This, believe it or not, is a ficlet project story. The last ficlet requestor, brewsternorth, pooled hir request with ansketil_rose and
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It's hard to list all the things I liked, so here are some: the beginning and end in the same bed, the recurring motif of apple trees, Tintin only gradually realising what they feel for each other.
Thank you! Both the same bed thing and the apple trees kind of crept up on me--I remember thinking at one point, "Wait, when did apple trees become a motif?"
Thank you so much! I was concerned that the narrative might be too fragmented, especially since it's so dependent on context (sometimes literally taking place between panels of the comic); it's good to hear that it worked for you. And another of the big challenges was giving Tintin a voice and an inner life, so again, yay!
I only have vague memories of Tintin (am I wrong in thinking the canon stuff is occasionally anti-Semitic?) but I love your writing, and I am so glad I read this story.Love (and envy) the way you make them "sound French" without having them say as much as bonjour - expressions like "a guest is like a fish, after three days it stinks" and "have you got St Vitus' dance?"
I also like the way the Captain does NOT stop drinking. No easy solutions there.
And YES, the stream-of-consciousness almost but not quite bursting out, Tintin's "too well-behaved" to howl.
The canon is occasionally anti-semitic and racist (more often the latter than the former); the earlier comics are far worse on this score than the later ones, although Hergé never entirely gets past the racism even as the comics' politics become more leftist.
the way you make them "sound French"
Oooh, this fills me with delight! I really wanted to capture as much of the tone of the French original as I could (such as Tintin's correct and slightly formal speech) and at least not to make them sound exactly English or American. It's tricky working from one language to another, as I'm sure you're very aware.
I also like the way the Captain does NOT stop drinkingHe does keep drinking in canon until A Spoiler happens, but after the Moon books his drinking isn't usually so disastrous in its consequences. My take is that he finds his alcoholism more manageable once he's settled with Tintin (in canon they do start living together at this point) and thus happier
( ... )
This story owes so much to you and all the discussions we've had about Tintin. For me there's a pretty direct link between discussion and fic: discussion generates ideas which generate stories. Our talks about Tintin and now Colditz are making me a happy fan!
So I'm especially glad that this is the kind of story you'd wished someone would write.
he moves from a boy trying to be a hero, on his own
That movement away from innocence, which also involves calling innocence into question as a moral good, is the main thing I was trying to do in the story. Tintin's heroism, while real, is in a kind of childlike mode that's all about perfection, and on that level I see it as tied in to his lack of emotional connection in the early books as well as his apparent lack of sexuality. He wants to be Sir Galahad, essentially, but you can't live in the real world with other people who have real feelings and be Sir Galahad.
His blindness in the scene with the backrubI had such fun writing that. I wanted to subvert the "magical
( ... )
I've seen that picture about - I love how happy they both look in it *g*
Came and read and story again *happysigh* SO GOOD *g* And I love discussion too (um, this is probably obvious! *g*) and the cross-pollination of ideas and thinking about aspects of canon that otherwise one wouldn't - for example, to me, coming to Tintin age 7 or so, Tintin was an adult; he had a flat, could drive a car, shoot a gun etc so although he's called a 'boy' in canon I never really dwell in my head about the age difference or even potential underage element, but that's there and that's important.
Tintin's heroism, while real, is in a kind of childlike mode that's all about perfection, and on that level I see it as tied in to his lack of emotional connection in the early books as well as his apparent lack of sexuality. He wants to be Sir Galahad, essentially, but you can't live in the real world with other people who have real feelings and be Sir Galahad.I love the way you explore this througout the whole fic, the maturity (and in sense, the loss of
( ... )
as Tintin sees that he'd sacrifice other people for Haddock, that he'd trade moral scruples for Haddock
Yeah, that's a pretty crucial moment. I keep thinking about how Tintin's insistence on sparing Jorgan and Wolff would have resulted in the deaths of everyone in the rocket. It's only Wolff accidentally shooting Jorgen, and then Wolff deciding to kill himself, that saves the others. It's a situation where there is no good answer, and Tintin wouldn't be Tintin if he could just coldbloodedly leave them to die on the moon, but that doesn't mean he's right or that his scruples wouldn't have cost other lives. I wanted to suggest a kind of parallel (definitely not a straightforward or absolute one) with the way Tintin's boyish innocence has been hurting Haddock all along. It's not a culpable thing at all, but it's still a way in which other people pay for Tintin's purity. (I wonder, too, about all those times the villain got away to do more wickedness because Tintin was scrupulous . . .)
I love that you subverted the magical backrub
( ... )
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I also like the way the Captain does NOT stop drinking. No easy solutions there.
And YES, the stream-of-consciousness almost but not quite bursting out, Tintin's "too well-behaved" to howl.
Great stuff.
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the way you make them "sound French"
Oooh, this fills me with delight! I really wanted to capture as much of the tone of the French original as I could (such as Tintin's correct and slightly formal speech) and at least not to make them sound exactly English or American. It's tricky working from one language to another, as I'm sure you're very aware.
I also like the way the Captain does NOT stop drinkingHe does keep drinking in canon until A Spoiler happens, but after the Moon books his drinking isn't usually so disastrous in its consequences. My take is that he finds his alcoholism more manageable once he's settled with Tintin (in canon they do start living together at this point) and thus happier ( ... )
Reply
Reply
This story owes so much to you and all the discussions we've had about Tintin. For me there's a pretty direct link between discussion and fic: discussion generates ideas which generate stories. Our talks about Tintin and now Colditz are making me a happy fan!
So I'm especially glad that this is the kind of story you'd wished someone would write.
he moves from a boy trying to be a hero, on his own
That movement away from innocence, which also involves calling innocence into question as a moral good, is the main thing I was trying to do in the story. Tintin's heroism, while real, is in a kind of childlike mode that's all about perfection, and on that level I see it as tied in to his lack of emotional connection in the early books as well as his apparent lack of sexuality. He wants to be Sir Galahad, essentially, but you can't live in the real world with other people who have real feelings and be Sir Galahad.
His blindness in the scene with the backrubI had such fun writing that. I wanted to subvert the "magical ( ... )
Reply
Came and read and story again *happysigh* SO GOOD *g* And I love discussion too (um, this is probably obvious! *g*) and the cross-pollination of ideas and thinking about aspects of canon that otherwise one wouldn't - for example, to me, coming to Tintin age 7 or so, Tintin was an adult; he had a flat, could drive a car, shoot a gun etc so although he's called a 'boy' in canon I never really dwell in my head about the age difference or even potential underage element, but that's there and that's important.
Tintin's heroism, while real, is in a kind of childlike mode that's all about perfection, and on that level I see it as tied in to his lack of emotional connection in the early books as well as his apparent lack of sexuality. He wants to be Sir Galahad, essentially, but you can't live in the real world with other people who have real feelings and be Sir Galahad.I love the way you explore this througout the whole fic, the maturity (and in sense, the loss of ( ... )
Reply
Yeah, that's a pretty crucial moment. I keep thinking about how Tintin's insistence on sparing Jorgan and Wolff would have resulted in the deaths of everyone in the rocket. It's only Wolff accidentally shooting Jorgen, and then Wolff deciding to kill himself, that saves the others. It's a situation where there is no good answer, and Tintin wouldn't be Tintin if he could just coldbloodedly leave them to die on the moon, but that doesn't mean he's right or that his scruples wouldn't have cost other lives. I wanted to suggest a kind of parallel (definitely not a straightforward or absolute one) with the way Tintin's boyish innocence has been hurting Haddock all along. It's not a culpable thing at all, but it's still a way in which other people pay for Tintin's purity. (I wonder, too, about all those times the villain got away to do more wickedness because Tintin was scrupulous . . .)
I love that you subverted the magical backrub ( ... )
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