Date: October 05, 2011 01:30 am Title: Chapter 1
Hey, I have been reading your fics from LJ and MTT, depending on which one is more convenient. It beats being sleepy in the office (I mean my working place, not the show).
I always like Karen and I'm glad you tap into her. Not a big fan of Holly. Toby mumbled a lot. He even mumbled the word "mumble" in the webisode "The Outburst". I'm glad Karen actually gave positive criticism and even sent him a gift basket, that's so nice of her. If it was not because of Toby/Kelly, I would have shipped Toby/Karen. Oh, of course you must have Kelly with your Toby fic. I would really see Toby's MySpace page with lots of pink just for the fun of it.
Author's Response: I always liked Karen too. I semi-shipped her with Toby (both my fics The Footnotes and Maybe This is What Happened Next are Karen/Toby-ish if you're interested). And yes I always have to Kelly in my Toby fics.
Date: January 10, 2010 08:44 am Title: Chapter 1
This was simple but great. I love how you take these 'side' characters and make them normal in themselves (and not just how they relate to other characters ie toby/michael, holly/michael, karen/jim/pam). Great job.
10 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2009 08:13 am Title: Chapter 1
Definitely one of my favorite one shots on this site! Maybe it's because Holly's one of my favorite characters, but either way, this is awesome!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I liked Holly too.
10 [Report This]Date: January 06, 2009 09:23 am Title: Chapter 1
This is simply gorgeous. It taps into the fundamental sadness of Toby, the coolness of Karen when she isn't with Jim, and the goofy appeal of Holly in a sensitive, funny, in-character manner. Great plot, great details, amazingly good voices- this is a winner. Nice job!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
10 [Report This]Date: January 05, 2009 11:27 pm Title: Chapter 1
Oh. OH wow. I love this a whole bunch. There's never been enough Toby!fic, and I feel like this is a really good representation of him. Usually Toby!fic turns out really optimistically, and even though this kind of had a happy ending, it was really gradual and understated, just like Toby.
Seriously, I just love it. Karen being snappy, Holly being dorky and inventing languages, and Toby just sort of absorbing it all and learning from it. And Holly naming her turtle after him, and it making Sasha laugh?
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I agree there isn't that much Toby-fic and I'm trying to remedy that. Glad you liked it! Something about Holly naming her turtle Toby just struck me as funny for some reason.
Date: January 05, 2009 08:28 pm Title: Chapter 1
I really enjoyed this, and I think you did Karen especially well.
Author's Response: Thank you! It was fun writing her.
10 [Report This]Date: January 05, 2009 07:41 pm Title: Chapter 1
I loved this, Steph. Toby has to be far and away my least favorite character, but you make him so incredibly endearing in this work. Really beautiful writing; your dialogue is spot-on. Thanks for such a great piece!
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
10 [Report This]Date: January 05, 2009 09:01 am Title: Chapter 1
Steph, you always make me love Toby and feel for his poor tortured soul. As always, your characterizations are spot-on. I loved Karen apologizing for asking about Jim and saying that was "beneath her"--that's perfect Karen. Loved how she called him out on his mumbling and slouching and how Kelly has was so prepared that part of him wondered if, from the moment she first met him, she had been eagerly anticipating the day he would finally come to his senses and ask her for much-needed advice. Fantastic.
And I love how he tries to do right with Holly and Michael, because he really is a good person who'd just been so beaten down by life. And this whole paragraph about Jim and Pam was so perfect:
They were engaged and adorable and madly in love and walking on air and every possible cliche you could think of. They were wonderful and glowing and you could almost hate them for their happiness and yeah you were ashamed of your bitterness and envy and everything else so you just stood clear of them even as part of you wanted to be around them to study them and take notes to learn their secrets in the hopes that someday you’d get to feel a fraction of their happiness.
As always, a great read. :)
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think Toby's a good person too who's just having a really hard time and does truly want to help people. I just love writing him.
10 [Report This]Date: January 05, 2009 08:05 am Title: Chapter 1
Steph, this was fantastic. I so enjoyed reading it. First off, I love the premise--what a great idea! I love the appearance of Kelly--very funny. You captured Holly's awkward charm (the code idea was adorable), Karen's professional bossiness, and then there's poor Toby. Spot on. Great job.
Author's Response: Oh thank you! I've found that it's really difficult for me to write Toby without putting Kelly in there somehow. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
10 [Report This]Date: January 05, 2009 07:38 am Title: Chapter 1
Very original and refreshing. Nice insight and a really fun read.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it.
Date: January 05, 2009 06:56 am Title: Chapter 1
Ooh, this is a fresh approach to some characters we don't see very often. And more character insight than we see from GD & co, for sure.
Toby is a mush mouth. I think I recall that they have to mike Paul in a special way because he talks so softly.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I had never heard that about Paul. How interesting.