LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup - May 2014

[Tom Russell]

Quoth the Perron:

> 
> "So... in the past, Tom's written some really funny stuff - amazing
> 
> kneeslapper gags and character humor. But often - and I think Tom will
> 
> agree here - the humor was *mean*, a lot of it coming from characters
> 
> being inventively cruel to each other. This, however - this story is not
> 
> only less mean, but *more interesting* for it."

Well, with the Master Blaster stories-- which I just binge re-read the other day-- yes, they were definitely mean, mostly because of my interpretation of the character as a psychotic bully. Outside of stories featuring Master Blaster (and to a degree his foil WikiBoy), I don't think I tended towards meanness necessarily.

> "Like, Julie. Under many pens, the Julie/Max relationship would become
> 
> the absurdly stereotypical sitcom couple where he's dumb and she's
> 
> bitchy and hurr hurr hurr. In this case, though, while there are a few
> 
> moments where her lines feel like petty sniping, the majority of them
> 
> stay in the much more interesting realm of snappy patter, comebacks and
> 
> insults where the emphasis is on humor through cleverness rather than
> 
> cruelty. And this in turn makes it feel more like a relationship where
> 
> the participants care about each other and have learned and grown from
> 
> sharing their life, rather than a mislabeled issue of Doomed Romance."

I agree there. In regards to some lines feeling like petty sniping, well-- look what she has to put up with. :-)
 
> "Similarly, I quite like Tina's dialogue, especially since it feels much
> 
> like the style that a lesser writer would have automatically assigned to
> 
> the dude friend without thinking.

That's an interesting comment-- for me, Tina's "voice" and speech pattern is inherently feminine.

> And each of the four characters has a
> 
> unique relationship with each of the others - it isn't just dudes with
> 
> dudes, ladies with ladies, and people who want to kiss. Overall, it
> 
> feels pretty thoroughly person'd."

Thank you very kindly. It's a quality I put conscious effort into putting onto the page, and it is gratifying to have it noticed.
 
> "Actually, the only bit I have a problem with is the ending, where a
> 
> good gag - the ol' 'what's the worst that could happen?'/'WUXTRY WUXTRY
> 
> READ ALL ABOUT IT WORST THINGS HAPPEN' - goes on too long and ends up
> 
> feeling oddly disproportionate in its consequences."

"Oddly disproportionate" is what I was going for-- things snowballing like crazy. It also was meant as a bit of world-building/house-keeping-- setting up a new "big" conflict that will be a major story arc (Earth versus the Pulse Collective), and new status quos-- the Seven Wonders disbanded, Max and Julie no longer fabulously sheltered/rich, Fahrenheit Man joining the Daylighters (who have "appeared" once before, and are going to be a big deal in coming years/stories).

All that being said, you're quite right I think that all this undermines the gag aspect of it, and perhaps this story as a whole. In retrospect I probably could have and should have found a better way to wrap it up, and to set these little things in motion.

==Tom