Memeage

[deird_lj]

(nabbed from snickfic)


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.


Tell me about a story I've never written!

Comments

[next_to_normal]

How about All Creatures Great and Small? I love the twist at the end where it's all in Dawn's head!

[deird1]

Heh. Fun fact: I didn't actually realise it should be Dawn's imagination until halfway through!

The whole thing started out because I wanted the scene with Buffy and Xander fighting about the Pretzel Stand, and just... expanded.
I seriously spent a week trying to make the whole thing make sense, and only realised the solution when I started writing the bit with Willow's feet.

So, I'm glad you liked my genius twist-at-the-end, and I'm going to grin meaningfully and pretend I really meant for it to happen the whole time...

[next_to_normal]

LOL!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Gotta be The Ghost Who Walks. I mean, everyone and their dog has written a Dana story where she relives past Slayers' lives, but... how the hell did you come up with that angle?

[deird1]

I dunno, I think it was probably reading yet another discussion about who the "real" Slayer was, and whether Buffy's death would cause a third Slayer to be called. From there it was just a short jump into my AU.

One scene that I really wanted to include would have had Buffy!Dana meeting up with Willow and Dawn - just before the third flashback - but in the end, it seemed a bit unnecessary, especially given Willow's reaction at the end.
Plus, getting rid of that scene allowed me to keep the whole thing much more creepy, with a lot more doubt about who's really in control...

[snickfic]

Hurrah! This means I get to bother you, now. :)

I think I'm gonna have to go with She Walks in Beauty, which has to be the creepiest Dru/somebody-other-than-Spike story I've ever read. Plus, the parasol! Everything about the parasol was fantastic - a really fabulous use of the symbolism.

[deird1]

Ooh! I'm glad someone chose that one!

It was actually written for a drabble challenge (pairing Drusilla with a human) and then expanded out when I realised how much could be done with it.

The first line was originally just "Wesley couldn't keep her in check anymore" - and a much more ambiguous opening scene, where "her" wouldn't be identified until Gunn saw her face. But that would have been too sudden, rather than just allowing the creepiness-factor to slowly creep (heh) up on you.

Some day I'm going to go back and rewrite the ending, so that I can do a sequel. (I'd kinda need both of them alive, really...)

[snickfic]

Win!

(I was very curious to know who you'd pair her with. Are you up for another? I realized after I posted the comment that there was another one I wanted commentary on...)

[deird1]

Yay! Give me more!

(This is so much fun.)

[snickfic]

Yay!

So, Calligraphy. I wouldn't have said such a thing as lyrical mpreg was possible, but you made it so! Share your secret?

(Isn't it though? I'm still hoping for more responses on mine. Like I told someone else, it's like getting to write the commentary without having to actually write the fic.)

[deird1]

I'd love to say I started the story with the intention of making it so poetic, but I'd be lying. :)

Actually, I was writing it normally and having enormous trouble making it work, until I realised that William The Bloody's internal monologue would obviously be filled with poetry. After that it was easy...

(I was scared silly that no-one would read it, but I think the opening scene with Darla threatening the wet-nurse got people's attention.)

[snickfic]

Bwah.

(And, all right, you knew I'd want to read this one...)

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

(Hee, fun!)

I think your best fic is definitely The Tea Cup - I'd never considered the possibility of Snyder and Oz being good friends, but you really made it work!

[deird1]

(Well, honestly, if Oz was going to talk to anyone about his deepest and darkest secrets, who would you think it'd be?)

It was harder than I thought, actually. Managing to balance Snyder's dismissive snarkiness of everyone including Oz with Oz just not - um... not not caring exactly, but... not caring about caring, if you get what I mean - was really tricky.

I'm glad I did it as a drabble series (drabbles work so well for short snippets of conversation) but it did mean I had to ditch an extra 57 words from the bit where Snyder's ranting about red pen corrections. I just had so much to say!

[snickfic]

*really reallys wants to read this fic*

[deird1]

*almost wants to write it*

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

*would so read that, please do it, kthx*

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Man, I so would have loved to see more about the red pen corrections! One of the greatest parts.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Dang, you're good at this!

My favorite is Lightning in a Bottle--a full-fledged Gunn/Gwen fic? Do you know how hard those are to find? I think my favorite scene, though, is when they run into Wesley's dad--such a twist, and you pulled it off perfectly.

[deird1]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was incredibly fun to write.

But what with the cyborg!Dad from canon, and the irresistable idea of having a whole group of them plus the real one, how could I not write it?

Originally it ended two paragraphs earlier (the bit that finishes "...twisted metal that only gets more twisty."), but I decided it needed a more rounded-out conclusion. (And plus, finishing with Gunn's axe hitting the window was fun!)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

There can never be too many cyborgs in the world. And I'm glad you went with the axe thing; Gunn's axe is my second favorite weapon in the Buffyverse, right after the rocket launcher.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

"We Ain't Got No Pilgrims" is my canon for how the Richard Wilkins came to be the Mayor of Sunnydale. I know which scenes were my favorites (Wilkins hiring a team of scientists to counteract negative effects of saturated fat on the heart so that his sacrificial offerings were "pure" - *dies*), but which were your favorites to write? And what inspired you to do that with the horses? I'm just kinda...wow.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

*wishes there were more Mayor fic*

[deird1]

My favourites?

I'd have to go with the construction of City Hall (especially Conroy the Demon Hunter trying to alter the plans without anyone noticing) and all the bits with Edna May (I loved writing Edna May).

The stuff with the horses is actually something I originally started writing for a Knights of Byzantium fic!
I suddenly realised that, really, as annoying as the Knights are with their whole the-Key-must-be-destroyed thing, they're not actually evil. Changing the scene to star the Mayor meant I could have him being much nastier while still talking as if he was much nicer...

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Was that scene set in the sixties starring the ad exec a shoutout to Mad Men? I just loved it!

[deird1]

Ah! Someone picked up on that! *hugs*

I'd just seen the first two episodes of Mad Men the week before, so it was definitely in my mind at the time.


(Ooh, and there's also a Doctor Who appearance. I'm not going to tell you where, but if you look at the three scenes from the twenties, you'll figure it out...)

[sarian71]

My personal favorite is "I Live to Serve"! Jinx's diary of his life as a minion was hands down the funniest read in a long time. :D I hadn't realised before how stressful it is for him to come up with new names for Glorificus on a daily basis.

[deird1]

Stressful for me, too! (Seriously - going through the thesaurus looking for every possible way to say "fantastic", "marvellous", "beautiful", "perfect"... It takes forever.)

Actually, the story was originally going to be called Her Magnificent Scrumptiousness, but I decided that would sound like the story was about Glory, not Jinx - and in the end, Glory appeared in, what, a total of four lines?

My favourite bit to write was definitely his attempts to stop Glory brain-sucking the pizza delivery guys. (After all, if there's only one place in town that can get you Super Supreme With Extra Cream And Soy Sauce, you don't want them to run out of employees.)

[sarian71]

"Stressful for me, too! (Seriously - going through the thesaurus looking for every possible way to say "fantastic", "marvellous", "beautiful", "perfect"... It takes forever.)"

That's interesting to hear. All that hard work definitely paid off!

"My favourite bit to write was definitely his attempts to stop Glory brain-sucking the pizza delivery guys."

He's one resourceful little guy when he's properly motivated! ;)