Best meme EVER!

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Snagged from snickfic and deird1:

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you any of: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know.

Comments

[deird1]

I'm going to go with Chance and Choices, purely because I keep going back and rereading the conversation about Dawn's children.

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Oh, that conversation was heartbreaking to write. I loved the idea of doing a Sliding Doors-esque "what if," where one little thing changes your whole life and we get to see both play out. I wasn't sure how to do it at first, until I hit on the idea of Dawn's Key abilities allowing her to tap into alternate universes. From there, I just knew that Dawn's own "what if" would have to be really hard for her to face - if she has this gift, it comes with a price, right? Realizing it was her own decision that ended up killing her children was the worst thing I could think of. I do so like angst... :)

[deird1]

(Okay, now I really want to read this.)

[next_to_normal]

Heh, I seem to come up with a lot of ideas you want to read. You must find me a horrible tease. :)

[silverusagi]

I loved Just a Girl. And I was surprised because I never thought you'd write an all human story! But I especially liked how Buffy didn't actually end up with Spike at the end.

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You know... I didn't think I'd ever write one, either! And I still probably wouldn't do a "Buffy's X and Spike's Y" type premise like most AHs, but I kind of liked the idea of exploring a Buffy who'd never been called. She's our Buffy before we knew her, who she might have become if she'd lived in a world where vampires didn't exist.

As for Buffy and Spike, I almost got them back together at the end, but I thought ending it on Buffy being single worked better thematically, after all the self-actualization she goes through in the fic.

[clawofcat.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite post-NFA fics of yours is Patchwork because of your inventive twist on the Crucimentium. I really doubted if Faith was going to make it. Xander's fast thinking despite her betrayal made for some really suspenseful moments!

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Funny you should pick that one, since I know you and I talked about a plot idea with a post-series evil Council. I mean, that bomb couldn't have killed everyone, right?

Faith was certainly not my first choice to be the one to infiltrate them - I initially wanted to go with an undercover type thing, where Buffy sent one of her Slayers over to the Dark Side in order to get intel on the Watchers. But I like exploring Faith/Xander post-series, because there's so much unspoken between them. Now that Faith's reformed, I can see them inching toward trust, but it's always one step forward, two steps back, so it was fun to pair them up for this mission.

Besides, Faith with a chainsaw? Mrow.

[clawofcat.livejournal.com]

Hee. Love this meme. Post-series evil Council FTW! I would be so down for reading evil Council fic. There must be some out there. Can you think of any?

Also love the mission impossible sort of feel that you created with this fic. Lots of intrigue, suspense, mystery, and doubt. Plus, Faith/Xander post-NFA is great for just the reason you said - they're adults now and can somewhat constructively muddle through their shit.

[next_to_normal]

I don't really know of any evil Council fic, unfortunately. It seems like that's not a very common post-series fic idea.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

"I Never" - love it. And it's so odd because I've never been a huge fan of ghost!fic. My motto is let them move on, stories are for the living. But you kept surprising me and ultimately took it to another level.

[next_to_normal]

Well, I guess, when you think about it, it's not really a ghost!fic in the end, right?

I was just really intrigued by that idea about the First appearing as Tara. But the First gives itself away so easily in CWDP! I thought it would be much more interesting to have it pretending to be Tara's spirit, manipulating Willow over a long time.

I almost didn't finish it, because I got stuck on what the First's actual plan was (since it's all over the map in canon), and I couldn't figure out what it wanted Willow to do. But once I hit on that ending, it totally clicked. (I have a thing for killing people off, what can I say?)

[colorofangels.livejournal.com]

I've always been a fan of The Devil's In The Details since time travel fics have always been my secret guilty pleasure...

What I especially liked that while Buffy and Spike got sent to the past, poor William got stuck in the present. Dawn teaching William how to live in the 20th century made me laugh so hard I cried.

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I'm glad you liked that one! I really enjoyed playing with the "fish out of water" parallels between Buffy and William.

I have to admit, the hardest part about this fic was getting the time travel stuff to work out. I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner that Willow could just use the Lethe's bramble forgetting spell on William before she sent him back!

[snickfic]

I know how much you're all about the Spuffy, so Polarity was quite a surprise - much as I like Xander/Cordy, I'd never read a fic about them that was both so clear-eyed and so tender. Bravo!

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Heh, I've been trying to branch out more! I really like Xander/Cordy, and I think they get short shrift in fandom - people seem to think that because they started out hating each other and they argued a lot that they weren't really a good couple. There's a reason we say "opposites attract," you know. ;)

One scene that didn't make it in was a Willow POV where she overcomes her dislike of Cordy and kind of comes to understand what they see in each other. But the outside perspective didn't fit with the rest of the fic, so it had to go. Maybe I'll use it in a different fic at some point.

[snickfic]

I think they get short shrift in fandom

So true! I think I've run across approximately two fics about them, ever, and Cordy is by far my favorite person to ship Xander with.

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...now I actually kind of want to write X/C. I even like your title. I just have nothing to fill in for the actual fic. :(

[snickfic]

Well, shoot. 'Cuz now I want to read you write it. :)

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It feels like a one-shot, character study. I'm thinking from Cordy's POV. Maybe a "softer side of Cordy" kind of thing, like what we see in those moments like when she's wearing the locket in "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered." We don't see her being emotionally vulnerable often, but it's almost always about Xander when she is (on BtVS, that is).

[snickfic]

Do it! /enables

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Add it to the list...

You know, I almost feel like it's more frustrating to have this many ideas and not know what to do with them than it would be if I just didn't have any ideas at all.

[snickfic]

:(

It sounds like you have some kind of creativity blockage, unrelated to the specific ideas. I wonder if it would help to try some completely unrelated creative activity, like beading or making collages or something? Sometimes it seems as though the different artistic activities all tap the same well, and if I can just get things flowing in one direction, pretty soon the others follow.

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Hmmm, I don't know. I was thinking maybe it was some sort of psychological thing, like I'd psyched myself out of writing. If I had to put a metaphor to it, it kind of feels like a fist clenching tightly in my brain, and the tighter it squeezes, the more whatever I'm trying to grab slips out of my grasp. Almost like I'm trying too hard to make it happen, but I don't know how to try less than taking a break from writing altogether, which I've already done. I don't know how to relax the fist.

Or maybe I'll try scrapbooking.

(Actually, I do like scrapbooking, and have three sitting on my shelf. I was looking forward to doing the pictures from my San Francisco vacation... except I never went.)

[snickfic]

FWIW, I've never found the theory of trying to write through a writing block to work. I always hate what I end up writing, and it doesn't seem to get me back to writing good stuff any faster than if I hadn't written at all. So I totally get your decision to do something other than just "Try harder!"

*wishes she had something more useful to say*

[next_to_normal]

Yeah, I haven't, either. I'm not a fan of "Just write, even if it's crap - you can fix it later," because once I put words on the page, it becomes very difficult for me to see it any other way. And if those words are crappy, that's not a good thing.

*shrug* I dunno. I don't expect anyone to come up with a solution at this point.