Summer Bay High (by Skykat) - comments

[Red Ranger 1]

I enjoyed the update, it was really well-written.I loved the little flashback and Will reflecting on how much things had changed for them.I haven't read all this story but I promise I will some time, when I've got a spare...day.

[I love music]

Thanks for your lovely comment, Red Ranger 1. You'd need more than a spare day, you'd need a spare...month...

Re Somebody Else Well, you took that last chapter very seriously then!!!! Think outside the box.

[I love music]

Who keeps reading this? Every time I check the view count has gone up and up and up but very few people comment...

Ah, well, going offline soon but for the mystery people still reading, you'll be pleased to know that I have done quite a bit of work on the next chapter. Not sure if it's any good as I broke off for quite a while to write a non-H&A story and I'm trying to draw all the storylines here to a close. It's been really difficult to write tho as I seem to have left almost everyone in dire circumstances (Will lost in the Ancient Path/Whitelady Woods; Barry almost drowned; Martha and Kane trapped on an island; Irene trapped by a wooden beam...) Serves me right for trying to be clever...

Anyway, thanks for reading, mystery people, and I'll get back to you soon!

Edited February 21, 2010 by I love music

[Red Ranger 1]

Hey, ILM!Just to let you know, I've been reading this story a page or chapter a day, whichever's longest, and I'm up to page 38 so almost there.Probably leave a longer comment when I've finally got through it all but don't worry about the lack of comments, there's an awful lot of people who read fiction on this site and would never even think of commenting on it, sometimes you even get non-members checking stuff out, and I for one am definitely hoping you finish this story!

[Red Ranger 1]

Finally finished it!Well, finished all that there is anyway.Having worked my way through nearly three and a half years of posts, I think the lack of recent comments is down to the length, both the amount of time it's taken to write and how long it is.I think BTTB has a fairly high turnover of members, as people drift away from the show and the forum as their favourite characters leave or they lose interest for some other reason, and people that were reading this fiction to start with probably don't post on here anymore while newer members probably ran scared at the 40+ pages.It's a fiction that you really have to concentrate on to keep track of everything(I actually gave up trying to work out the order in which things happened at an early stage and just soaked up the mood).I tried reading the later chapters as you posted them but it felt like a different story every chapter:You read about a certain set of characters and then it's five chapters and as many months before you see them again.I suspect a lot of new readers did the same and thought the same as I did, "This is really well-written but what's it all about?"(I also suspect that, coming across a story featuring characters last seen up to eight years ago, some people went "Who are Will and Gypsy?")

My opinion of the flashbacks seemed to veer back and forth as I went along.Sometimes I felt they were a meaningful insight into the characters' pasts that helped us understand them, other times I felt they'd taken over the story a bit too much and nothing was happening in the present day.I find it interesting how some characters' pasts are identical or similar to the show(Barry and Kim, Kit, Cassie) while others are entirely your invention(Irene, the Smiths, Gypsy)and others you take an aspect of the show but give it your own twist(Noah, Jack).

I'm loving all the unusual pairings you've got going on here, often between characters who never even met on the show:Martha/Kane, Jack/Gypsy and, of course, Noah/Kit, one of the show's great wasted opportunities.Kim and Cassie...I can see that they would be good together, they're both similar personality types, but it feels a bit like it's being stressed too much, that they're being written as soul mates when we've only seen them speak once.But I'm really looking forward to seeing where you take it, I even find myself hoping something horrible happens to Will so Gypsy can stay with Jack rather than ending up with the more conventional pairings.

I realise I've been a bit critical but I know you'd be just as brutal with my work.I have really enjoyed this story and I really hope that you finish it because I want to know how it all pans out for the characters.

[I love music]

I realise I've been a bit critical but I know you'd be just as brutal with my work.I have really enjoyed this story and I really hope that you finish it because I want to know how it all pans out for the characters.

No, actually, it's lovely to get an honest opinion. I think the main problem is that there are way too many characters (each with their own set of problems! ) which is why I wrote Dani out a while back; I had every intention of writing Noah/Kit out but there was a regular reader (since disappeared about 6 monts/a year ago) who was a huge Noah/Kit fan so I kept them in for her sake; I wanted to write Barry out and maybe even Irene but there was quite a faithful Barry/Irene following at one stage and, anyway, I got very interested in writing Irene's childhood... I was never particularly keen on writing about Kim either, he just had to be in because of Barry.

Kat (Skykat) began the story and wanted it to be about matching up different couples; when she asked me to take over I wanted it to be about friendships being more important than who's going out with who. The flashbacks just happened because most of the time I didn't have a clue what was going to happen next so was buying time! It IS way too long and it's definitely not the best fanfic I've written (Sally Called! takes that title )

Thanks for your review. It's really nice of you to take the time to review so many stories on here. I really wish had time to read/review and write more but maybe in the future...

[Red Ranger 1]

Wow.Seriously, wow.That was completely unexpected.I thought Cassie and Hayley would be almost literally the last people to tell each other the secrets they've been hanging onto all story and yet you made it feel exactly right, the way it almost spilled out without them meaning to.Smiled at Hayley's reaction to Cassie's "green or purple" comment.And then the cliffhanger ending, which I really wasn't expecting at all...

[Red Ranger 1]

Liked the conversation between Gypsy and Megan, like Megan said it hinted at a lot without giving anything away.The ending caught me completely by surprise, again.Who is that?And does he have something to do with the fire?

[Red Ranger 1]

Okay, wasn't expecting that.The backstory for Eleanor was interesting although the cynical part of me is still thinking that the plot doesn't seem to have progressed much.I'm assuming that the conversation between Megan and Eleanor will turn out to be significant and that maybe she'll find out who's going to die as a result.Looking forward to reading the long-awaited conclusion of this!

[I love music]

Okay, wasn't expecting that.The backstory for Eleanor was interesting although the cynical part of me is still thinking that the plot doesn't seem to have progressed much.I'm assuming that the conversation between Megan and Eleanor will turn out to be significant and that maybe she'll find out who's going to die as a result.Looking forward to reading the long-awaited conclusion of this!

Thanks for your review. It won't seem like it at the moment, but that chapter has actually taken the plot forward and will tie in with a scene I've had in my mind for a long time (tho as this fic started out as a birthday party and I decided to introduce ghosts and omens and complicate matters... . The main theme of the story is still friendship.