Reply
The two of you did a good job! Looks good, definitely funny. The literalisms in this fic stood out the best, and Ardo was pretty well done. You're off to a great start, Flare.
-
Excellent debut! by
on 2011-10-04 22:28:00 UTC
Reply
Sweet baby Rassilon, that fic sounded awful. I'm sorry you or your agents had to go through that.
Still, excellent mission! And EEEEE ARDO IS SO ADORABLE. He and Noir work great together - I'll be looking forward to seeing more with them! Great job! -
My god, the badness! by
on 2011-10-04 21:46:00 UTC
Reply
Wow, that was a bad fic. Also, this author needs to be checked: if she's using autisim like THAT, then she's not getting herself any fans from MY end of the spectrum.
Anyway, awesome mission, Flare! It was absolutely hilarious, and had a lot of stuff going on. I can't wait to see what you do with these agents!
Also, don't forget to update the Wiki.
Great job!