I just thought there were better stories to remix. It makes me wonder what people think of my stories, you know?

Heh. I know that the remixes I did were not always the most complex and interesting stories written by the writers (espec. my assigned remix, as it was venturing into ACK! I don't dare touch a word of it! territory), but were the ones I thought might be interesting to expand on, or the ones that spoke to me.

The second mix I did, I was 3/4 through remixing another story, and not happy with what I was coming up with.

So I don't think it's about the original author so much as the remixer. I never would have thought Of Incubi and Inversion was the one that would get picked. It's the one I tend to forget is there, and all.

I know that the remixes I did were not always the most complex and interesting stories written by the writers

Exactly. "Stumbling Fast" (and Slod knows it was me, so, I'm owning up to it) wasn't my favorite of her stories. That's "Still," which I loved, but I wouldn't have wanted to change even if I could come up with something. "Stumbling Fast" had a way in for me.

Okay, so this is, err, weird. My remix fic. Silly little thing to start with, sufficently so that I had to read my own story again to remember which it was. They've swapped from Angel POV to third-person focused on Buffy, which is fair enough and they've done it very well, but then they changed the ending so that the main point of the story, insofar has it had one, is completely gone and the thing's nonsensical, or it seems that way to me.

I wish I knew who they were, so I could e-mail them and say "you've done a nice job, I enjoyed it, especially some of the character details, but could you explain why you made the Scrabble tile Buffy gives Angel a tile 'in Gaelic' rather than a 'B'? Because, you know, I'm no expert on Gaelic but Scrabble tiles have single English letters on them, and even if Gaelic has its own alphabet, which I don't think it does, what did you mean?"

It feels like I was hoping to learn something about one of my stories, and all I've got is something I feel I don't understand. Which is unsettling somehow.

ETA: it also feels slightly inappropriate to be going through this in a public forum not in private e-mail, but as I don't know who it is, I... I don't know. Maybe I need some more sleep.

Heh. See, I envision this story of Brian trying to pick up Spike in a bar, and the two of them getting so caught up in trying to out-wit, out-alpha and out-top each other that it never goes anywhere, and they get increasingly frustrated.

Ooh! Nice one, Victor. I think you should do it. The power dynamic would be great fun to work out.

Why did you think other stories would be better?

Well, that story was just...weird. It was...weird...on the re-read. I don't know. In part, I think I was disappointed that they picked a Jossverse story, because I tend to work in diverse and odd fandoms. I was sort of hoping for something unique, and instead it's just a POV switch with a lot of the original story there on an original story that wasn't that good anyway. Eh, well. You get what you can.

I liked Plei's remix though. It was weird in the good way.

it also feels slightly inappropriate to be going through this in a public forum not in private e-mail, but as I don't know who it is, I... I don't know. Maybe I need some more sleep.

I thought of that, but then I decided since the names weren't available, I'll just shrug it off.

I'll just shrug it off.

Having had a nap, I think I'll do the same. With a note that if whoever wrote my remix is reading this, my profile addy is good.

If you want to know who wrote your story, it's whitefonted at the top of each page .

Maybe I've spent too long in writer's workshops - what's wrong with commenting on someone's public work in a public forum, if you do it in good faith? (I.e., not "what the hell were you thinking, bitch?" but "I don't understand this choice because X, Y, Z.")

Oh! Thanks, Michele.

(How did I miss that? *thumps head on desk*)

Oh, that never even occurred to me, Michele. I was just viewing the source. Not carefully enough to look at the actual tags, obviously.

Maybe I've spent too long in writer's workshops - what's wrong with commenting on someone's public work in a public forum, if you do it in good faith? (I.e., not "what the hell were you thinking, bitch?" but "I don't understand this choice because X, Y, Z.")

Fandom is a tempestuous bitch, and those in it are often volatile.

Dude, the person in charge of the Remix wrote mine. Trippy.