A Long Time On This Road

The Professionals Fanfiction
Title:	A Long Time On This Road
Author(s):	Windy
Date(s):	before 1993 (circuit), 1993 (zine)
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	The Professionals
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A Long Time On This Road is an early circuit story version of a story that was later published in the zine Professional B and D under the title "A Long and Winding Road." Both stories were written by Windy and although they both have the same ending, the beginnings are different. The early circuit version is sometimes also found under the title "A Long Road Home." It is not to be confused with another 20 page circuit story titled: "Along the Road" written by ausmac.

Summary: A Long Time On This Road

First, a summary written by alexfandra in 1994, quoted with permission:

"Long Time on This Road" is a 40-page, competently-written (albeit somewhat less than believable) story wherein Doyle gets kidnapped in an effort to coerce Bodie into letting the Bad Guys slip past the security at a mansion (one of those visiting diplomat things). Cowley refuses to help Bodie out in the matter; Bodie gets pissed and goes off on his own to find Doyle. He does so, but during the rescue/escape, Doyle is shot and they get recaptured. Lovely scene in the basement where Bodie is trying to take care of a wounded, feverish Doyle. They make a successful second escape, leading to the lovely hospital bedside scene, followed by the "Doyle gets released and goes to find Bodie to ask him why he only stayed at the hospital long enough to know Doyle was out of danger and then never came by to see him afterwards and just what is he avoiding" scene. Of course, what Bodie is avoiding is the Declaration of Love, which, after a suitably satisfying amount of tension, is at last revealed. The sex scene was pretty good, too."

Reaction and Reviews: A Long Time On This Road

One month later alexfandra began typing the story into the electronic circuit library which led to her discussing the story on the Virgule-L mailing list. Her comments are quoted here with permission. In her post, she raises several interesting topics: why do we like fanfic, even if it is poorly written? And how do fans who like good writing operate in a fandom environment where concrit is viewed as a bad thing?

"Here's why I'm confused about good writing and slash: I've been typing in a story for the Pros Email Library - an anonymous circuit thing called "Long Time on This Road". And you know what? It's BAD.

Let me explain. This thing is 40 pages of poorly written prose. The viewpoint shifts so often and so suddenly that you often have to reread stuff to figure who the "he" refers to. Nobody in the story ever says anything without an adverb. POV characters' eyes "flash dangerously"... The Bad Guys are sketchily motivated, there's a plot hole a mile wide (a Bad Guy's wife, who doesn't know about her hubby's criminal activities, is allowed to sit in on all their plans - naturally she winds up being sympathetic to Bodie & Doyle when they're kidnapped by said Bad Guys...and of course she helps free them...um, yeah. Right.) What else... oh, hang on, I just found one of those dangerous flashing eye bits - let me quote this little passage for you:

"Bodie, I can't," he whispered.

"Why?" Bodie hated himself for being so cruel, but the trepidation he detected in Doyle's tone prompted him. His companion teetered on the brink of a decision and, unless he gave him a gentle push, nothing would ever be resolved. "Are you scared you might enjoy it?"

"Doyle's eyes flashed dangerously at that taunt, and a faint scarlet flush crept up his cheeks. The words had hit home harder than either man could have imagined, but Doyle wasn't going to give Bodie the pleasure of knowing that.

"Don't make me laugh," he snapped defensively. "Like you said, I'm not that naive."

"No? So prove it."

Okay. This is poor writing. No question about it. The whole story is like this. So why am I typing it into the library?

Because I enjoyed it a lot. Now, did I enjoy it because Doyle gets shot during a botched rescue attempt, and Bodie gets to comfort him while feeling terribly guilty? Yes, that did hit my h/c kink nicely. Did I enjoy it because the characters were more or less true to my vision of Bodie and Doyle? Yes, they managed to stay on track most of the time, despite all that defensive snapping. Did I enjoy it because it was set in CI5, and wasn't an outlandish AU? Yup. Did I enjoy it because of the writing style? Nope. Had to ignore the fact that it was poorly written the whole time I was enjoying it.

I'm not sure what my point is. Sorry. Whoever it was that said "because something is popular does not necessarily mean it's well written", or words to that effect, is quite right. Personally, I think the amount of well written fanfic out there is pretty small, and the amount of adequately written schlock is pretty high, and the amount of putridly written crap is pretty alarming. But what can you do? There seems to be a general attitude in fandom that since we're amateurs, and since we're just having a good time, we shouldn't be too harsh on people - as in, "let's not critique or edit writers too much, it might hurt their egos and then they'll stop writing, and we should be supportive of each other" etc, etc. Which may very well tie in to the supply- and-demand thing, i.e., we always want more fanfic but not enough people are writing it, therefore we must encourage everybody and their cat to toss off a story just so we'll have more, more more...is this a valid perception on my part? Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Why? Do people really care about "quality fiction" in slash fandom? I mean, beyond saying "Yes, I prefer stories that are well written", which doesn't say anything at all. I mean, do fans really want quality over quantity - suppose 90% of the stories submitted to zine publishers were rejected for poor writing, and what you had left was a very small output of really well-written stories. Suppose the result was something like 3 zines per year, total. And this was all you had to read - would you be content with that? You'd be missing out on stuff like "Long Time On This Road". But you'd have your quality writing.

The thing that probably gets to me the most is my lurking suspicion that there are fans out there who are unable to discern poor writing when they encounter it, who may have simply never done any kind of literary analysis in their lives, and who read indiscriminately. I hesitate to bring this point up, however, since it tends to bring out "you're being elitist" accusations. Nevertheless, sometimes I can't help but wonder what percentage of fans know what they're talking about when they give their opinions/critiques of stories. Story content ("Doyle gets hurt and Bodie comforts him") does not a well- or poorly-written story make. It may make for a popular story, and an enjoyable read. But when commenting on writing quality, it would be nice if people stuck to things like "does the plot have a coherent dramatic structure", "are the characters developed three- dimensionally and are they believably motivated", "is the POV consistent within scenes", "are adverbs kept to a minimum", etc.

That type of critiquing is more objective, and to me, more helpful than "it hit my kink". Unless, of course, the kink is h/c where Doyle gets hurt and Bodie comforts, in which case that's all you need to tell me...."

A fan responded by pointing out that (a) many fans are reading and writing for escapist enjoyment and (b) many of the early circuit stories were written without the benefit of word processing. In fact, unbeknownst to both fans, the story had already been substantially rewritten and edited and published in a more polished format:

"I think Alex has come close to the truth. We are reading slash for escapist entertainment, I least I know I am. If I find a story that is well-plotted, has good characterization and a story line that holds my interest I am satisfied. Every once in a while every reader finds a story they consider a real gem and they are thrilled. Alex's gem may not be my gem, but who cares - we're both satisfied.

I agree, there are some truly terrible stories out there, but that comes in part from having the library. A great many writers were able to submit to the library without benefit of editing or even input.

This raises another issue for the group. Many of the stories in the library were done in the early days when most fans were using typewriters only. It seems to me that for the early writers it was just enough to write/type the story the first time. You got your thoughts down as accurately and clearly as possible the first time because you probably weren't going to retype a 100 page story a second time.

Look at "Waiting to Fall" in B/D. It is a good idea that went into 600 pages or more by the time it was finished. Plus, it was released in segments, about 9 or 10 chapters at a time. Rob was so tired of it by the time she finished that if you had suggested, "Okay, now it's done. Let's edit it and then retype it again." She would have either laughed hysterically or hit you with the typewriter. Given the circumstances of how these earlier stories were written in the first place, are we being unfair to the authors in complaining about grammar and spelling and bad writing. I wonder how many of us would turn out a letter perfect, well-written masterpiece if we didn't have word processors and computers."

Reactions and Reviews: A Long and Winding Road (the zine version)

Doyle blames himself for the suicide of a girl whom he had pretended to care for during an undercover op. He goes to remote Scotland to heal, where he stays with "Letty" Walsh at a manor she owns. He takes up portrait painting, becoming quite good, and slowly heals from the psychological trauma. Eight months later CI5 is about to be disbanded and Cowley retired on medical grounds. Bodie joins Doyle in Scotland and they become lovers, having both come to realize that they need each other to live. Their relationship grows. Doyle sells a number of his paintings, enabling them to set themselves up in business. They return to London and start a successful security consulting firm with Letty as office manager. The story ends with them picking Cowley up from the rehab home; he is going to live in their building and work for them.