Sentire: Reaction Post
This is the place for any comments you'd like to make about the Sentire series as a whole. I really appreciate your feedback, and I welcome all comments, both positive and negative.
My initial notes, just bits and pieces in no particular order (and possibly completely unintelligble), are under the cut, and I will add to them as we go along.
1. When I ( Read more... )
My initial notes, just bits and pieces in no particular order (and possibly completely unintelligble), are under the cut, and I will add to them as we go along.
1. When I ( Read more... )
What made it feel like that to me was a combination of the build-up - it was obvious that he was setting out to do something and it felt as if it was in retaliation for the fact that she and Jack were so totally into lovemaking that she was barely aware of the Doctor's presence any more; the aftermath, when he just left (more on that later); and the reference to it not being intentional but he knew exactly what he'd done to her; and then, later, refusing to explain. You left us to draw the worst possible conclusions, of course, and that's why it felt like a violation, close to rape. Yes, I did feel strongly about it ;) That's why.
I preface everything I say here with the disclaimer that the reactions you are having are completely valid given what you had to work with - as you mentioned in the next section, there's probably going to be some some disconnect between what's in my head and what's on the screen, and if the majority of people react in a way I didn't intend, that's a problem with, if not my writing, then my storytelling.
So I think where my storytelling failed here is that I didn't intend for people to see malice in any of the Doctor's actions. Again, I now get why you and others *would* see that -- I just didn't mean to convey it. He physically moves his hand into Rose to remind him he's there out of jealousy; he leaves her because he's a big damn chicken (and I am oversimplifying); he admits to Jack that he knew what he did but also that he didn't mean to do it (and again, it didn't occur to me that one might not take him at his word here); and he doesn't tell her what happened in the bath for reasons I just added to the main post. None of these things were done out of a *desire* to hurt her, which to my mind is the where the line of violation vs. accident lies. (Although again, I really have no argument to back that up.)
All this by way of saying... I totally get where you're coming from, and I can see where my writing didn't reflect what I intended to convey. I tread too close to a very, very fuzzy line. :)
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And finally coming around to reply to this one: that is very difficult to do. Often, you can't address the issues readers have concerns about without revealing information you the characters aren't ready to reveal yet. So you, in effect, have to say 'trust me, all will be explained soon'. Been there, done that many a time.
I don't think anyone believed that the Doctor intended to hurt her; we just felt that he was too thoughtless, too much of a coward, too reluctant to explain, all of which left us with the impression that he wasn't doing enough to make up for what he did. Hurting her by accident: yeah, we can buy that. Running away and refusing to explain: that's where we start shouting at him ;)
Anyway, thank you again very much indeed for this opportunity to chat about the story! I've enjoyed it a lot.
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