Comments on How The Winds Are Laughing

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How The Winds Are Laughing

Oh, I think this turned out well! Good Donna, great Five, and generally a clever fixit idea. I liked the dreams a lot, too.

Poor Five, though, I feel for him, because that must have been an awful thing for him to have to experience, even if he did forget it afterward.

I do wonder just a little where Tegan was... Shouldn't she have been around somewhere? Not that I blame you for not including her, as I think she would have just been a distraction.

(from http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/511795.html)

Comment by astrogirl2 —
How The Winds Are Laughing

Thank you very much for what I think of as "my" story! Though it's probably cheating to get a story from a ficathon when I'm not taking part myself. I've read it a few times over the past couple of weeks, but wanted to think it through properly before commenting.

I like the way that, right at the start, as well as doing "what she always did" - getting angry - Donna goes on to do what she always did after meeting the Doctor - trying to work the problem out herself.

And the subconscious memories begin to haunt her as soon as she enters the library, with the first dream kicking in after Sylvia unwisely mentions Lance's "black widow".

It took a couple of readings to realise how early on the Doctor's memories begin to combine with her own in Donna's dreams; I soon noticed when his lost daughter and granddaughter were mingling with her lost children, but on the very latest reading I wondered whether Donna would have known the significance of the Doctor's fob watch through her own memories - or sensed the parallel between the wiping of his memories through the Chameleon Arch and what has happened to her. And of course she later follows John Smith's example by keeping a diary of her impossible dreams (as well as the very practical and independent step of taking up yoga and learning breathing exercises).

I love the glimpse of the Doctor as White Rabbit leading her into Wonderland.

And the next dream blurs beautifully from Donna's own memories of Miss Evangelista to the Doctor's of Sky Silvestry, and back to 42...

Ha. The Doctor thinks he's done enough by wiping her mobile phone (though it's a bit clumsy wiping all the numbers), but he hasn't thought about her laptop. Ianto would never have been that careless. And "FindDoc" is inspired.

I like the way that Donna finally manages to remember the Doctor by going back to the beginning of their shared story, through the wedding dress, which pulls the whole episode back into her conscious. The earliest memory, and perhaps therefore the least dangerous to remember.

I'm not a great fan of the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa, but I can see that it makes sense to use them; Davison's been around recently, explicitly through Time Crash and implicitly through The Doctor's Daughter. And that means he has the advantage of knowing who Donna's Doctor is. And at this point it's becoming clear that the most painful and dangerous memories are the Doctor's, and that those are what she needs to lose. Adric, guilt, Gallifrey... I suppose the Fifth Doctor may be the guiltiest, apart from the Ninth.

I like the gradual developing relationship between Donna and the "new" Doctor, to the point where he's looking forward to meeting her in his future and she's ready to give him a hug. He's associated her with Tegan from the start, but it's lovely when he acknowledges that goes beyond their shared bolshiness and he starts to use "Brave heart" to her.

And Martha is so delightfully sensible, accepting that, whatever instructions the Doctor has given her, the situation has changed and she needs to check it out. The ready friendship between her and Donna was one of the pleasures of the last season, so it's good to see them back together, and promising to keep in touch.

I suppose I'm still left with the canonical puzzle that I had before: why couldn't the Tenth Doctor do what the Fifth did? I imagine Martha could have played the calm supervising role in the same way as Nyssa. For that matter, I don't know why he couldn't do what the Ninth Doctor did when extracting the Tardis from Rose's mind; I can't believe he was willing to sacrifice a regeneration for one companion and not the other. But perhaps I can see a solution now; could it be because his own memories from the Fifth Doctor, which were unblocked when Donna reminded him of their meeting, were seeping through just enough for him to know instinctively that to cure Donna in his present would interfere with his own timeline?

(from http://kerravonsen.livejournal.com/511795.html)

Comment by kalypso_v —
wendymr sent you a message

Hi there! I just wanted to let you know that your story, How the Winds are Laughing, has been reviewed over on cot_reviews as a nominee for the Children of Time Awards.

I just loved this story. Donna's resourcefulness and determination, the interspersing of dreams with reality, the encounter with Five and Nyssa, and of course the conclusion: you had me hooked from start to finish. Congratulations on your nomination!

  • Wendy

(from livejournal.com)

Comment by wendymr —
How The Winds Are Laughing 3. Can't Get It Out Of My Head

It's pretty much absurd how much I'm enjoying this story so far.

I can't speak for 5 and Nyssa, since I haven't had the chance to watch those episodes yet (sobsob), but Donna has been spot on right from the start!

Your writing style makes for some very comfortable reading. Not annoyingly over simplified, and not ridiculously verbose.

And now that the Doctor has found a way to remove the block, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happens next!

Though I am left wondering why 10 couldn't have removed the extra Time Lord consciousness himself, rather than just slap a mind wipe over it. (Possibly because then we'd have no story? =p )

Anyway! To sum up, Much love for this fic! Can't wait for the next part! (Will do my best though.) ;)

(from fanfiction.net)

Comment by Ridel —
How The Winds Are Laughing 4. Got To Get You Into My Life

Hmm. I have to say that while I still love this fic to bits, this last chapter did seem a bit... Rushed. You know?

Everything happened so fast. From Donna being dropped off, to her finding Martha, to her reunion with the Doctor.

I would have liked to see you flesh out the scenes a bit more, like in the previous chapters. See a bit more of what the characters were actually thinking.

But still, all negativity aside, YAY! I want to see the Doctor, Donna and Wilf go on a proper adventure. ^_^

(None of this End Of Time business)

Also, I kind of felt Donna's pain in the call center bit. I just started a similar job yesterday. Sooo many angry hangups. Even though you're not selling anything. @_@

(from fanfiction.net)

Comment by Ridel —
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