I've been writing fanfiction for awhile now. Just recently discovered The Office and figured I'd try my hand at that as well.
At first I thought of having all my stories in the same universe, but then I had some AU ideas. So any stories that occur within a common universe will be in a given series.
The real meaning of Pam finding her voice with help from someone special.
Covers selective mutism and anxiety.
Was originally posted as A Picture Is Worth More Than A Thousand Words then I deleted it by accident!
The fact she can at least form the words if not the sounds feels like big progress in a little package. Still lots of internal tumult going on for sure, but it also feels that off in the distance she can see the beacon of a lighthouse where once there were only crashing waves and wind. A faint glimmer of hope and safe harbor where once there was only darkness. And slowly the rudder of her life is starting to ease it's way over to set course for that still far off but always steady light.
Author's Response: Ok wow that was a beautiful metaphor, my goodness!
On to 2nd grade and Toby's the teacher? That could get interesting for sure. And Karen's here too and being all buddy-buddy with Jim. Not sure how this is all going to go down. Jim though seems like he's more than ready to keep being the best thing going for Pam. Very cute welcome hug and going right into a prank. Loved the little detail of Pam's shoes too.
Author's Response: Thank you! Buckle in for a whirlwind!
Ooh, this is going to hit Pam hard. Granted she's already getting hit hard but to see Karen so easily talking to Jim and now Karen's in her swing? Yeah, feels like a big huge storm of everything is brewing. I did also detect a bit of tenderness toward Dwight as well. Nice echo of the canon friendship Pam and Dwight share. Especially in and around S3.
Author's Response: Yeah! I think your going to enjoy the next chapter…
Very nice way to bring in that moment of Pam and Dwight friendship in the show into this world too. Looks like Dwight's been observant as to how to best have Pam communicate. Good for him. Pam needs someone else in her corner for sure. Feels like she got tossed a life ring there to help keep her head above water. The storm is still raging for sure, but it's at least a little easier to hold on.
Author's Response: Thank you! You have such good metaphors!
More hard times ahead. Seems like Jim is trying to be friendly with everyone, as he does. Not quite sure if Karen is being deliberately mean here. What I do know is that for Pam to see someone erasing one of her few means of communication would hit hard. No wonder she's starting to regress. Hopefully Jim's sense of fairness will kick in here sometime soon.
Author's Response: Jim better get it together!
Feels like for the first time in her school career Pam is truly excited to get up for the day. Really nice to see that bit of progression. Kind of annoying that Karen is trying to hog Jim like this.
Then when they get there it's like she's become a new person. Quiet not because of fear but because of wonder. Looks like Jim is clocking that too. Especially with the hope in a frame watercolor there at the end. Nice use of it too.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! She’s getting there!
Lots going on here for sure. Wow. That Dwight sees that Pam is really trying and also is doing his best to run interference against Karen is really very nice. In his own Dwight-ish way he's looking out for Pam which is really nice.
Then Jim has a few of the clouds pulled away from his face. Karen is the pretty one but is jealous that Jim would be more apt to go for someone she see as plain, like Pam. Thus all the chirps in Jim's ear. The same with Jim loathing the idea of a long talk with Karen, nice adaptation from canon. That Jim would rather be with a Pam who doesn't talk instead of Karen who talks all the time is telling as well.
Really nice to see more and more progress from Pam. Her courage is building now that she realizes there are people out there other than family who will be in her corner. Lovely to see.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! It’s so fun to put in small hints to the show.
Kind of feels like a bit of some backstory for why Pam's quiet. She gets intimidated by her father. Makes a certain amount of sense when you thing of it.
Awwww, Jim look at you go. Looks like he's made his choice as to which girl he is going to invest his time it. Well done, can't wait to see how Pam reacts to that.
Author's Response: Thank you! I’ve always felt there was more to Pam!
Love that it's back to Jim and Pam on the swings. Back to Jim being able to pick up on what Pam is offering and he's responding in a way that draws her out. He's back to being able to get her and she responds right away. Very glad to see that they're both getting their heads back on after a bit of a rough patch. There will probably be more bumps ahead, but for now things have calmed.
To use my lighthouse analogy from a few chapters ago, where Jim's light had dimmed for a bit, it's now shining out clear. Pam has seen it and the winds and waves have settled a bit allowing her to make better progress towards shore.
Author's Response: Thank you!!
1 Awwww, this is adorable. Pam creating a comic book for him. Jim giving her watercolors. The sun peaking out of it all. I love everything about this. Beautiful to imagine every bit of it.
Figured there's be more of direct approach from Ms. Bennet with Pam. Of course that just sends her into deep waves of panic. But there's Jim to throw her a life ring by taking the attention of her and onto himself.
The fact Jim has his own struggles with words comes across really well here. Something that helps bind their relationship together even more. Lovely.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! I used a bit of you life ring metaphor - I’ll be sure to mention that in the next chapter. I felt that Jim had so much understanding that he must have been through something similar, and for a long time I just couldn’t finger what!
Loved the use of the speed limit metaphor to start out with. I've often found people having anxiety issues to say they feel like their thoughts are racing ahead at 10,000,000,000 miles an hour which only makes their anxiety worse. For Pam to have Jim stand up for her like this and bring her thoughts to down to a normal speed was a great way to picture things. Same with the lifeboat image. The thing about a lifeboat is that yes, it can still be tossed around by wind and wave, but it can set its own coarse and move on its own to safety by its own oars or or motor. It's a chance for self rescue that's a much better chance than hanging on to a life ring or piece of debris. That lighthouse I talked about a while back feels like its getting bigger on the horizon.
Jim's view of chances is refreshing too. Feels like an extension of him telling Pam she needs to take a chance on something sometime from canon. Goes over better here too.
Author's Response: Aw, thank you! I always look forward to your thoughtful comments! Thank you!!
Awww, this is so sweet. Pam being able to let her creativity flow like this is adorable. She's also letting go of some anxieties too. I get the sense that had she tried something similar prior to meeting Jim she would have been hung up with staying inside the lines. Had even one brush stroke gone awry she would be been beating herself up. Now however with the bits of confidence she's getting, she's finding it's okay to have some flaws and defects. She doesn't have to be perfect. She can be beautiful in the ordinary. Mayhaps that will be the key to banishing that Keeper of Words from her while out of the house.
Jim being excited for Pam, especially about her art, is always a wonderful thing. He gets so enraptured that he has this special little window into her mind and he can't help but keep looking in. Delightful.
Author's Response: I’m so glad you enjoy it! Somehow you always seem to have more insight into my story than I do!
I love how excited Jim is for her. The first thing he can say is this thing that's so important to her. Yes, she's hesitant, bit it doesn't feel like she's as scared as she might have been prior to meeting Jim. Nice touch with her adding her signature. She has the confidence to take ownership of what she creates. Lovely detail there.
Author's Response: That you so much, I appreciate it!
Love that Jim can find so much meaning in her painting. And that all the art captures his imagination. However it's Pam's work that truly has his attention. Pam leaning into him is wonderful too. The idea that it's Jim's friendship that's melting away her chains of muteness is a wonderful image. Clearly Holly and Helene see it too. And then there's Michael coming in like that. Yet another person seeing Pam's worth. Feels like we're at the start of something big here. Wish I had more jellybeans to give.
Author's Response: Aw thank you so much!
Oh Pam. Yeah I feel for her here. To have Jim say goodbye and like this I'm sure hits hard. That she spirals into I can't is a good tie into Canon. And it's Angela who steps in. Good choice there. For all of Angela's hard exterior, there is someone underneath who cares. Dwight standing by until there's a need for action rings true too.
I don't think she can see the lighthouse right now. This feels line a big storm that's churned everything up so that there's no chance of spotting land. All she can do is try to keep her head above the waves.
Author's Response: Poor Pam :(
My apologies that it's taken so long to review these latest chapters.
Pam being frozen because of Jim's departure rings very true here. Just when things were starting to look up, he's gone. Considering everything with this one this feels like a very real reaction. But then Angela is the unlikely ally. Nice to see that side of Angela for sure.
Author's Response: Thank you! And no worries, it’s taking me forever to update!
Oh I wish I still had a jelly bean for this moment. For Pam to finally find her voice is HUGE! I only wish Jim had been there to hear it. However at the same time, she also has enough strength on her own that she can speak for herself. So that's a nice bit to it. Hopefully sometime soon Jim will be able to hear not just see what's he's meant to her.
Author's Response: Thank you… you’ll love what’s coming!
So this is something a bit different. For work, I recently started to experiment with ChatGPT, which is an "intelligent" chatbot and part of a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives by a company called OpenAI.
You can find out about ChatGPT and how it works, here: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
and OpenAI here: https://openai.com/about/
It's free to sign up, but the GPT Bot can sometimes get overloaded (it's a hot topic in the IT world at the moment) and you may have a wait a while to play with it.
I thought it might be fun to ask the Chat GPT bot to generate some stories for Jim and Pam. When I shared the first of these on the MTT Discord, there was some amusement, and a request to publish more. This "story" is the output of various combinations I've tried.
1 Surprisingly accurate and but also different enough to be fun. Looking forward to seeing how other prompts will change things.
Actually not bad for a non-angsty Casino Night. Even a few narrative twists in there such as Roy being the ex, Pam still has a few feelings for him, and Jim is finally willing to fight off Roy. But it's Michael to save the day. Fun to read that one for sure.
Ramping up the melodrama a bit, but it's still fun. Nice little twist that instead of telling her how he feels before transferring, it's before he's leaving all together. But true love wins through once more.
And hey look at that, in some version of reality it could have been that easy. Very charming for sure.
As long as you remain transparent as to how these drabbles are created, I say go for it going forward. It's kind of fun to see what kinds of things an AI could come up with. Of course real authors add so much more to their works. But for a fun experiment, these are worthwhile too.
Makes a lot of sense that Jim would get into his head about everything. He's trying very hard to be an anti-Roy and then he goes and does that. Considering it's a first for him I get why he'd be so concerned. Good thing Pam is there to help him wade through all those feelings.
Then he's right there to help her wade through a few more of hers. Even better now that they're doing a better job of communicating they come up with their little system. Fun for now and fun for later. Shows that true intimacy means good communication. When they can be so open with each other the rewards are boundless.
Author's Response: Open, honest communication and genuine connection form excellent foundations for consent and support of one another. That’s what this whole story is all about! You are right! The rewards are boundless! :)
1 First off welcome to MTT and well done for posting your first story. That's one helluva way to start too. Pregnant Pam with all those feelings and emotions flooding through her. Nice use of mental imagery to convey it all. The other thing you brought in is one of the things I've felt was always a challenge in Jim and Pam's relationship. Real open communication. In the show it seemed their biggest issues always came about because they didn't really explain their true feelings until everything exploded. This very much feels in the same vein.
So Pam's outburst at the end there makes total sense and not just because she's also got tons of pregnancy hormones raging through her system as well. Nice job.
Author's Response: Thanks!!!! I hope you enjoy what I have coming for the next chapters… intrusive thoughts is a big part of it all, anxious barriers to healthy communication ♥a039;
1 Just because communication can be hard doesn't mean that it's impossible. Also Jim usually has naturally good instincts for Pam. That shows up well here. While he can't get the specifics without her talking to him, he can get a general idea that gets them going in the right direction. Well done Jim.
The lead up and the scene in the rest stop though...smokin' hot.
Author's Response: Thank you! Yes, I am heading somewhere for Pam around communicating because Jim is very good at paying attention to the unsaid.