Another writing post
Aug. 7th, 2013 01:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightFurther to my last writing post, about Ao3, I can see I need to work on my fic summaries. Also, it seems that if I wanted the stories I was posting on the site to get mentioned on, say, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
su_herald, I should have been putting today's (or whichever day it was's) date on them, as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
killerweasel said. Is that right?
Anyway, not what this post is about. No, this post is about trying to write stuff (in fanfic, I mean, as I've never written anything else) you don't actually believe, and whether the results are ever convincing, and also about unintentionally writing stuff you never meant to. More behind cut, with spoilers for some of my own stories, should anyone care about those.
I know this is probably going to sound a bit ridiculous, but I don't really think of myself as a Spuffy 'shipper. Obviously, I am one, as opposed to being any other sort of 'shipper, when it comes to Buffy and canon het relationships, because I find her relationship with Spike more interesting than her relationships with Angel or Riley. But I've never managed to convince myself that she meant what she said to Spike in the flaming hands scene in Chosen. I didn't believe it at the time, and now, after however many years it is of Joss-endorsed very bad comics, I believe it even less.
That doesn't of itself matter. After all, there are still many years of the relationship (however you define that word) to write about, and okay a lot of it is very dark, but I did come into reading fanfic through the dark slashfic route, so I can deal (or mostly. Depends who is writing. You can usually tell if the writer hates either character, or hates the 'ship. If they do, I'm not interested.) I've also written some pretty dark Spuffy myself (dark enough to end up on my evil twin's LJ).
On the other hand, there have been times when I've had a great idea for a fic, but of necessity (needs of the plot, see?) it involved Buffy meaning what she said in Chosen. A prime example of this, for those familiar with my fics, is Heroes in Hell. Or at least, I thought it was a necessity at the time I wrote it. Looking back, I think it was just as likely, had Buffy known Spike was stuck in hell, she would have gone to rescue him anyway (she did in season 7, after all), without having to be romantically in love with him. But at the time, I didn't see that, so I included her having meant what she said in the story.
I don't know if it's convincing, though. Someone else would have to tell me.
And of course it isn't the only time I've written something I didn't believe. I don't believe for a minute, for instance, that Buffy would have done what I had her do in my Spuffy dark fic. Any more than I believe that Spike and Giles would ever have a sexual relationship, or that Spike and Wesley would (jury's still out on Spike and Angel, seeing as it was canon 'that one time'). But I'd like to think that while people were reading the story, they could believe it, even if afterwards, they thought, "Nah! Just...nah!"
Likewise, sometimes things you mean to write don't come across like you meant. Recently, I wrote a short piece set in season 6 for asb_fag_ends prompt. It was this, if anyone's interested. It's rated PG13/R. Re-reading it, I think I make it look too much like Buffy is at fault, when I meant to make Spike very gittish, and her running a little scared of that, and everything bitter and difficult - a car crash waiting to happen, in fact.
But again, I don't know. Maybe I just made Buffy look like a user. Again, someone would have to tell me.
Anyway, just some brief thoughts.
ETA: Clearly, this is something that only applies to fanfic, when the source material is not under the writer's control.
su_herald, I should have been putting today's (or whichever day it was's) date on them, as killerweasel said. Is that right?Anyway, not what this post is about. No, this post is about trying to write stuff (in fanfic, I mean, as I've never written anything else) you don't actually believe, and whether the results are ever convincing, and also about unintentionally writing stuff you never meant to. More behind cut, with spoilers for some of my own stories, should anyone care about those.
I know this is probably going to sound a bit ridiculous, but I don't really think of myself as a Spuffy 'shipper. Obviously, I am one, as opposed to being any other sort of 'shipper, when it comes to Buffy and canon het relationships, because I find her relationship with Spike more interesting than her relationships with Angel or Riley. But I've never managed to convince myself that she meant what she said to Spike in the flaming hands scene in Chosen. I didn't believe it at the time, and now, after however many years it is of Joss-endorsed very bad comics, I believe it even less.
That doesn't of itself matter. After all, there are still many years of the relationship (however you define that word) to write about, and okay a lot of it is very dark, but I did come into reading fanfic through the dark slashfic route, so I can deal (or mostly. Depends who is writing. You can usually tell if the writer hates either character, or hates the 'ship. If they do, I'm not interested.) I've also written some pretty dark Spuffy myself (dark enough to end up on my evil twin's LJ).
On the other hand, there have been times when I've had a great idea for a fic, but of necessity (needs of the plot, see?) it involved Buffy meaning what she said in Chosen. A prime example of this, for those familiar with my fics, is Heroes in Hell. Or at least, I thought it was a necessity at the time I wrote it. Looking back, I think it was just as likely, had Buffy known Spike was stuck in hell, she would have gone to rescue him anyway (she did in season 7, after all), without having to be romantically in love with him. But at the time, I didn't see that, so I included her having meant what she said in the story.
I don't know if it's convincing, though. Someone else would have to tell me.
And of course it isn't the only time I've written something I didn't believe. I don't believe for a minute, for instance, that Buffy would have done what I had her do in my Spuffy dark fic. Any more than I believe that Spike and Giles would ever have a sexual relationship, or that Spike and Wesley would (jury's still out on Spike and Angel, seeing as it was canon 'that one time'). But I'd like to think that while people were reading the story, they could believe it, even if afterwards, they thought, "Nah! Just...nah!"
Likewise, sometimes things you mean to write don't come across like you meant. Recently, I wrote a short piece set in season 6 for a
sb_fag_ends prompt. It was this, if anyone's interested. It's rated PG13/R. Re-reading it, I think I make it look too much like Buffy is at fault, when I meant to make Spike very gittish, and her running a little scared of that, and everything bitter and difficult - a car crash waiting to happen, in fact.But again, I don't know. Maybe I just made Buffy look like a user. Again, someone would have to tell me.
Anyway, just some brief thoughts.
ETA: Clearly, this is something that only applies to fanfic, when the source material is not under the writer's control.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-07 07:43 pm (UTC)But I don't think Buffy would have had the courage to say it if Spike hadn't been dying, and I don't think she'd have had the courage to follow through had he survived, so I don't think Buffy loving him romantically in that moment actually mattered, if that makes any sense. Which is why I see it as a tragic rather than romantic scene; it's the culmination of their long history of miscommunication.
Spike was definitely a coward not to call her, regardless. I suspect he was afraid that if he contacted her, he'd fall right back into tagging forlornly behind her hoping for crumbs that he'd never get, and the comics seems to have borne that fear out. Still, he should have manned up and given her a phone call.
This storyline's made them both into cowards, now that I think of it. :/ At least Spike got to put his cards on the table one last time in S9.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-07 08:21 pm (UTC)Yeah, this is probably how Joss sees it too. It, for a fact, is how Scott Allie sees it, because he said so, in one of those Slayalive Q&As ("Their lives don't fit"), and I'm willing to believe he got that from Joss. Doubt it's a trope they'll ever break out of, if only because it means the story will never have to revisit the AR in any meaningful way. Which fine, I guess, if they had anything else for Spike to do, but they don't seem to.
Bloody comics! They get in everywhere.
And the whole Cassandra allusion falls apart if Buffy isn't telling the truth - the Cassandra of myth was cursed to always prophesy the truth and never be believed, so having the Buffyverse Cassandra's prophecy that "Someday she'll tell you" come true, but Spike not believe it, would fit. It's a richer and more layered scene if she does love him, and he doesn't believe it.
This is true, but I always thought there was a double irony going on there. "Some day she'll tell you," is very ambiguous. It doesn't necessarily mean that what she'll tell you will be true.