Date: June 13, 2007 02:48 pm Title: from the inside out
so this was really good, and i would write a more detailed review of how good it was... but about halfway through my stomach started growling loudly, and i think that means i need to go make dinner.
but it was a good jim in stamford, and i liked how you worked the post it note in, and reasons and stuff.
Author's Response: Oh, you fell victim to the subliminal food advertisements I wrote into the story. Every time you read the word "he," you became more and more hungry until you almost couldn't do anything but eat. Sadly, I'm not affiliated with any particular food, or else I could totally get a kickback. ;)
Date: June 13, 2007 12:57 am Title: from the inside out
I love this. It's awesome how you took such a tiny detail and incorporated it so well into the storyline, with the post-it an example of how hard Jim's trying to fit into his new life. Excellent job.
Just one question, b/c I am a complete moron: I don't quite understand the ending. Is the smile post-it obsolete b/c, now that Jim knows Pam called off the wedding, he feels like he doesn't have to force himself to smile b/c he's so happy? Or, is it obsolete b/c he knows she called off the wedding and didn't mention it to him, and he's so upset that he a) realizes that no post-it is going to change that and/or b) is deciding to really move on, now, and that involves truly embracing his new life w/out any reminders?
Author's Response:
No, Rowena! You're not a moron at all! I wanted to keep it a little open-ended, and an earlier review actually asked me not to tell her the reason he threw the post-it away, so I'll leave it up to you. Was that mean? :P
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
8 [Report This]Date: June 01, 2007 08:24 pm Title: from the inside out
You certainly crafted a moving story from such an ordinary office supply.
Author's Response: Hee. Hey, office supplies are sexy. They're the new black.
Date: May 29, 2007 09:58 pm Title: from the inside out
Oh! Excellent ending. Loved this.
Author's Response: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. :)
Date: May 27, 2007 05:09 pm Title: from the inside out
Absolutely lovely. I love the part about it being easier to smile on Fridays than Mondays (who isn't that true for?). And I love how you had Jim find out about the canceled wedding...seems very likely.
Author's Response: I'm glad you liked the Friday/Monday thing. Although it's an angsty situation, I also wanted to make Jim a normal guy.
Date: May 27, 2007 04:55 pm Title: from the inside out
Wow. I love this glimpse of bitter but trying-to-heal Jim. I especially like Jim's distruct of Josh.
Author's Response: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
8 [Report This]Date: May 26, 2007 11:14 pm Title: from the inside out
See, this is what I love about challenges and prompt-based fics...everyone has a different take on them! I love yours, too!
Author's Response: Thanks! Yep, diversity is what makes it fun. :)
10 [Report This]Date: May 26, 2007 06:10 pm Title: from the inside out
Oh that's great! I was really hoping someone would write this story and I love the way it turned out! Yay for smiling Jim!
Author's Response: Thanks, Azlin! I'm glad you liked it. I totally wasn't in a fic-writing mood but that prompt just kinda did it for me. I'm glad I wrote it, too. :)
Date: May 26, 2007 05:53 pm Title: from the inside out
Wonderful job of showing what Jim must have been going through in Stamford. I really enjoyed this.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. :)
Date: May 26, 2007 02:45 pm Title: from the inside out
Jim - of all people - needing to be reminded to smile. That so sums up what a fish (tuna?) out of water he was in Stamford, how NOT himself he's been this season. Love that it's Kelly that tells him and that it's so incidental. Very realistic and poignant.
Also - thanks for writing this for two reasons: 1) because it so beautifully captures that melancholy disconnect that Jim must have felt, and 2) because, I actually had a somewhat similar idea for a story (not exactly, but also based on that note and similar in tone) - that I don't have to write now! You've more than done it justice already!
Author's Response:
Oh no! I swiped a story from your far-more-capable fingers?? Dagnabbit! I hope this means you'll just write something different...but still soon?
And ITA about the surreal quality of Jim having to be reminded to smile. All season we've had this weird, unsmiling Jim that we hardly knew, and I'm hoping against hope that he's really "come back" now. :)
Date: May 26, 2007 02:14 pm Title: from the inside out
This is awesome! I love Kelly being the one to make him really smile, and to drop the P-bomb, too.
Author's Response: Kelly is the kind of character you want to roll your eyes at but you end up laughing at more often than not, because she's so cute and enthusiastic. In my head, Jim secretly finds her chatter refreshing and entertaining. :)
Date: May 26, 2007 01:04 pm Title: from the inside out
I'm so glad someone wrote a fic about the Smile sticky. The sticky seemed like such a minor detail, but it really says a lot about Jim's state of mind in S3.
Love this part:
He just wants to forget, to smile and mean it, or to not smile and have no one notice. The person who’d notice his missing smile and try to bring it back is…not here. He looks at the note. He keeps practicing.
So good. I'm so glad he doesn't have to practice anymore! Yay.
Author's Response: I know--SQUEE!! All he has to do is look up and she's there and bam!--the smile comes right out. Sigh...so happy. :)
Date: May 26, 2007 11:54 am Title: from the inside out
Oh, I liked that a lot! You took a really cheesy concept -- making your smile come from the inside -- and made a sweet, bittersweet, story out of it, not cheesy at all. I also love the idea of Kelly being the one to tell him Pam didn't get married. :)
Author's Response: Thank you! I've seen other fics speculate on how Jim found out about the non-wedding, and I liked all of them, but I hadn't seen one that used Kelly before. She's such a gossip that I knew she'd be itching to tell someone who didn't know yet, but I can also see her having a soft spot for Jim and wanting to check up on him in Stamford.
Date: May 26, 2007 10:28 am Title: from the inside out
Aww, that sort of breaks my heart. Thank goodness for the finale -- it makes this easier to take.
Love these lines especitally: "...we’re not in Scranton anymore, Toto. " and "His smile has formed an alliance with Scranton, one it is reluctant to break"
Author's Response: Ooh, I'm glad you liked the alliance line! I was imagining his smile saying, "Absolutely, I do" to Scranton. ;) Thanks so much for reading, lisahoo!
Date: May 26, 2007 10:13 am Title: from the inside out
This detail from the show might be my favorite little background thing ever. It's just so poignant and perfect. I really liked that Jim's plastered on smile confused Andy, who, let's face it, is the master of said smiles.
Author's Response: I'm so glad someone pointed out the note to me, because I never would've noticed it on my own. I don't have an HD TV, and even in the screen cap it's kind of hard to make out, but I just thought it was an excellent piece of background. And I'm glad you liked the story. :) I think people who fake all their own smiles sometimes, ironically, have a hard time recognizing it in other people, so I could totally see Andy having that problem.
Date: May 26, 2007 09:18 am Title: from the inside out
Aww. Jim didn't think he'd need his "smile" note anymore. Sadly, he still needed it all season, but he wouldn't have known that then.
This is really wonderful; I'm amazed at what you were able to create from one little post-it. I'm just going to have to run through some of my favorite parts.
Josh's entire little spiel, especially "Jim imagines it’s from the inside out"; "Andy looks confused when Jim just smiles at every exchange."; the entire paragraph about Scranton (except you should say Toto instead of Dorothy to fit w/the original quote, plus, then it's more instantly recognizable); Talking to KELLY!!!; "Jim supposes Ryan didn’t nod vigorously enough when she told him"; the entire Kelly paragraph is a favorite.
You see there are so many favorites, that the whole thing just has to be favorited. Thanks so much for taking that prompt and running with it so beautifully.
Author's Response:
You know what, you're absolutely right. I don't know why I said Dorothy instead of Toto. I'll change that.
And thank you so much for the great review! I think it's longer than the actual story--woo!! :)
10 [Report This]Date: May 26, 2007 09:15 am Title: from the inside out
Oh, invis, that was simply breathtaking. I never noticed that post-it in all my viewings of "Gay Witch Hunt" (one of my favorite eps of the season), but it really does say a lot about Jim's character at this point in the series. You did a beautiful job capturing his efforts toward growth but the simultaneous limits placed upon it. I simply love how you ended the story because, for me at least, it was a bit ambiguous. Is he throwing it away because he's smiling that she's not married or throwing it away because he can't smile over everything he's lost? Don't answer this question; it's just a perfect ending.
I especially liked this line: The person who’d notice his missing smile and try to bring it back is…not here. He looks at the note. He keeps practicing.
Excellent work, here. A thumbs up, ten points, and a gold star for your efforts!
Author's Response: SQUEE! Thank you so much for the review, Becky! And I'm glad you liked the semi-ambiguous ending. I kind of like endings like that, but I never know if other people will. Don't worry, I won't answer your question. :)