Oh, wow. I'm made speechless. This is truly incredible.
After just writing a rant on beginnings, this uses it perfectly. Napolean's limited third-person POV is excellently used. The way that you start right with the action, but don't realise how important it is, with Napolean's teasing manner, but Illya's reaction is just wrong, and suddenly we're plunged deeper, and Illya's reactions create more questions even as we're feeling their emotional intensity, and you've managed to lower our guard for the reverse punch of it being about his mother, and we're knocked flat. And then, just as we're recovering from the blow, we see Illya's other side, which we're not expecting because we're prepared for more aggressive emotion, but, instead, we're smacked down again by him gentleness, by his gratitude, because we are struck again by how important it is to him.
It's amazing to write a 2000 word rant on writing, only to go and read a fic that demonstrates the principles better than I could.
no subject
After just writing a rant on beginnings, this uses it perfectly. Napolean's limited third-person POV is excellently used. The way that you start right with the action, but don't realise how important it is, with Napolean's teasing manner, but Illya's reaction is just wrong, and suddenly we're plunged deeper, and Illya's reactions create more questions even as we're feeling their emotional intensity, and you've managed to lower our guard for the reverse punch of it being about his mother, and we're knocked flat. And then, just as we're recovering from the blow, we see Illya's other side, which we're not expecting because we're prepared for more aggressive emotion, but, instead, we're smacked down again by him gentleness, by his gratitude, because we are struck again by how important it is to him.
It's amazing to write a 2000 word rant on writing, only to go and read a fic that demonstrates the principles better than I could.
Incredible work.
May I have your babies?