WW Fic: The Right Feel
Jul. 11th, 2004 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereTitle: The Right Feel
Fandom: West Wing
Pairing: Sam/Will
Notes: Unbeta'd, but audienced by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
celli, so it probably makes sense.
***
The Right Feel
Sam tapped his pen on the desk as he read over the speech draft. The pen was cheap and plastic, and made a sharp, high noise against the wood. The sound was even starting to annoy Sam.
He dropped the pen to the desk, and opened up an email instead, replacing one tapping with another.
Hey Will.
Are you really sure this is the approach you should be taking here? The environmental lobby can be... unforgiving.
Trust me on that.
Sam.
He deliberated about sending it, wondered if it would be too rude, too arrogant. If it would sound pompous and all-knowing. In the end, Sam decided to send it anyway.
***
The reply came an hour later, when Sam was halfway through depressing polling numbers and seriously wondering if 11am was too early to start drinking. Short and sharp, the email was a lot like Will: polite but firm.
Sam,
I don't get to choose policy. I just write the speeches about it.
I really can't see another way of phrasing this.
Will
Sam opened up the attached word file. He really didn't have time to do this. He had figures and possible constituents and policies of his own to think about. On the other hand, it was a way to help out a friend.
***
Looking over the file an hour later, Sam realised that sometime over the past three years, he'd become Toby. The speech wasn't edited so much as torn apart. In some places, possibly torn apart by wild wolves, then reworked and sown back together.
It was the Frankenstein of speeches. A lurching monster slowly dragging itself away from the mob.
Um, Will?
The file's attached.
...It's possible that I got just a little carried away with editing.
Sam
Sam grimaced, and then added a quick post-script.
P.S. - Please keep in mind they are just suggestions. It might be best to check it with Toby.
***
The reply came back quicker than Sam expected. To be honest, he'd expected a slightly chilly response, a polite version of 'take your narrow-minded nitpicking and go to hell.' The kind of thing he'd been tempted to tell Toby on more than one occasion.
Luckily, Will didn't seem too offended.
Thanks for the suggestions, Sam.
I'm not quite so thankful about my slowly built theme being dissected into itty, bitty pieces, but you did have some valid points.
Oh, and Toby says you should remember to use punctuation.
Will
Sighing, Sam turned back to the polling figures.
***
Sam's lunchtime meeting was supposed to give him a clearer idea of his deceased predecessor's promises. It turned out to be more schmoozing than anything else. Smiling and shaking hands, and repeatedly telling everyone how he grew up just around the corner.
It was the type of meeting that managed to be boring, uninformative and tiring. At least the email notice sitting on his screen would probably only be two of those things.
He flicked through one boring meeting reminder, one uninformative mention of new legislation, and one new set of poll figures that certainly promised to be boring. At least there was a message from Will there, too.
Hey Sam,
It occured to me that my last email may not have been... particularly gracious. However, you can't expect me to be able to control the weather, put up with wildlife in my office and have an even-temper.
I thought about your suggestions, and decided that they weren't completely insane. Would you have time to look over the attached draft and give me your opinion?
Thanks,
Will.
Sam grinned widely, and opened up the document.
***
Interestingly enough, Will had actually taken some of his suggestions. A lot of them, in fact. There were a few phrases that screamed Toby, but overall, it felt right.
It was something Sam had always had trouble explaining. That a speech had to be more than words and ideas. It had to be more than great phrasing and the correct use of punctuation. It had to feel right.
Will,
It's really good. I'd consider looking at the third and seventh paragraph in a little more detail, but overall, it feels right.
Sam.
***
Sam was compulsively checking his computer clock, somewhat certain that it was faulty somehow. He was sure that the afternoon couldn't really be passing this slowly.
Then, Will's reply popped up on his screen.
Sam,
Toby said the same thing about those paragraphs. We're both working on them now.
I just had one question. The right feel? What precisely is the right feel? Or, what makes it feel right? (Okay, I actually had three questions.)
Will.
Clutching at any excuse to avoid the things he had to do, Sam started typing.
***
Sam looked over the email one last time before hitting send. He just had to make sure that it would make sense to someone that wasn't... well, him.
Will,
The right feel is... what you need in any good speech. It's the extra appeal, it's the way the words sound together, the way the ideas fit together. It's the part that makes people stand up and applause, that makes people stop and think about the truth in your words. It's the part that speaks to each heart in the audience, it's the part that stimulates each mind.
When it feels right, you know. You know it's good, you know it's true. You know it's real. You know because you read the words on the page, and you can hear the President say each one, you can hear the gasps and acclaim of the crowd.
It's not something you can explain logically, or rationally. It's not a certain number of syllables, or the length of each sentence. It's not the words used or the pattern of the argument. It's all of those things and it's more than that.
It's just... right.
Sam.
***
Will's reply, when it came, was only a few lines. Sam read it, started beaming, and then read it again.
Huh. When I read it, I just heard you.
Will.
The End
Fandom: West Wing
Pairing: Sam/Will
Notes: Unbeta'd, but audienced by
celli, so it probably makes sense.***
The Right Feel
Sam tapped his pen on the desk as he read over the speech draft. The pen was cheap and plastic, and made a sharp, high noise against the wood. The sound was even starting to annoy Sam.
He dropped the pen to the desk, and opened up an email instead, replacing one tapping with another.
Hey Will.
Are you really sure this is the approach you should be taking here? The environmental lobby can be... unforgiving.
Trust me on that.
Sam.
He deliberated about sending it, wondered if it would be too rude, too arrogant. If it would sound pompous and all-knowing. In the end, Sam decided to send it anyway.
***
The reply came an hour later, when Sam was halfway through depressing polling numbers and seriously wondering if 11am was too early to start drinking. Short and sharp, the email was a lot like Will: polite but firm.
Sam,
I don't get to choose policy. I just write the speeches about it.
I really can't see another way of phrasing this.
Will
Sam opened up the attached word file. He really didn't have time to do this. He had figures and possible constituents and policies of his own to think about. On the other hand, it was a way to help out a friend.
***
Looking over the file an hour later, Sam realised that sometime over the past three years, he'd become Toby. The speech wasn't edited so much as torn apart. In some places, possibly torn apart by wild wolves, then reworked and sown back together.
It was the Frankenstein of speeches. A lurching monster slowly dragging itself away from the mob.
Um, Will?
The file's attached.
...It's possible that I got just a little carried away with editing.
Sam
Sam grimaced, and then added a quick post-script.
P.S. - Please keep in mind they are just suggestions. It might be best to check it with Toby.
***
The reply came back quicker than Sam expected. To be honest, he'd expected a slightly chilly response, a polite version of 'take your narrow-minded nitpicking and go to hell.' The kind of thing he'd been tempted to tell Toby on more than one occasion.
Luckily, Will didn't seem too offended.
Thanks for the suggestions, Sam.
I'm not quite so thankful about my slowly built theme being dissected into itty, bitty pieces, but you did have some valid points.
Oh, and Toby says you should remember to use punctuation.
Will
Sighing, Sam turned back to the polling figures.
***
Sam's lunchtime meeting was supposed to give him a clearer idea of his deceased predecessor's promises. It turned out to be more schmoozing than anything else. Smiling and shaking hands, and repeatedly telling everyone how he grew up just around the corner.
It was the type of meeting that managed to be boring, uninformative and tiring. At least the email notice sitting on his screen would probably only be two of those things.
He flicked through one boring meeting reminder, one uninformative mention of new legislation, and one new set of poll figures that certainly promised to be boring. At least there was a message from Will there, too.
Hey Sam,
It occured to me that my last email may not have been... particularly gracious. However, you can't expect me to be able to control the weather, put up with wildlife in my office and have an even-temper.
I thought about your suggestions, and decided that they weren't completely insane. Would you have time to look over the attached draft and give me your opinion?
Thanks,
Will.
Sam grinned widely, and opened up the document.
***
Interestingly enough, Will had actually taken some of his suggestions. A lot of them, in fact. There were a few phrases that screamed Toby, but overall, it felt right.
It was something Sam had always had trouble explaining. That a speech had to be more than words and ideas. It had to be more than great phrasing and the correct use of punctuation. It had to feel right.
Will,
It's really good. I'd consider looking at the third and seventh paragraph in a little more detail, but overall, it feels right.
Sam.
***
Sam was compulsively checking his computer clock, somewhat certain that it was faulty somehow. He was sure that the afternoon couldn't really be passing this slowly.
Then, Will's reply popped up on his screen.
Sam,
Toby said the same thing about those paragraphs. We're both working on them now.
I just had one question. The right feel? What precisely is the right feel? Or, what makes it feel right? (Okay, I actually had three questions.)
Will.
Clutching at any excuse to avoid the things he had to do, Sam started typing.
***
Sam looked over the email one last time before hitting send. He just had to make sure that it would make sense to someone that wasn't... well, him.
Will,
The right feel is... what you need in any good speech. It's the extra appeal, it's the way the words sound together, the way the ideas fit together. It's the part that makes people stand up and applause, that makes people stop and think about the truth in your words. It's the part that speaks to each heart in the audience, it's the part that stimulates each mind.
When it feels right, you know. You know it's good, you know it's true. You know it's real. You know because you read the words on the page, and you can hear the President say each one, you can hear the gasps and acclaim of the crowd.
It's not something you can explain logically, or rationally. It's not a certain number of syllables, or the length of each sentence. It's not the words used or the pattern of the argument. It's all of those things and it's more than that.
It's just... right.
Sam.
***
Will's reply, when it came, was only a few lines. Sam read it, started beaming, and then read it again.
Huh. When I read it, I just heard you.
Will.
The End
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-07-11 03:03 pm (UTC)I love the way you captured Will and Sam in their emails - curt at times, and not falling over themselves to be perfectly nice, but with that deep respect underlying that you sense on the show.
And I just loved the ending!
no subject
Date: 2004-07-11 06:47 pm (UTC)Thank you. The email idea was actually Celli's. I was just sitteing there bitching that I wanted to write Sam but had no plot ideas, and she suggested Sam/Will, editing a speech by email.
I do get that impression from them. There's a level of respect, or understanding and cameraderie, because they're both *good* writers. Because of that, they don't worry about being polite quite so much.
And I just loved the ending!
*beams* Thank you.