...er, whut?

[burntcopper]

once again I managed to get a bunch of Torchwood readers with an 'augh, totally unexpected!' end line. (see Dinosaur) ...I thought it was fairly obvious and just amusing/standard trope end when it came to Dinosaur. And I got the 'bwhahahaha' comments again when I wasn't *meaning* to be funny, or at least was only going for a 'satisfying nod at end/vaguely enjoyable'.

:scratches head: perhaps my sense of humour detector when it comes to my own stuff is flat. And I'm too well-versed in 'shock' endings. Even though I'm normally one of those people who rarely gets the end of the detective story, or only vague inklings when the author dropped anvils early on.

Fandom : telling you you're funny when you didn't mean to be.

Comments

[erykah101.livejournal.com]

The last line does create a somewhat shocking juxtaposition.

It's not drop dead funny, but there's some good observational humour rising from her and Jack's characters that you've caught very nicely. You've captured her gradual acceptance of Jack and his way of doing things and the promise that acceptance might hold for future. And it's all delivered with a gentle, natural humour that makes the last line unexpected and actually shocking because all of that promise is cut dead in an instant.

You've managed to made a standard trope into a great ficlet! :)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

they're all going 'bwhahaha' at the post before this one. Which has an embedded reporter talking about getting a job observing Torchwood for reality tv/bbc wildlife, and then it turns out to be Janet the weevil. Hmm. Maybe it's the fact that I keep 'em short. Dinosaur I was blinking a lot because everyone *knew* what happened to Yvonne, and I could've sworn I've read fiction that uses a very similar pattern, like those codas you get at the end of biopics. I was going for 'slightly mournful' at the time, not 'crunch'.

In future, all fic will be like unto this. Lulling you into a false sense of security before cutting you dead with the last line.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Good fic! :) I've always liked Yvonne.

I wonder if it's something to do with the generally hyperbolic nature of feedback in fandom -- we tend to say stuff like "omg, shocked and stunned - you have actually killed me!!" in order to convey "that was a very effective use of [thing you used]."

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

huh. possibly. and it's short, so they read, giggle, and don't have to think much about a one-line piece of feedback. (why yes, I am the queen of 'hee!' as feedback. Or on occasion 'bunk. thataway. :flees:')