Holy cowbells, more feedback! Thank you

Ressick - thanks again

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Grace - hi sweetie, thank you for your wonderful words, it's much appreciated. A dusty bookstore, eh? I have visions of those old shops over at Diagon Alley. This was a shorter fic, but I'm happy with they way it turned out, there was alot that was not shown but implied.

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beanie - hi and welcome! I'm so glad that Chris decided to host this fic, cos it's not exactly uber, but if it brings readers, I'm truly grateful. Thanks Chris!

Thanks for liking the story. The premise is quite new, though I freely admit not my own. I wasn't thinking about writing at all, but the minute I watched the film, I realized it was a perfect setting. It's the first Korean movie I've seen, my gf loves Korean dramas but I find them too tear-jerky.

I looked it up, here's the imdb entry, and if you have netflix, it's here. There will be a Hollywood remake with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, but I don't think it'll ever be as good as the original.

It's been more than 6 months since I finished this story. I've always maintained that this is not a story about time travel or magical interdimensional mailboxes. Stripped down to basics, it's the story about two people who meet under unusual circumstances, fall in love, then are granted the opportunity to finally meet in person and continue their lives together. The device of mailbox, receipts, what-nots, they're simply props. I'm very glad that of the feedback I get, there are very few that ask about the mechanics of the mailbox, cos ultimately, it doesn't matter.


If you're thinking sequel to Common Areas, then I'm afraid there are no plans for one at the moment. I did write a sort of continuation for Fic Challenge #3. I have entries in all 4 Fic Challenges.

Shameless self-promotion time. If you're looking for other stuff that I've written, here on the Kittenboard:

Lamplight
KittenRace
Coffee Moods

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you so much for your kind words!
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OK, Watty, so I've pulled it (whatever "it" may be) together and now I'm leaving feedback. I like to let these things simmer, doncha know...

Oh, where to start...

I loved your point in your last response: this isn't really about time-travel or magic; it's about meeting under unusual circumstances and finding a way to make it work. B/c let's face it: our girls could choose a much, much easier path. They had to want it, and want it bad, to go through everything they did. How many of us could truly say that we would do the same? Esp., I think, in Tara's case? For Willow, it was a span of a few months--excruciatingly uncertain months, and certainly when she heard that Tara had been shot, beyond excruciating. Tara, though, had the long-haul assignment. I wonder if that was part of why people seemed inclined at times (in fb) to jump on Willow's case. Or maybe they were just wanting to jump on Willow herself, which is also understandable.

I think, too, that the decision to play with the time-line held implications far more emotional than mystical. In time-travel stories there's always the backdrop directive: Don't mess with the time-line! Put the time-line down; you'll get it dirty! Mustn't play with the time-line! Yeah, OK, I'm all about responsible use of power and acting purposefully rather than rashly when presented with a unique situation--but what if the timeline led to Suckonia? That seems like the second great theme within your story, Watson, behind Love Takes Some Guts: Would we change the past if we could do so? Really? Isn't is safer, actually, knowing we can't b/c then we never have to make that decision? We say that everything that has happened has led us to this point and we wouldn't want to be cavalier in throwing that away or even altering it slightly--but does that reflect (a) our true feelings, (b) a reframing of the resignation that occasions the knowledge that we can't change things, or (c) a secret relief that we never have to decide? So our girls decide that if they want this, they have to bend the rules b/c let's face it, the rules kinda blow right now and are they adhering to those rules b/c they really believe in them or b/c Mommy and Star Trek always told us to?

Ah, but even then it gets tricky: Tara got shot b/c Willow asked her to play with the timeline: "Go back and talk to me as the person I now know you to be." She wouldn't have been near the Espresso Pump had Willow not made her request--or would she? Had she stopped going b/c it was too painful to see her? Had Willow not made the request, would Tara have gone on with her daily pilgrimmages? Or would she have initiated the separation anyway, even w/o Willow's request? She seemed to be leaning that way.

My head hurts.

There were a number of moments that I thought were truly inspired, and that allowed you to move things along in a reasonable way. In the beginning, e.g., there was some initial concern on Willow's part that Tara was jerking her around with the date thing. When Tara referenced 9/11, it bumped things to a more immediately intimate level, as that event eclipsed just about everything else in this country. It makes sense that Willow would be able to get closer to Tara's essence with that as background.

You also provided timelines in a very smooth way, such that the reader was able to follow events w/o feeling as though the God of Exposition was some brutish fellow, smacking us up-side the head with "This Is What Has Happened to Date." I thought that doing that in Part 5, after the Espresso Pump miss) was an especially good use of that.

Emotionally? Ah, Watty...you tapped so many chords, 'twas a veritable string symphony. Two episodes stand out in particularly bold relief. (That relief is a bold chap, isn't he?) First of all, Tara's letter to Willow, in which she agreed to talk to W's earlier self, simply broke my heart. It was poignant, it was brave, it was--above all--loving. She gave voice to what many of us had worried about for awhile: how can this possibly happen? Willow's moving ahead in 2004; Tara, in 2001.

The second was Willow's discovery that Tara had been shot. Oh god, that awful, claustrophobic feeling that her world had collapsed, there was no more air in the room, there just couldn't be...So evocative, Watty. Really well-done. And her race to the mailbox, writing on something, anything, to get the message across. And did she anchor it enough? Would it blow away in the wind? Those questions are such powerful examples of the myriad ruminations we subject ourselves to when we reflect on our choices. Should I sign it "Love," or "Peace"? Do I send it priority, or regular mail. Do I take this longer route b/c there's less traffic and it'll be prettier, or shoot there directly? Each one, with its own implications and consequences.

So...I've left a tome, and a tome did you inspire. I apologize for the delay, but please believe that it was in no way a reflection on the story itself. Thanks for sharing this with us, Watty. It was a great and moving ride.

Mary

I don't hang out much here, so I don't know if this has already been mentioned... the new Sandra Bullock movie is pretty close in plotline to this story. (And I know this story was here first! lol)

Just thought I'd mention that and see if anyone else had hard anything about the movie and saw glaring similarities.

Yeah, I saw that movie recently. I was sitting there as the credits started and notice it was based on something that osunded familiar. As the story went on, I was like... "Hey! I know that story!"

After I realized what was happening, I kept trying to picture what hidden Watty (may I can you Watty??) had written. While I liked the movie, I was very distracted trying to picture our girls on screen instead of Sandra and Keanu (nothing personal against either of them, BTW).

CSpotGo -- hi there. If you noticed the disclaimer I mentioned that the story is inspired by and adapted from a Korean film called Il Mare by director Lee Hyun-Seung. This is the original film that is the basis of the 2006 Americanized version.


WIllow~Rosenberg -- of course watty is fine.

I do that with books as well as films, my mind is constantly thinking about how the story can be adapted into a W/T fic. "Professional" hazard I suppose.


An anonymous kitten left a question on my LJ regarding whether I will see "The Lake House." The answer is yes I will, but it's not showing where I live yet. If it's still showing when I visit the US in 4 weeks' time, I'll go see it then.
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The Mrs. and I went to see The Lake House yesterday. I was somewhat cautious after having read and loved this story so much. But R really wanted to see it. And I do like Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

And I will say that I was very pleasantly surprised. Both actors were very fine in their roles and the filmmakers did a very good job of telling the story through the letters but superimposing them onto each other so that it seemed at times as if they were merely talking to themselves but then being answered by the other correspondent. At other times, the filmmaker superimposed them into the same setting so that they seemed to be together although they weren’t.

One of the things I was impressed about was the film’s avoidance of any time-space-continuum
Questions. The viewer could certainly engage in that conversation but they avoided having the characters going “but if you hadn’t … then I wouldn’t have… but then you wouldn’t have …” I don’t think that the ending of the film was the same as the original because I think you had mentioned how the original ends. I’ll find out soon though because we’re getting it this week from Netflix.

Anyway, it was really interesting to see that movie after having read this story. Thanks.

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Hey Elvis! I'm hoping I'd get a chance to see the film this weekend in Chicago, since it hasn't come out yet at home. I'll be on a special lookout for the "being in the same space" scenes, I'm thinking they're more effective on screen than in written form because the director can put in different lighting and backgrounds.

I changed / extended the ending in the story too. Again I'll be interested to see how this film ends compared with the original.

Re: avoidance of space-time continuum -- I agree, they never really went into why the mailbox worked that way, what was its purpose and why these two people in particular. Definitely not a Scooby way of viewing the world, which suited me fine cos I didn't want to delve into those either.

Thanks for sharing. Let me know what you think of the original film?
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Also, the sound track on The Lake House was great. Very fitting but not overwhelming. I'm pretty sure I heard one new (Sir) Paul McCartney song during and one in the credits.

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Good story, watty. I read this back when some of your fans were talking it up all over the board, since the movie was soon to be coming out. I'm horrible at leaving feedback, so, I'm just going to tell you that it was an enjoyable read and I'm glad you wrote it.

Now, I'll have to eventually rent the Sandra and Keanu movie and try to watch it and think how Willow and Tara would have played on the big screen.

LOL Kathy, my "fans"? Now you're making me blush and want to hide.

Thanks for reading! It was the first film that actually made me think of how it could fit into a W/T fic. Now it's almost second nature to me, that I'd watch a film or read a book and I try to "fanfic" it.

The Reeves/Bullock film certainly has put some focus back on this story, although I reserve judgement on whether the American version is better from the original, or perhaps just different. If you get a chance, you could rent the original Korean version, I saw it on netflix.
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Hey Watty,
Last night we watched Il Mare. To the intense surprise of both myself and Mrs. SkipIt, we liked the new version much much better than the old. While the basic premise was the same, we felt like the old version left too much unsaid. There were too many questions: who were these people? Why was his relationship with his father important? Why did EITHER of them leave the house. We found the ending to be ... unimpressive and unfulfilling, again leaving too many questions. One of mine:



Then we felt like that ending left too many quesitons concerning the time-space continuium:

I felt that the new version actually tied up the loose ends in a much more fulfilling way. Understand, I would still recommend the movie to a friend but I'd recommend the new one more readily.

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Watched the Lake house last weekend and I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked it. They accounted for why the Sandra Bullock (Willow in CA) character returned to the mailbox to collect that first letter really well. And they had a very satisfying (or like Debra said, fulfilling) ending. So much so that I wish I'd thought of it.

I agree with Debra that the ending of Il Mare didn't make sense, because it invalidates the entire story. I was never satisfied with it, myself. Thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that Il Mare had better atmosphere and the Lake House had better story. Then again, what's the point of comparing?
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Hello Watson,

I was really glad to fall upon your fic during my reading spree of this week-end and I should also thank Sami for having recommended the story to me. It's beautifully written...This focus on love and the necessity not to alter states of consciousness stimulated something powerful within me. As mentioned by someone before, there was congruity throughout and I became very happy by the way their meeting took place with safeness and predictability coming up. Tara’s experience of having waited three years before the final reunification with Willow with a love that has remained intact is heartwarming.

Thank you,
Vi'