A bit late to this discussion, but I had to drop my two cents.
Like I was telling Riv, I had some very mixed reactions to this story. There were things that I really loved about it and then there were things that ultimately left me a little confused.
I liked John in this story, though I did find him quite different to canon John, which I guess is fine because if characterization is to be fiddled with, an AU would be the place to do it. Rodney was the one I had a problem with. I just couldn't see what John's attraction to him was and where it came from. I don't know if that was intended as a peek into John not being able to make sense of the attraction himself, or if it was just the way Rodney was characterize, but it jolted me out of the fic a few times.
Because of that, I just wasn't feeling the connection I sometimes get when reading a story, and I took it to mean that, yeah, something was missing and not clicking for me. So, following from that, my problem was that the fic seemed universally loved, which made me wonder about my obviously subjective perceptions of the characters because clearly, I wasn't seeing the same thing as other readers.
Rodney has many facets, some more admirable than others and when I write about Rodney I have a very deep affection for his character. It's more than possible that this affection might cloud my perceptions and therefore affect the way I write/read/percieve him as a whole. I'm pretty sure that out of the four AU's I've written, someone out there probably thinks the characterizations are seriously whacked and for all I know, they might be write (I'd rather they weren't though).
I guess the way I see Rodney was ultimately very different from the one in this story and that kind of took away the enjoyment.
There's no doubt that Hindsight is a well-written, well structured, creative and enviable AU (though I think I would have preferred it without that last paragraph), but there was this one thing that took away from my enjoying it as much as I was at one point. I glimpsed the Rodney I liked a few times, but it wasn't enough.
I do appreciate it though for the fact that it made me question a lot of things about my own writing and fanon in general and I think any fic that challenges your thinking about something has something going for it.
no subject
Like I was telling Riv, I had some very mixed reactions to this story. There were things that I really loved about it and then there were things that ultimately left me a little confused.
I liked John in this story, though I did find him quite different to canon John, which I guess is fine because if characterization is to be fiddled with, an AU would be the place to do it. Rodney was the one I had a problem with. I just couldn't see what John's attraction to him was and where it came from. I don't know if that was intended as a peek into John not being able to make sense of the attraction himself, or if it was just the way Rodney was characterize, but it jolted me out of the fic a few times.
Because of that, I just wasn't feeling the connection I sometimes get when reading a story, and I took it to mean that, yeah, something was missing and not clicking for me. So, following from that, my problem was that the fic seemed universally loved, which made me wonder about my obviously subjective perceptions of the characters because clearly, I wasn't seeing the same thing as other readers.
Rodney has many facets, some more admirable than others and when I write about Rodney I have a very deep affection for his character. It's more than possible that this affection might cloud my perceptions and therefore affect the way I write/read/percieve him as a whole. I'm pretty sure that out of the four AU's I've written, someone out there probably thinks the characterizations are seriously whacked and for all I know, they might be write (I'd rather they weren't though).
I guess the way I see Rodney was ultimately very different from the one in this story and that kind of took away the enjoyment.
There's no doubt that Hindsight is a well-written, well structured, creative and enviable AU (though I think I would have preferred it without that last paragraph), but there was this one thing that took away from my enjoying it as much as I was at one point. I glimpsed the Rodney I liked a few times, but it wasn't enough.
I do appreciate it though for the fact that it made me question a lot of things about my own writing and fanon in general and I think any fic that challenges your thinking about something has something going for it.