FIC COMMENTARY - A Dream That Could Not Last

[jlh]

Last spring I wrote an American Idol historical AU set in London during the early days of World War II, A Dream That Could Not Last. I'd been holding off on posting the commentary while waiting for a few things that unfortunately have been delayed, and given that historical AU's in general and American Idol historical AU's in particular are the

Comments

[amyamy]

This, along with all your historical notes from the fic, is really interesting. I'd known that you were downplaying the integration aspects, but hadn't known how much of the gendered stuff was accurate and how much was artistic license.

And I'm always interested in hearing more about how you write and what you think, so gods know I'd be interested in the DVD style commentary.

[jlh]

Thank you! Maybe I will, on a day when I feel a little more self indulgent!

[jenncho]

I loved this story so very much and was really excited about reading your commentary for it. It really enhanced my love for the story... if that's possible lol.

Your AUs are the best I've read in any fandom. Regardless of the things you fudged, which were really interesting to read about, there wasn't a single moment that took me out of the story.

[jlh]

Thank you so much! I'm really flattered to hear you say that! Your support means so much, especially for this story!

[empath89]

Wow. That was amazing!!!

First, the plot. So good. The idea of setting a story during wartime is perfect. It shows what people are truly like and make people change their opinions, like kat eventually seeing that love is important and people should not be hated for that. The amount of research that went into this is phenomenal. The things that were altered can be overlooked because they're not big enough to care. Honestly, the plot is detailed and thought out.

Secondly, the characters. They were altered enough that had you changed their names, they could have been great original characters. But they retained enough characteristics that we, as fans of ai, recognized them. You mademe love characters that I never cared for as ai contestants, like kat, care about pairings that I never thought about, like Amanda/Carly, and reminded me why I loved certain contestants, like ace.

All in all, amazing. I loved every aspect of it!!!

[jlh]

The research was actually the fun part-it's what makes writing historical AU's enjoyable, to try to get the real feel of what it was like to live then and what choices the people we're familiar with might have made. It's great that you found the characters recognizable! And it's always awesome when people get into a different pairing-it's the best part of writing ensemble fic.

I'm so pleased you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for this lovely review!