Right from the beginning, I love the atmosphere of the story. The rhythms of speech are different and the slang is different, in particular, which just plunges you right into the time period. Too often I find myself squinting and overlooking modern language in period stories. (There's a reason I avoid writing period myself; I don't feel confident I can get the language down right.)
*grins* There were several points where we actually looked up the etymologies of words just to make sure that we could have a character saying "heckle" in the 1870s. We also did a lot of the dialogue aloud; I'm pretty sure that if I tried, I could still do the Doc voice, accent, cough, and all (the evil, insidious part was stopping the Doc voice).
And then we get Wyatt's first inkling of Doc--gossip. *grins* I love the gossip. Doc has a reputation, oh yes.
If we ever go back and complete this, one of the things we wanted to make a running theme was the difference between the stories that get told about people and the reality (hence the doubt about exactly who Doc had killed and where).
Once they actually meet--banter! *bounces happily* I knew what I read this "I could make myself irritating. I hear you’ve killed lots of men, or maybe just one man in a lot of places." that I was not going to be disappointed in the slightest. *g*
*grins* I'm glad you liked that one. I think it's my favorite line in the whole thing.
Wyatt's blindness to Doc's illness, right from the start, is a little heart-wrenching. I suppose it just didn't occur to him at first that is might be serious, but after that you can just tell he just can't even let himself think of the possibility.
Several chapters later on, Wyatt was finally going to get clued in to Doc's consumption (after he keels over and coughs up blood very melodramatically), and it was going to be massively angsty and tragic, and Wyatt was going to panic and run off to get married to Maddie Earp. Whereupon Doc would follow him to Tombstone because Doc kind of stalked him.
And the more I read of your Doc, the more I love him. He's perfectly in character! In the movie he has this weird charisma, and it totally comes through in the story. I love this little speech...
“From the first day you met, you’ve know that all you want is to spend the rest of your life at her side. She’s everything pure and noble that you will never be, and when she smiles at you it makes you feel like you’re worth something after all. And when she’s standing next to you, it’s easier to breathe.”
...and his chagrin at having made it later. *g*
Since I first saw Tombstone as a thirteen-year-old who grew up with asthma, Doc has totally been one of my heroes. Also, there may, in retrospect be a little bit of self-insertion in the falling-in-love-with-my-best-friend part, because this fic is essentially how seanchai and I met (well, actually, Horatio Hornblower and babbling about Magnificent Seven was how we met, but this was the first thing we worked on).
Doc's speech about how Wyatt makes it easier to breathe was our moment of pure Victorian melodrama. It was awesomely fun to write.
I would wish for more of this story, except I don't want to distract you from the Steve/Tony. *g*
I think they pretty much own our souls now, so no worries ^_^.
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Re: Gunslinger feedback
Date: 2007-12-20 05:43 am (UTC)Right from the beginning, I love the atmosphere of the story. The rhythms of speech are different and the slang is different, in particular, which just plunges you right into the time period. Too often I find myself squinting and overlooking modern language in period stories. (There's a reason I avoid writing period myself; I don't feel confident I can get the language down right.)
*grins* There were several points where we actually looked up the etymologies of words just to make sure that we could have a character saying "heckle" in the 1870s. We also did a lot of the dialogue aloud; I'm pretty sure that if I tried, I could still do the Doc voice, accent, cough, and all (the evil, insidious part was stopping the Doc voice).
And then we get Wyatt's first inkling of Doc--gossip. *grins* I love the gossip. Doc has a reputation, oh yes.
If we ever go back and complete this, one of the things we wanted to make a running theme was the difference between the stories that get told about people and the reality (hence the doubt about exactly who Doc had killed and where).
Once they actually meet--banter! *bounces happily* I knew what I read this "I could make myself irritating. I hear you’ve killed lots of men, or maybe just one man in a lot of places." that I was not going to be disappointed in the slightest. *g*
*grins* I'm glad you liked that one. I think it's my favorite line in the whole thing.
Wyatt's blindness to Doc's illness, right from the start, is a little heart-wrenching. I suppose it just didn't occur to him at first that is might be serious, but after that you can just tell he just can't even let himself think of the possibility.
Several chapters later on, Wyatt was finally going to get clued in to Doc's consumption (after he keels over and coughs up blood very melodramatically), and it was going to be massively angsty and tragic, and Wyatt was going to panic and run off to get married to Maddie Earp. Whereupon Doc would follow him to Tombstone because Doc kind of stalked him.
And the more I read of your Doc, the more I love him. He's perfectly in character! In the movie he has this weird charisma, and it totally comes through in the story. I love this little speech...
“From the first day you met, you’ve know that all you want is to spend the rest of your life at her side. She’s everything pure and noble that you will never be, and when she smiles at you it makes you feel like you’re worth something after all. And when she’s standing next to you, it’s easier to breathe.”
...and his chagrin at having made it later. *g*
Since I first saw Tombstone as a thirteen-year-old who grew up with asthma, Doc has totally been one of my heroes. Also, there may, in retrospect be a little bit of self-insertion in the falling-in-love-with-my-best-friend part, because this fic is essentially how
Doc's speech about how Wyatt makes it easier to breathe was our moment of pure Victorian melodrama. It was awesomely fun to write.
I would wish for more of this story, except I don't want to distract you from the Steve/Tony. *g*
I think they pretty much own our souls now, so no worries ^_^.