Name: the opaleye (Signed) · Date: 06/23/13 8:46 · For: it's all in the details

While Natalie is seething with envy, I am suffering from embarrassment that I could never write something so moving and understated. Also, because I was sitting in a cafe when I read this and had to hide my emotional breakdown when the fic ended.

This is so beautiful. I love the structure you've used, I love the imagery, I love the way you capture both Colin and Dennis and their relationship. Your story may be subtle on the surface but it is bubbling with undercurrents of such intense loss. Suppressing my tears in public was a mission and a half, just so you know.

And the ending. Oh the ending. I can see that photograph, with a blurry barely visible Colin, so vividly in my mind. GUH.

I've read a few things by Emily Perkins but not that short story collection so I am going to order it from the library right now haha.

I am not surprised at how moved I was by this fic. You wrote it. I knew what I was getting myself into. But you continually blow me away, and each fic of yours that I delve into is like unwrapping an unexpected gift.

Julia x

Author's Response: Julia! ♥ What a lovely surprise :D

And ak;jshiulasd what amazing compliments you left. :O It really makes me happy to hear that reviewers have engaged with this little story on such a deep emotional level. Out of all the stories on my page, this is the one I've enjoyed writing the most, but it's also the least original :P So yeah, I myself probably wouldn't be able to come up with such a style or structure.

Colin and Dennis ♥ I'm so glad you liked the ending! There was meant to be a shift in tone or something, I dunno; I have this feeling that Dennis will be alright. In time.

The snapshot format is from the Perkins story, as is the first sentence, and most of the structure is heavily based on her story so I can't take credit for any of that. But if I know EP's writing (and I think I know it a bit), she'll have been influenced by other writers as well, and this is a style I've seen crop up a few times in short stories. Also, I've heard that it's not so much whether an idea is original or not, but it's how that idea is presented is what matters (EP said that herself; during my uni days I did a one-off creative writing course and she was the lecturer bahaha).

Gakhjasf Julia thanks so much for this amazing review! You're one of the first authors whose work I started reading and loving when I just joined this site sometime last year, so it means heaps to hear this sort of praise from you! ♥

teh

Name: hestiajones (Signed) · Date: 03/03/13 12:03 · For: it's all in the details

Oh, Nicole. You are clearly a witch. Your writing is so bloody refined that, honestly, I'm seething with envy :) (The smile is supposed to tell you not to be scared.) I've written Dennis after Colin's death, and though the relationship between the two brothers was an important theme of that story, I have to see I'd never been able to look it with such clarity. I just love the way you made those photographs so, so vivid. I can easily picture all of them in my head. And the ending? Unexpected, and all the more beautiful for that. I must go and read the other stories. Thank you for such amazing writing!

Author's Response: Hello Natalie:D TELL ME HOW DO I RESPOND TO THIS REVIEW. HOW SERIOUSLY HOW. First, I'm so incredibly flattered that you dropped by my page and read my other stories asljkd;sdfjhklj THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG. Dennis has become one of my favourite characters (but only after I started writing him :P ) I will certainly have to read your Dennis story. I'm glad you liked the ending! I wanted to have a little shift in tone, and end the story on a bit of hope, rather than just stopping at Colin's death. Dennis is going to be fine, honestly :) And thank YOU for your amazing reviews *hugs* - teh/Nicole

Name: Oregonian (Signed) · Date: 01/19/13 2:24 · For: it's all in the details

I enjoyed this story. It makes the character of Colin in the books easier to understand, more than just an odd kid who liked to take pictures of everything for no apparent reason.

Author's Response: Oh, thank you for your lovely review! Yes, this fic is an exploration of Colin's character and the relationship between the brothers :) though I think Dennis is slightly overshadowed here. Thanks again!

Name: Dad (Signed) · Date: 01/18/13 15:57 · For: it's all in the details

Very nice, but the opposite of a digital camera is a film camera.

Author's Response: Thanks for telling me baha xD That's been changed. Obviously I'm no photographer :)