Subject: [FFML] Re: [Cowboy Bebop][shortfic]Soul Bruise: Blue
From: "Miller, Bert" <Bert.Miller@unisys.com>
Date: 11/12/2001, 11:18 AM
To: "'Werness, Charles'" <st08@SJNMA.ORG>, "'ffml@anifics.com'" <ffml@anifics.com>

Nice, evocative short.

And VERY nice to see CB fanfic!


	I look to my right.  Jet is busy with his trees again.  
Should've guessed.  I walk the rest of the way to my room,
not caring that my bathrobe is open.  There's no one to
see, anyway.  There hasn't been anyone but Jet and I on
the Bebop since...that's why I'm so depressed today.  
Two years ago today Spike died, the damn fool.  

(Technical) You have a non-ASCII char following "since";
it shows as three dots in one char space on my mailer, which
is much to close together, but some people won't see dots
at all.

(Story) So at the end of the series, Ed and Ein really did
just leave and never come back, while Faye did.  Okay,
but did the crew never look for Ed/Ein?  Suggest finding
some way to mention where they are today, perhaps receipt
of email or vidmail.

I shuck off my bathrobe and reach for my clothes.  Spike.  
What a selfish bastard.  Going off and getting killed like
that.  If he weren't dead I'd kill him myself.  I stop
buttoning up the tight yellow top I prefer to wear.
Damnit, Spike. I loved you.  

(Suggest) Faye strikes me as worldly enough to be careful
with that word.  Possible alternatives:  "I cared for you."
or "I lov..., cared for you."

I'm not sure either of these would actually work better,
it's just that they seem more accurate to me, both as a
reflection of what Faye actually comes to feel during the
series, and of what she'd think she feels during the series.
OTOH, she's had two years to persuade herself that she
felt/feels more.

Another issue:  this is two years later, Spike is gone,
and Jet hasn't made a move on Faye?  The series suggests
that Jet has feelings for Faye.


I shake my head, determined not to cry again.  I've only 
really cried three times since I was thawed out - when
Whitney "Died," when Spike died, and on the one year
anniversary of Spike's death - and I'm not gonna 
do it again.  Not over Spike.  I've shed more tears over
that man than I should have.

Yep.  Too true.  And nice writing, I really do feel
something here.

(Technical) Try to avoid the smart quotes.  As above, not
all mailers will render them correctly.

Besides, how many times was he rude or mean to me?  Even
when he was coming to rescue me he was downright nasty.

Might say something about Faye that she can't resist a
man who treats her like that.


	I notice with not a little revulsion that I'm hugging 
my knees to my chest, my back to one of the corners in my
room, tears running down my face.

The word "revulsion" strikes me as a bit out of tune here;
suggest "I notice with no real surprise.." or, perhaps
better yet, two separate sentences:  "I notice that I'm
hugging..." followed by "I leap to my feet and wipe my
eyes with a quick, emphatic gesture; I am NOT going to cry
for that man!"


	Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from that.  
Because Spike couldn't let go of his past, it killed him.

Yep.


	Well, whatever the case, I know one thing: I will never 
let the past - anyone's past - get in the way of my happiness
again.
	I stand up and finish fastening the buttons on my top.  
Taking a few moments to compose myself, I walk out the door,
my new resolution fresh in my mind.

Problem, sort of, with the ending:  this doesn't strike me
as a "new resolution" at all.  The Faye we know already doesn't
let the past have much hold over her, certainly nothing like
Spike or Jet.  And, given that she's just finished crying,
we see no evidence that her "new resolution" means any more
than a resolution by Faye to give up gambling or shopping.


It's short, and it's strange, but tell me what you think,
anyway.  I'd really appreciate it.

Well, I like it, but perhaps more because it IS Bebop than
for the story itself.  If it were a Ranma story, I'm not sure
I'd give it a second glance.  OTOH, its theme wouldn't compel
nearly as much if it were a Ranma story.  Bebop is the
right series to write a story which meditates on how giving
the past too much due can kill you.

I'm not sure what to suggest.  I think the theme you're
trying for would work better for Jet, i.e. a first-person
story, told by Jet, mourning Spike, with the same resolution,
but perhaps where he finally decides that Spike's memory
won't hold him back from making a move on Faye any more.
That's a "resolution" which would actually change something.

OTOH, this wouldn't let you explore Faye's emotions nearly
as well, and that's perhaps the most moving part of your
writing.  For Faye, the story might work better with, say,
Ed (brought back) and Jet walking on eggshells around Faye,
who WON'T cry, and didn't at the one-year anniversay, but
needs to.  And the story ends with her finally breaking
down to cry, which the reader understands to be a healing
act:  now she'll be able to move on.

Hope all this rambling helps some.
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