Scrabble
| Fraser/Kowalski Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Scrabble |
| Author(s): | Speranza |
| Date(s): | 2001 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | slash |
| Fandom: | due South |
| External Links: | online here |
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Scrabble is a Fraser/Ray K story by Speranza with unusual formatting. The story is presented as a two-column table, with Fraser's point of view in the left column and Ray's in the right. Each row of the table contains a paragraph or two representing each character's thoughts and impressions at a given moment. It is written in the first person (unusual in fanfic).
Reactions and Reviews
Unknown Date
Okay, look, I know, I know, the damn link takes you to her fic page and you have to go find the story yourself.... There's a reason I did it this way. Depending on which browser you're on, it makes a difference which version you read. Look, take the lady's word for it, and read this. Sweet Lord. It's interesting. And it helped me kick ass at Scrabble last weekend, too.... [1]
An amazingly brilliant, unusual, innovative story with a double parallel perspective: Fraser and RayK tell the story from their own perspective's in parallel columns (see below).
[first column]: I can't pass a sky-rise without thinking of her. All that bronze and silver and whirling, spinning glass. The doors revolve, the cylinders defining the space they enclose. And within them I can see softly falling snow, and dark hair, and blood. Westlake Avenue is lined with these orbiting capsules, and outside some of them, men in formal coats stand stiffly at attention, ready to offer assistance. [second column]: All the women look like Stella--Stella now, not Stella then. Stella then hung out in jeans and sneakers. Stella then wore her hair long and pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. Stella then spent all her time sitting at our crappy linoleum-topped kitchen table, surrounded by books and gnawing her pen. Stella now--well, the pen's sterling silver, and she'd probably break her teeth if she tried.
Fraser is an adrenaline junkie who craves danger as a substitute for love. This is a wonderfully complex Fraser who's quite wild underneath his Mountie calm and this is a characterisation I can believe in implicitly. This story has wonderful sex, is brilliantly written, and has an intelligent Ray who knows he's gay. An unusual, provocative story that I enjoyed very much. [2]
Speranza states several time that people have asked her if she was on crack for writing a story this way. Her answer is, 'yes, she is'. Well, then I guess you'll be asking me if I'm on crack to for rec'ing this story. You really have to see it to believe it. I'm not kidding. Trust me and her on choosing the format for your browser type, you'll probably need to. The story shifts between the POV's of Ben and RayK in a rather unique way. When I say unique, I'm mean whacked. You are just going to have to look at this to understand it. I mean it. I don't even know if I could explain how this is put together. Trying might give me a headache. It's amazing though, amazing that it makes sense. Huh. I knew when I first got a look at it and realized it made some odd sense and was coherent I was going to rec it. Had to, couldn't not. This is not one to be missed. Mainly, due to the fact it makes you do that head cocking to the side 'hmmm?' thing, trying to figure it out. I know I'm being confusing. But the story is, so that's the only way I can be really. Trust me. Oh, tipper...one half is Ray's POV, others Fraser's, it's not hard to pick out which one is which. Just by how each tells their half of the narrative. [3]
2001
"Scrabble" by Speranza is one of the best things I've read in a long time. There's the author's patented snappy dialogue, pacing, plot(!), and could-be-a-due-South-episode-if-not-for-the-sex manner. There's humor, drama, explosive sex, the differences between what they're thinking and what they actually say, and Fraser in a very hazardous place, mentally. See how easily Fraser's adrenaline junkie ways can go too far. Ray and Fraser both have their bad-ass moments. What makes the story unique is that it's formatted to have simultaneous two-sided POV placed side-by-side. You can read all the way through Fraser's side of the story then through Ray's, but I think it's far more interesting to read the story left to right, frame by frame, to see how two people in the same general area can have totally different takes on what's going on as events develop. For example, Fraser thinks Ray understands him so much better than Ray actually does. Of course, the Ray in Fraser's head can hear Fraser's thoughts.... Get to the point where Speranza writes their Scrabble game and has the board with their words in the center of the screen between their POVs, and I'm deeply envious of the HTML coding as well as the writing. Since the HTML formatting is so precisely measured and placed, Speranza gives you the option of choosing the Netscape Navigator version or the Internet Explorer version. [4]
2004
It's probably also one of the very first dueSouth stories I ever read. I was first taken aback by the amount of work that went in to creating the two voices, side by side, narrating one all-encompassing story. And then when they begin to play Scrabble? Well, at that point I become completely engrossed. Scrabble manages to be heartfelt, funny, and endlessly intriguing from start to finish: it's brilliant. [5]
2006
And now for something completely different. I have to rec this story, if for no other reason than its originality. Speranza has written two sides of an exceptional first time story, but the real creativity here is the side-by-side formatting. It may be a little annoying at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s well-worth the trouble. [6]
References
- ^ Recommended Reading - Rhi's Favorite Links, Archived version
- ^ Madrigal's Fanfiction Recs: Due South., Archived version
- ^ Slash Slut's due South Recs Page, Archived version
- ^ Viridian5 Fiction: The Green Room version 2.0 Fanfic Recommendations (pre-2002), Archived version
- ^ 2004 rec at Crack Van
- ^ JR.'s Parlor, 2006?