LOL

[skull_bearer]

That film's only been out three days and already Past Tense is being pelted with faves on ff.net.

I guess I'm finally going to write Present Perfect. It'll keep me rolling until I finish editing AIoM.

Comments

[thedogstarlives.livejournal.com]

Since this is the most recent post in which you mention Past Tense, I felt it was most appropriate to leave a comment here. Sorry if this is a bother!

I just read Past Tense yesterday, and forgive me if the rest of this comment is incoherent flailing, because oh my god. That was quite literally the most emotionally draining fic I've ever read, and I've been reading fic for ten years. I had to stop twice just to give myself time to process all the things I was feeling. Throughout the whole thing, I never stopped feeling afraid for Charles and Erik, not even at the end, and I think that's such a testament to your writing, that you were able to weave the ever-present terror of their lives into even their happiest moments. I also feel like I got a much better understanding of what the Holocaust was like -- obviously I will never even come close to getting it, as cushy as my life is, but as some whose main way of connecting with the world is through the written word, this fic got through to me what so many pictures and videos never really did. I'm not sure if you've seen Band of Brothers, but there's a scene in the ninth episode where they find a concentration camp, and while I was always moved by it, I also felt removed from it, I couldn't connect with it. I connected with Past Tense.

I read a few of your entries, and in the comments of one you mentioned being dissatisfied with the historical accuracy of the fic, and I was wondering what specifically you feel like you got wrong? I know a little more than the average person about World War II, but that's just in terms of what I've learned from Band of Brothers and the History Channel. The Holocaust specifically is where my knowledge fails me.

Also, this is completely shameless but please, please do write Present Perfect. I might have made a horribly distressed sound when I looked through your fanfiction.net account and saw that the promised sequel wasn't there.

[skull-bearer.livejournal.com]

It's a little hard for me to be objective about Past Tense, because after that plot bunny bit me, I started doing the research necessary to write it, and didn't stop, even after I'd written the damn thing. The subject was the most incredible I'd ever seen and now five years later and thousands of pounds spent on books and field trips, I've managed to get into an MA on the subject.

So I guess the reason I'm annoyed with it is that I'm tryign to study the Holocaust professionally, so I'm constantly nit-picking over really dumb slip-ups I made when I'd only done six months' research.

For some examples: Erik and Charles would not have had anything to do with Josef Mengele's experiements, because there were in the wrong part of the camps (I'm thinking of re-writing that with Shaw instead). They would not have arrived directly in Birkenau from the train because the ramp wasn't built until '44. I got the geography of Birkenau totally wrong (I hadn't been there when I first wrote Past Tense). It is pretty unlikely there would have been a train from Belsen since the place was in lock-down due to the Typus epidemic. Stuff like that and I've always been disatisfied with how I get Charles in that position in the first place.

Oh well, we're always our own worst critics ;) Thank you for the lovely review anyway.